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Interesting CL77 igntion problem

Points Based Ignition | Electronic Ignition Upgrade
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Snakeoil
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Location: Upstate NY

Post by Snakeoil » Mon Apr 16, 2012 7:08 am

Thanks guys. You know, I know all the proper checks to make. But taking the tank on and off to do each one individually is a PITA and I tend to short cut. Today I'll pull the tank once again and recheck everything. I suspect trimming the HT leads at the plug cap end did the trick. I went back into the shop last night and pulled the plugs to test spark. Nice hot blue spark on both sides.

But with the giro coming up, I don't want a repeat of last year's issue.

My CL72 manual does give a value for the condensors. It says 21-26 micro Farads is acceptible. My meter has can read up to 20mF. I would think it would go to saturation on a capacitor of higher rating. But it doesn't. I tested it on a 10 mF cap and it still read zero and I suspect that the meter is faulty.

regards,
Rob

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Snakeoil
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Post by Snakeoil » Tue Apr 17, 2012 1:23 pm

Weather was amazing and rather than wrench, I decided to ride. Bike fired right up from cold with no choke and idled nicely. Took it for about a 30-40 mile ride and it never missed a beat. Getting more convinced that trimming the wires was the trick.

I did do a plug chop at mid range just before pulling into the driveway and both plugs were sooty. I suspect this is at least partially due to last year's gas and Stabil in the fuel. Need to run that thru the bike or maybe dump it for the lawnmower and put fresh in and check the plugs again.

Made an adapter so I can use my DMM to measure mF. Will see if the 20mF limit will saturate the meter or give me a reading. Worked fine for a 10 mF cap I had on the bench.

regards,
Rob

Jlovvorn
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Post by Jlovvorn » Thu Apr 19, 2012 7:03 am

Is there a prefed coil that fits the OEM bracket others have used with success?

Terry at Western Hills sent me a set of coils that fit in the mounts (a tad smaller than stock so I bent the bracket down a tad) and run great.

About $30 a coil if I remember.

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Snakeoil
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Post by Snakeoil » Thu Apr 19, 2012 9:14 pm

Thanks for that tip. I've bought a lot of parts from Terry. He's a good guy.

I got lucky today. I stopped at a friend's foreign car repair place and asked if he had any solid core plug wire. He laughed and said he's not seen that in ages. I told him that NAPA did not even know what I was talking about.

He then thought a minute and asked how much I needed. I told him and he said he'd dig around out back. Some Brit cars used solid wires so he'd see what he had.

About a half hour later, I was firing up the Triumph T140V to head over for the annual inspection and in the driveway he pulls holding a coil of wire out the window. Brand new 7mm solid core wire. I think he's got a spool of the stuff, but he ain't talkin'.

It was a good day.

regards,
Rob

48lesco
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Location: Olmsted Twp, Ohio

Post by 48lesco » Thu May 03, 2012 8:07 am

Rob - Parts Unlimited 01-114-1 is 7mm, 19-strand copper core wire which is right for our application. Should be about 50 cents per foot at any dealer that carries the Parts Unlimited line.

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Snakeoil
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Post by Snakeoil » Thu Jun 07, 2012 9:02 pm

Sorry for the late reply, 48L. That good info I'll log away for future reference. Bike ran great during the giro.

But yesterday I finally got around to washing the mud off the bike from the giro and then I fired it up to make sure no water got in bad places. SOB started hard and ran on one cylinder. It ran like that and then started to hit and miss on the other cylinder, I revved it a bunch of time and all of a sudden, BANG, big backfire and it is suddenly running on both cylinders.

Needless to say, I still have a gremlin to find. I suspect moisture and old wires are at play here. Point are new and I would not expect a coil to just start working and keep working well. Fortunately, I like hunting gremlins so it makes for another therapy project.

regards,
Rob

edwardjavier
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Location: Philippines

Post by edwardjavier » Fri Jun 15, 2012 2:15 am

Hi Snakeoil, I'm Edward From the Philippines. I got a Dream 305 having the same problem like yours. Good for you the other cylinder works once in a while. Mine is that I only got one cylinder running, I tried to reverse the cam shaft timing and it works on the other side but not for the other cylinder. My observation is, both cylinders are running though the weaker one (right) fires but not as that as powerful than the working cylinder( left). Great inputs on the thread, I'll try working on the wiring system. I'll feed once I find the gremlin.

Regards
edward

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