I knew it was goping to be too good to be true.

This week, I have been mostly fettling my Bloo GS and on the whole
things have gone swimmingly well. Until this evening.

Today we are mostly putting it back together in the expectation of doing
road trials tomorrow to see what (if any) jetting changes may be called
for but with full expectation of having a fully functioning source of
added adrenaline.

Snot fucking working is it. Oh it fired up all right and coughed and
spluttered in that "It is running well enough to be called a place to
start" kind of a way that badly out of tune carbs do and then I got to
work on getting the needles and spacers in more or less the right place
and halfway through it decided it was going to refuse to start.

One flat battery later and I am doing the "we'll try it one end and then
we will try it the other" with the needle heights and the fucker still
refused to start.

I dunno why but something told me I should check the plugs and see if
they were awash with fuel, which they weren't. Neither do they appear
to be awash with sparks, which they were.


I do know that unless it has chosen this moment to be broke it snot the
kill switch. Nor can I see any shiny wires hanging down where there
were not shiny wires hanging down before. This one is not going to give
itself up easily I can just sense it. So, I am not going within a
sword's length of it for the moment, for it's own good.

 

Have you got a can of EasyStart? Works wonders for stubborn bikes, my
70's trials bike had been sitting since the mid eightys and would not
kick over and run. Squirt of EasyStart and ran right up.

Failing that.. It does have fuel in the tank doesn't it?

 

Was it only the carbs that have been disturbed? Nothing else fiddled
with in the ignition system area - even if just to gain access for the
carb work?

When I did the 604 conversion on the Nordie it was a real pig to start
with the new CR33 smooth bore carbs I put on at the same time. On
putting back the standard Teikei twin choke unit it was fine.
Eventually I discovered that my shiny new carbs had been supplied by
Allens without *any* idle jets at all!

I would have suspected idle jet shennanigans if you hadn't found a lack
of sparks. Time for the full Pirsig sleep, before cranking up the
'formal scientific method' approach.

 

Just another thougfht.

I am sure you have since tried it again with a good battery to check
the spark, or is it CDI ignition which is not dependent on a good
battery voltage to produce a spark?

 

Peter Jones wrote

No I haven't oddly enough. I always consider it to be an essential part
of the SOB tool kit but for some reason seem to have run out.

I do now have a half empty can of strong wind which was full which I
have been having great fun blowing down the ant's nest by the back door
though.

It doesn't currently have a tank. Instead it is sporting an old half
litre plastic oil can and some fish tank hose and a yard or two of gaffa
tape as a Summer fashion accessory of the kind of arrangement you set up
when you are doing carbs and stuff.

 

wrote

Theoretically yes only the carbs but who knows what gets pulled and
pushed around when you are having an enthusiastic fettle.

Now that I have calmed down a bit I have been out and begun diagnosis
and the spark is most certainly not big, blue and fat, not evewn in the
failing light of dusk. I can draw a half inch long one no problems but
it is very thin and yellow. And given that it is the same rather weak
insipid yellow both sides I am inclined to be looking at the electronics
come next daylight I think.

The jets haven't been touched (yet). I bought it a K&N filter in the
fairly certain knowledge that I could get it running well enough to get
me to Tesco and back just by buggering about with the needles and that
the jets could be considered the final fine tuning which could be done
over a period of time. I have done this any number of times before with
mates bikes and cars and never had this issue.

 

wrote

No, I am keeping the good battery well away from this until I am ready
to declare it fit to ride. It has got a "good enough" one on there and
it is staying.

CDI innit.

 

steve auvache wrote

That said I have been all over the engine and immediate area in the last
week curing oil leaks and taking off fairing mounts and adding the right
number of nuts and bolts to the engine mounting system and putting right
a too long list of really rather unsavoury bodges and generally wiping a
greasy rag over everything that I can see, so who knows what long term
just waiting to happen problem I have uncovered.



Although I am not one to complain me, just not the type, very much a pot
half full rather than the jolly old vessel half empty kind of a fella,
know what I mean? Well I have just had a text from WC announcing he is
going to be missing from ukrm for possibly as much as 3 weeks. Laugh,
it brightened my day no end.

 

Wicked Uncle Nigel wrote

See, now, you are just trying to spoil it aren't you. At least 10 days
even with good behaviour. So much better.

 

Hmm, is this a GS as in Suzuki? If so the CDIs on them will give a
crappy (or non-existant) spark if the battery voltage drops a bit low -
so just 'cause the battery has enough juice to turn the engine over
deosn't necessarilly mean it's got enough to give a good spark.

 

Molly Fletcher wrote

Is there any other? Shame on you.

Now if that had come from anybody else I would have said bollox but
until such time as my own rapidly expanding expertise with this bike
exceeds yours then I shall have to accept your explanation as being
plausible. Got any evidence, even anecdotal, to back it up? I haven't
come across anything to suggest this.

But it has occurred to me that at the very least I disturbed the wiring
round the pulse generator thing when I had the RHS crankcase cover off.
But that, if it is going to be an iffy wire, shouldn't be both plugs. I
am not confident I will find the problem there.

I have just been out and taken the battery off simmer, so I will let it
cool overnight and see tomorrow.

 

<panto mode>

Oh yes it will!

</pm>


--
Krusty.

http://www.muddystuff.co.uk
http://www.muddystuff.us
Off-road classifieds

'02 MV Senna '03 Tiger (FOYRNB) '96 Tiger '79 Fantic 250

 

Krusty wrote

Go on then explain. 4 wires, 2 line and 2 return. 1 of each to each
generator doobry and no plug anywhere near where I have been playing.
I'd believe one falling off and if it had been a one cylinder issue I
would have been straight back in there.

Granted it could be. Fundamentally it is Automotive Electrix which
remains to this day the Blackest of Black Arts.

 

OK maybe not the wires themselves, but you may have wiggled them enough
to break something inside the pick-up coil, or maybe disturbed it so
the gap to the trigger wheel's gone out of spec.

Ain't dat da troof - closely followed by inlet length & airbox design.
And to think spannies used to confuse me.

--
Krusty.

http://www.muddystuff.co.uk
http://www.muddystuff.us
Off-road classifieds

'02 MV Senna '03 Tiger (FOYRNB) '96 Tiger '79 Fantic 250

 

Krusty wrote

Two pulse generators. Two entirely separate low and HT circuits all the
way really.

Yes but.... The wheel thing is located on a lump that sort of makes it
hard to not put it in the right place and still do it up. Keyed, I
think is the correct term. Mind you if Molly's is wrong it will be high
on the list of places to poke round.

 

<Thread Hijack>

Did you get your Zephyr Zorst sorted Molly?

--
Dan L (Oldbloke)

My bike 1996 Kawasaki ZR1100 Zephyr
Space in shed where NSR125 used to be
Spare Bike 1990 Suzuki TS50X (Patio Ornament)
BOTAFOT #140 (KotL 2005/6), X-FOT#000, DIAABTCOD #26, BOMB#18 (slow), OMF#11

 

Put on the best battery you've got, not one that 'might be good
enough'. You've got enough unknowns there as it is.

 

Kim Bolton wrote

I appreciate your advice but with batteries there are very few unknowns
as far as I am concerned. The battery that is on there, which has been
tested by a very confident about what he is doing me, is more than good
enough and I still have a pristine spare.

It is getting desperate now, I have got the meter out. I have had a go
over things with it this morning and I am fairly convinced it is the
ignition electronics. It is obviously trying to have a go but there
just isn't enough oomph. I could be more convinced mind but the spare
one I have got is going to have to be cut from the donor bike avec
Dremel unless the WD40 works and that will have to wait until play
resumes after the rain.

 

Well there's the beemer big traily things.

Well I've owned several GSs and on plenty of occasions had them with a
slightly flat battery (suzuki electrics being what they are) that'll
turn the engine over but it won't start. Checking turning the engine
over on the starter shows a weak spark or no spark. Checking by turning
the engine over by hand and the spark is fine. Bump start it or use the
kickstart if it's got one and it'll start fine. What seems to be the
case is that the CDI needs a certain voltage to fire and the drain of
the starter motor causes a voltage drop which stops the CDI firing.

Easiest was around it is a set of jump leads off something with a less
knackered battery or a start charger.

 

Not yet - it's actually Melanie's Zephyr not mine so it's when she gets
around to it...