Decision time

[Dbeck]

I have recently put a lot of money into this bike; new needles and seats, diaphrams from sirius, progressive springs, had the tci resoldered and new diodes put in and had my seat redone by Rick ( which turned out great by the way). Was still running crappy. Rechecked the compression that I thought was good. Not so good. 3 cylinders were in the 120's and the back right was 100. Long story longer there is some blackening in that cyclinder and my mechanic thinks its either a bad ring or bad spring on the valves. 11 hour job. Now I either rebiuld or get a decent used motor with good compression. Or sell for what I can with the new owner knowing what he is in for.

 

With all the info that has been compiled on this site I am considering trying to fix this thing myself if the cost is reasonable, even though I have never pulled a motor before. Also wondering what the cost would be to do this, rebuild or used motor.

 

Any imput would help my decision. Thanks

 

Doug

[tz89]

How well are you set up to do a little work on your own? Time, tools and work space?

 

Would you be able to pull the valve cover and investigate the valves?

 

What does the oil look like?

[Wanderer]

I'll bet it's the valves. Listen in a couple of months you won't have anything to do but ice fish and shovel snow. You can do this yourself.

 

[mbrood]

Run a proper compression test... all plugs removed, throttle opened fully...

 

The squirt some oil into the cylinder (just enough to coat the piston head (about a teaspoon) and recheck compression. If the numbers come way up you have problems with the rings/piston. If they stay relatively the same it's a valve problem.

 

Don't get wrapped up in anything major until you investigate properly and KNOW what your job will be. These are really strong engines and take a lot of use, most problems are down to simple maintenance and adjustment.

[Dbeck]

I have tools, might have to borrow or buy certain things. More time than money. Plenty of room, just a little worried about my knowledge. Forgot to mention he checked the valves and they were adjusted correctly. Moved carbs around and the same cylinder was the culprit.

[Holly]

Myself, I won't worry about a 20lb difference, would still look at plugs, plug wire, vacuum leaks and timing. Do the wet compression test and see if it changes, but I doubt it will change much. Cylinder leakage test is better for finding out where it is leaking than compression test. MHO.

[Dbeck]

Here's an update. cylinder pressure test came out fine. thought maybe the boost sensor might be the problem, nope. Local guy went through the carb that I thought was giving me trouble he said it looked fine. He also synced the carbs. still running bad. It's a timing problem he thinks and that is probably the tci.

 

Wondering if there is anybody close to me here in east central MN who might have there tci out where we can get to it so I can try it and see if that is the problem. I have pretty much gone through everything else. Kinda at the end of my rope with this thing.

 

Thanks

Doug

[Yammer Dan]

With TCI it is usually #2 to crap out first I was thinking. That is the left front. Some others can back me up opn this. I think it is #2 most of the time.Do you have the OEM plug wire ends?? These can be taken apart to clean. Large Flat tip screwdriver up inside them. Be carefull some little parts in there. Don't loose them.

[safetyguy]

If you have doubts about your TCI, have you considered an aftermarket TCI from one of Dingy's group buys?

 

They work great.

[mbrood]

Althought the TCI is a quirky little thing, remember you have four pickup coils to check for resistance and grounding, the interconnects to insure are clean and tight and the two large connections at the TCI are clean and tight as well. Then check resistance from inside each plug holder to the ignition fuse for 24K Ohms, (10k for the plug holder and 14K for the secondary on the ignition coil).

 

As mentioned, a leakdown test can be very crurial if you are losing compression through the rings or scratched piston wall.

 

These beasts have a history of very long life for the main engine parts with lower rebuilds being a rarer requirements.

[Dbeck]

He did test the pickup coils and they tested fine. He went through the progression of troubleshooting and ended at the tci. Are there any other electrical symptoms that would point to the pickup coils. Bad idle, green radio power light on when the radio is turned off, static coming through the speakers with radio turned off? Bike also stopped starting in 1st gear with clutch engaged. I have to start in neutral, thats a new one.

 

Just throwing out anything I can think of. I have cleaned and put delectrical grease on all the connections.

 

Would be nice if someone up here had a tci available to see if that is the problem. I will gladly buy an aftermarket tci if that is the problem but I got to know.

[raybear71]

I am over in Isanti and have followed the instructions on the site and moved my tci to the top of the air cleaner. Only takes a couple minutes to remove. Let me know if you want to try it. Ray

[Dbeck]

PM sent

[Dbeck]

The people on this site are the best! Just got back from raybear71's. 1st I pull up in his driveway and my bike dies. Won't idle at all. He starts lookin around and found one of my mix screws was way to far out. Now it idles better than it has in a long time. It even idles without the choke on!! Wasn't sure that was possible...

 

Hooked up his tci and went for a ride. That was it! 2 yrs of searching is over. I cannot thank you enough Ray. It was great to meet you and chat about our bikes and other things. Hope to get out for a ride with you sometime.

 

Now... about that 3rd tci group buy. If I contact them directly which one is for my bike? They have so many on there site not sure which one.