Firing on one cylinder

[Shauned71]

After a bit of help if poss... have spent about 20 hours out of the past 30 trying to get my bike to start with out any joy.

Yesterday morning I decide i'm going to try and get the bike fired up.... was still waiting on powder coaters to finish parts for me so was finding myself at a loose end with little else to do. Finished fitting water hoses, changed oil filter.. oil, water and battery all filled/topped up.. Bike turns over ok but not starting.. right now I can't say for sure if there are any fuel issues but right now that don't matter... what I do know is i'm not getting a spark... at least not how I should.

Yesterday I was getting a intermittent spark.. as in sometime it would spark on the front and sometimes it wouldn't.. The rear... that is worse and has hardly sparked at all. With regards to the front... when i press the start button either the plug will spark and keep going as long as i'm turning the bike over... or it won't spark and will stay that way until I stop turning the bike over... it's not a come and go thing while trying to start if that makes sense.

What I have done... everything.. checked every connection, checked every fuse, sprayed every connection and cleaned if need be..I have swapped everything possible. Swapped coils back to front, swapped them out altogether, swapped plugs... I have swapped out everything HISS related.. I have even removed everything Hiss related. I have checked, changed and even bypassed the side stand switch.. same with the kill switch. Just in case seeing as the frame etc has been recently powder coated I added an extra earth from battery to rear subframe... to the best of my knowledge everything is connected, everything is in place... have been through the haynes manual and done everything it suggests.. have spent plenty of time searching and reading up both here and on many other sites. I really don't have a clue where I go from here..

The last things on my mind right now... I have both plugs out for ease of seeing if they spark... with having both plugs out should I expect them both spark? The other thing.. pulse generator.. if that is faulty can that reduce me to just the front firing? I did a test as per haynes.. unplug and take a multimeter to it, as far as that test goes it checked out ok. Probably clutching at straws here... The tps.. I adjusted it while carbs were on the bench for cleaning... anything there?

Just bare in mind that right now, i'm just trying to get consistent sparking.. not worried about fuel or firing, can cross that bridge when i get there.

Kinda at the pull my hair out stage so any advice will be greatly appreciated.

[Wicky]

"frame etc has been recently powder coated" Have you checked earths esp subframe to main frame... and vacuum hose...

The Workshop Knowledgebase / VTR1000F (Superhawk) Firestorm Service Manual PDF > VTR1000F (Superhawk) Firestorm Service Manual PDF

Pg 21 Troubleshooting

ENGINE DOES NOT START OR IS HARD TO START

pg 333/405

[tony.mon]

Is there anyone near by who will.try your ecu and igniter box on their bike?
There's no risk that way.
It's just a plug in and would rule those out quickly.

[Shauned71]

"frame etc has been recently powder coated" Have you checked earths esp subframe to main frame... and vacuum hose...

Have added an extra earth direct from battery to subframe.. vac pipes are all good.. could be a problem with diaphragm in petcock but haven't bothered to check that yet because I don't have a spark good enough to run the bike regardless of fuel lol

At the mo im just trying to get a spark.. not even trying to fire the bike up.

Is there anyone near by who will.try your ecu and igniter box on their bike?
There's no risk that way.
It's just a plug in and would rule those out quickly.

I got a late model with the HISS on it... wasn't aware you swap bits around with older model. If it is possible I have another storm here I can test on. I have literally swapped everything out on this bike though with exception of the pulse generator.. I have swapped every removable component out around the original loom... and as I dont have a spare late model loom here I have swapped everything.. currently the bike is sat connected up to a early model loom and that is connected to all it's corresponding parts icu, igniter, r/r, clocks, switches etc etc again only thing not changed, pulse gen but although I have been reading, I can't find anywhere that suggests the pulse gen would give me my problem and I didn't want to unnecessarily pull the crank case back off.

[Shauned71]

Righty... scrap everything i have said so far cause she started. Haven't changed anything about the bike since my original post.. when I wrote that I had already hooked the bike up to the older loom and corresponding parts but I had posted with regards to trying to solve my problem with the loom and parts that belong on the bike.

I will try and start the bike again in the morning and warm her up a bit then I will switch back to all the original equipment all the while keeping my fingers crossed that she will start again..

Meanwhile i'd appreciate opinions... it may just be me but the tone of the bike don't sound right... maybe 'right' is the wrong word.. it just don't sound like my other storm... more of a higher pitch sound from the engine itself.

[tony.mon]

That doesn't sound right.
What's the history, has po rebuilt it or had work done?
If it has manual cct's try slacken off a couple of flats to see if sound decreases.
Is oil pressure light going out?

[alanfjones1411]

mcct's too tight ??

[Shauned71]

I will do some checks and get back. The video is the first time and longest the bike has run in near 2 years. Don't know of any previous work other than possibly a lightened flywheel. No manuals, it's on autos with stopper mod. Did get the bike running once home after buying it and did a couple laps of the block, pretty sure it sounded ok back then.

[Shauned71]

Started bike shortly after my last post... Bike started on button. Oil light goes straight out. I'm going to try my luck and reconnect original loom and components and have a tidy up, need to get some order back in my little shed before crack on with anything else. Will report back shortly.

[Shauned71]

Righty, one nice clean shed and bike back on all its original components...... Why do I feel like I have wasted 2 days of my life because the bike starts on the button

Now just to try and fathom out why the engine sounds the way it does