Ignition Coils - which is which?

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8541Hawk
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Re: Ignition Coils - which is which?

Post by 8541Hawk »

Well as you have tried everything else and even though it is not how it normally fails I would say it is time for a new pulse generator. :thumbup:
Loud pipes don't save lives, knowing how to ride your bike will save your life.
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Steve97
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Re: Ignition Coils - which is which?

Post by Steve97 »

The problem seems identical to one i had last year, turned out to be very small pin hole in pet rock diaphram, its cheap enough even if yours looks ok, i would change it

Steve
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Loo Kahs
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Re: Ignition Coils - which is which?

Post by Loo Kahs »

8541Hawk wrote: Sun Feb 04, 2018 4:34 am Well as you have tried everything else and even though it is not how it normally fails I would say it is time for a new pulse generator. :thumbup:
Hadn't heard of such thing. Having looked at a few other forums... people tend to mention the ignition fully cutting off as the symptom and having to wait before being able to turn on again. Which... isn't the case.

What's your reasoning behind it?

My brother had floated the idea that perhaps the sparkplug leads need changing if the bike was playing up on wet/damp days... but the problem existed before and after I replaced coils (which came with leads) and regardless of weather - weeks without any rain and vice versa. It'd be some mad coincidence for both sets to have bad leads?
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Loo Kahs
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Re: Ignition Coils - which is which?

Post by Loo Kahs »

Steve97 wrote: Sun Feb 04, 2018 9:27 am The problem seems identical to one i had last year, turned out to be very small pin hole in pet rock diaphram, its cheap enough even if yours looks ok, i would change it

Steve
What were the symptoms precisely?

Not sure if you've seen it, but I did check out the diaphragm last year and gave it a wee wipe. It looked alright to me.

Image

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Took the bike out today to work and back.

On way to it was almost fine. Maybe intermittent playing up for a short while. On way back, probably more like half the trip.

What I noticed is that, it will get worse, but then when you stop at a traffic light long enough - it gets better (same as the previous youtube videos really). What could that mean?
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8541Hawk
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Re: Ignition Coils - which is which?

Post by 8541Hawk »

Loo Kahs wrote: Fri Feb 16, 2018 7:28 pm
8541Hawk wrote: Sun Feb 04, 2018 4:34 am Well as you have tried everything else and even though it is not how it normally fails I would say it is time for a new pulse generator. :thumbup:
Hadn't heard of such thing. Having looked at a few other forums... people tend to mention the ignition fully cutting off as the symptom and having to wait before being able to turn on again. Which... isn't the case.

What's your reasoning behind it?

My brother had floated the idea that perhaps the sparkplug leads need changing if the bike was playing up on wet/damp days... but the problem existed before and after I replaced coils (which came with leads) and regardless of weather - weeks without any rain and vice versa. It'd be some mad coincidence for both sets to have bad leads?
The most common failure mode is that you start to have issues with being able to rev to the limiter. Then as time goes on the issues move to lower parts of the rev range
This is caused by the pulse generator not reading the ignition rotor properly.

So you might, again might but because you have tried all the other bits in the system, have a pulse generator issue.

Now you posted that people mention the ignition fully cutting off, is this supposed to be due to a pulse generator failure?
If so, it is incorrect information, the bike usually runs just very poorly and hard to trouble shoot.
agentpineapple should be able to point you to his dyno chart when he had a failure.

But again, it is just a thought.
Loud pipes don't save lives, knowing how to ride your bike will save your life.
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Loo Kahs
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Re: Ignition Coils - which is which?

Post by Loo Kahs »

8541Hawk wrote: Fri Feb 16, 2018 9:51 pm The most common failure mode is that you start to have issues with being able to rev to the limiter. Then as time goes on the issues move to lower parts of the rev range
This is caused by the pulse generator not reading the ignition rotor properly.

So you might, again might but because you have tried all the other bits in the system, have a pulse generator issue.

Now you posted that people mention the ignition fully cutting off, is this supposed to be due to a pulse generator failure?
If so, it is incorrect information, the bike usually runs just very poorly and hard to trouble shoot.
agentpineapple should be able to point you to his dyno chart when he had a failure.
Don't exactly recall having any problems reving to the limiter, but then I might have simply never done so... perhaps I'll try it someday.

In September I met up with agentpineapple in the hope that I'd be able to show him the problem. Prior to arriving it was playing up. I arrived, parked up and eventually he had a go on the bike - it worked perfectly. 5 minutes after I left, the problem came back :)

The odd nature of sometimes working and others times not...

could it have anything to do with air.. or fuel filter? .... previously I had suggested heat - but it seems that with winter here it hasn't really made any difference whatsoever.

I might write this up again in another thread when I have a moment with more detail. It'd be nice to find the problem.
Peeb
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Re: Ignition Coils - which is which?

Post by Peeb »

Any resolution?

I'm having the same issue. Search "Engine Loses Power" for my description. This started off sort of sporadic and now the bike bogs and loses power between 1.5 and 2 miles from home. I did check and replace the screen in the tank and the diaphragm when I bought the bike and I did a flow test with the tank on a bench. By default, I'm thinking pulse generator and for $53.96 us on partszilla.com I guess I will just try it. A peak voltage adapter for a standard voltmeter comes tomorrow. Chapter 17 (ignition section) of the Honda Service Manual specifies a test procedure for coils, involved portions of the harness and ignition pulse generator. I will post here and on the thread above.
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Chris58
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Re: Ignition Coils - which is which?

Post by Chris58 »

Coils can do that.. they can act up more when they are under load (high rpm) and seem ok at low rpm. Usually it will get worse the hotter they get
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