Topic: Dyna S ignition problem

[Honda550k]

I had a dyna fail on me after running it for about a month. Cylinder 3 would die. I thought it was the coils so I switch to 3 ohms and the problem still occurred and was also draining way too much battery. I then switched to 5 ohms and the problem still occurred. So I was thinking it might have been the carbs. But Luckily before I actually fiddled with the carbs I bought a points plate and swapped it over and it fixed the problem. All 4 cylinders running and I've never felt the bike feel soo smooth and responsive. This was on a 78 550.

[dave500]

dynas seem to have a bad reputation?ive  run the boyer electronic ignitions for ages,dosent matter what you run time it at full advance,what it idles at who cares?once under way your at full advance anyway,any of these engines dont make specification power till after 5000 anyway and full advance is all in by at least 3000,try and consider the advance curve backwards and call it a retard curve,it lets the engine start and idle,anything over and above 3000 needs full advance,if you ride under 3000 "your doing it wrong"if you ride traffic stay in lower gears and keep the rpm up!

[Deltarider]

I'm with Dave. It's the timing at full advance that matters most. The timing unadvanced is (more or less) to facilitate easy starting.

[dave500]

yeah too much gets read into the advance curve,sure on an old v8 dissy equipped car where peak rpm is say 5500 and the engine lives between 700 to 3500 rpm the advance plays more part,its fully active and varies all the time during your drive,these also have a vacuum advance our bikes lack thatll take the advance on cruise/light throttle way up and beyond what our bikes experience,we dont really need a truely accurate curve,it only gets the bike running easy and tractable till your under way proper,time to full advance on these and where it ends up at idle so be it.

[Terry in Australia]

ARD Magneto's are fixed at full advance, (they were designed for drag racing) and therefore, are a prick to start, or so I've been told. I've owned several, but only to re-sell, for some reason they go for lots of money.

My Cuz's 1944 Indian Military Chief has a "throttle" on either end of the handlebars, the one on the left was the actual throttle (so you can shoot with your right hand, I guess) and the one on the right was the ignition advancer, and you need to retard it completely before you attempt to kick start it, or you'll go for a trip over the handlebars when it kicks back. Advance curves might be over-stated, but adjustable advance/retard is a must.