Topic: Need some help trying to start bike with suspected frigged kill switch

[b1jackson]

wow...I thought I was the only one dumb enough to make that mistake.  It took me about 12 hours to track that one down.

Ouch....I will remain unscathed from the comment on my intelligence and once again thank Scottly for walking me through this thing step by step.  I've never worked on CBs before, had no clue about wiring or multimeter testing.  Bought it as a non runner and when it comes down to the coils, I put the bracket the same way the PO did with the Pamco and as you know, they hook up differently and I'm not sure the little lip in the bracket matters for them.

Yes, I had a short in the kill switch and obviously some other issues as well.  A tremendous learning process over an hour or so each evening. 

Tomorrow, I'll fire it up again for a real test drive!

[scottly]

Jackson, here is what I think happened:
The PO incorrectly installed the brackets when he mounted the new coils, and after some period of time the insulation failed on one of the black wires, shorting to ground. When you replaced the "failed" coils, you mounted the brackets the same way, only this time it was the yellow wire that was shorted to ground, which wouldn't blow a fuse, but also wouldn't make a spark. The big clue was when the resistance between the blue and yellow wires dropped when the blacks were connected to the harness; this could only happen if there was continuity between either the blue or yellow wire to ground. Don't feel bad, when I was looking at my old K1 coils, the bracket on the back was pressed up tight against one of the black wires, and I had never noticed before now.

[b1jackson]

I'll report back after my road test.  Dang this has been fun!

[seanbarney41]

wow...I thought I was the only one dumb enough to make that mistake.  It took me about 12 hours to track that one down.

Ouch....I will remain unscathed from the comment on my intelligence and once again thank Scottly for walking me through this thing step by step.  I've never worked on CBs before, had no clue about wiring or multimeter testing.  Bought it as a non runner and when it comes down to the coils, I put the bracket the same way the PO did with the Pamco and as you know,

no way dude.  You totally get the win here as I have no excuses...I have owned 13 or so of these in the last 7 or so years and had 'em all running, my coils were not incorrectly assembled by a previous owner, I did it myself, and I was too ignorant to post up my problem here and only solved it by borrowing a mint set of stock coils from my buddy for comparison/testing, after installing my entire collection of spare coils WRONG, and thinking they were all somehow bad.

[scottly]

Don't forget that you now have the added option of turning your headlight on or off!

[madmtnmotors]

Well done Scott. 

I went back and looked at the pictures too, and I had a heck of a time spotting that, and that was after you told us what the issue was. Let that be a lesson to all that ask for guidance...

you can't take too many pictures! 

[scottly]

you can't take too many pictures! 

10+ Bits are cheap, and a picture is always worth a thousand words.

[DH]

You deserve a beer or two for that one sir. I raise my glass to you.

[NobleHops]

Scott, you kick ass. b1jackson, you do too, for hanging in there and sorting this out.

[b1jackson]

About 10kms of a flawless road test complete.  Ran it through all the gears and had it up over 60 mph a few times.  Pulls pretty dang strong!  I was impressed with the power of it.  Idle seemed to smooth out when it warmed up. 

I need to fix my carb bowl gasket on # 1 as when I put it on the side stand, it weeps out.  I think the PO put a kit in the carbs and perhaps used a cheaper quality gasket that isn't sealing correctly. 

I've also got fresh oil in it with a small dose of seafoam to hopefully solve a fouling plug issue that the PO mentioned.  I'll do a few more short runs with it before changing out the oil.  I know there are sceptical folks on seafoam, but I've always had good luck with it.

[przjohn]

Congrats on getting on the road, and a big, "Well Done" to Scottly for hanging in there with you and spotting a tough one in my book. Internet troubleshooting is tough, but even tougher for electrical with these old bikes that have been through a few owners. Enjoy your ride!

[b1jackson]

I've also got fresh oil in it with a small dose of seafoam to hopefully solve a fouling plug issue that the PO mentioned.  I'll do a few more short runs with it before changing out the oil.  I know there are sceptical folks on seafoam, but I've always had good luck with it.

So I picked up some rotella T today since it was on sale  and after doing about 20km of test drives, I decided to drain the clean oil I had spiked with sea foam and put new in.  The seafoam dose was to hopefully fix a oil plug issue on #4 only maybe thinking a sticky valve or something since the bike has sat for a couple years.  It's not completely fouling the plug but only about 1/2 of it and it seems enough to make it miss a little bit.  I'll maybe take a pic of the plug to show what I mean.

So here are the non scientific results of my seafoam treatment (about 5 ounces or so) in the crank case with fresh oil and 20 km of running.  Fresh oil out of the jug on the right.  I was quite surprised how much it darkened.  Free plug for the Canadian supplier we all know and love as well 

[b1jackson]

 Bringing this thread back to life as I am working on this bike again.  Pretty much parked it last fall and covered it.

Guess this is why plug #4 would foul.  The boots are toast!

[b1jackson]

And yes...on the carb to airbox boots, there was electrical tape and gobs of caulking.

Yeeesh!



All new boots and clamps going back on.