I Am Newbie Defeated.... For Now...

Man,

So my bike has been running very good in the past. 66 Skyhawk kit, three or four tanks past break in I think. I worked to make sure the carb was nicely sealed with no leaks and set at the stock second position. Somewhere between 27:1 and 32:1 with maxima oil. Original three point spark plug.

I knew the 415 chain was going soon, but just as I was headed to the bike shop with a new 41 chain, the 415 broke and took out a couple of my rear spokes.

Well my hand was forced to do the right thing. I got my rear wheel laced with 12 gauge spokes. Also had them break and join the #41 chain so no master link.

So here's where my problems begin. Got the new wheel and chain on and tensioned with the tensioner. And decided to put in a better spark plug. Got an NGK BP7HS.

At first, it seemed more smooth, but with less torque on the low end, a hint of bog here and there, but that seemed to work itself out. Also, there were a couple of little smoke puffs coming out of the exhaust on start, hadn't seen smoke since first breaking in the engine. I assumed the engine was maybe getting used to the cooler plug.

Then on the way to work today, everything was running just great. Stopped for coffee. Had the coffee in my cup holder, and I was running a little slower than usual so as to reduce splash and to avoid ejecting the cup. Then out of no where the bike shut off as I came to the stop light.

Since then nothing. I spent a few hours after work trying various stuff I read here from the "bogging" and "engine won't start" threads.

I pulled the plug, it was a little a oily on top of tan.

I took off the speed air filter, to see if it was clogged... it was clean. I took off the bowl to look for dirt, and also to verify that the fuel would flow through, but also would shutoff when the c clip was pushed by the float. Float looked good and didn't have any gas in it.

Tried a few starts, With Choke the engine would seem to start, but then would eventually bog out. Tried starts with half choke and no choke and a few variations on that. But when I came to a stop the engine would die. It just never started hitting, popping, the usual good signs.

Fiddled with the Spark some more and the boot broke. So I figured, better time than any to replace the wire and boot. Pedaled over to Pep Boys, asked for a 7mm copper core spark wire with boot. All they had was a 7mm lead wire and boot. Also it has "Suppression" written on the side of it. I heard on this forum that you should avoid that sort of thing, as it can weaken the spark on these bikes. That's all they had though, so I took it home and put it on. I also swapped to a B6HS, just in case the 7 was too cool for my engine or something.

So spent a couple of hours pedaling up and down my hilly street. Trying various ways to start it. I pulled the spark, its now kind of oily, but thats not a surprise cause I'd assume the engine not really firing up is causing that. With the plug out and touching the head, I rode the bike, and did see the blue spark. I don't know how strong it should be, but it did look a little weak when going fast, and at slower pedaling didn't seem to be sparking. But I'm not sure how its supposed to look. I tried what Norman recommended for flooded engines. Still no action. About two out of 20 attempted startups, when I switched out of choke the engine popped a few times like it was going to finally catch, but then it bogged down and died like the other times.

I took the cap off of the black cat, I did notice that a little fuel was coming out of it. I stuck my fingers in it, felt the honeycomb metal, didn't seem to be clogged, but I know when it happens it happens in that catalytic converter part that is welded deep in there.

So my next two moves.

1. Take off the muffler and go for a try. If it starts, then I'd assume the black cat is clogged. Not sure how I'll clean it but maybe I'll try carb cleaner. If that doesn't work I'll try to find a hacksaw, or maybe just buck up and order something else.

2. Get a 7mm copper core wire without "suppression" or "shielding" or "noise reduction". Something for bikes if possible. Hopefully Autozone has a better selection than pep boys.

If neither of those work out, I guess next up is to Solder the wires.

Then Kill the kill switch - Although how do you kill the motor if it actually starts... close the lines and run it out of gas? Is there a trick there?

After that start replacing stuff. The magneto, which I'm still kind of scared of going in there. Order a new CDI while I'm at it.

I know there is possibility that the magneto is out of sync with the piston, but would that just happen out of no where?

So I'm just kinda throwing out in one place all I've gleaned from your guys advice and expertise, but If there is anything I've missed please let me know. I had a good three weeks or so of commuting to work on the bike. I wanted to ditch the car with something better and learn something new.... bikes and engines are both new to me. It's been rewarding and fun, but my bikes got me beat down for the moment.

I'm addicted to these forums, you guys are all a brilliant blast.

gebhardm - Yeah I think I read your thread, I'll try that next. I'm hoping that is it.

Bikeguy Joe - I worked pretty hard to seal the carb, but I know how the vibrations can affect things. How do I check for the leaks though without starting the engine and spraying carb cleaner on it? Also, as far as the crank seals, where should I look and what would I be looking for? As far as I can tell no fuel leaks from the bottom of the engine, what can I do to check this out? Thanks!

Goat Herder, I'll definitely try blowing through the black cat when I get it off. Also, how do I stop the engine if I disconnect the kill switch and the thing fires up? My kill switch is currently wired to the white wire. I heard thats not the right way to do it, but I thought the instructions said to do it that way.

Also, I've got the current spark plugs gapped to around .034

thanks all!

Are either of these harder on the engine/drive chain?

Do most of you guys opt for a heavier duty kill switches like they have over at SBP or do you just go with out?

Okay fixing the bike became a little more of a priority as of today.... check the pic below.

So I took off the muffler. Blew through it, it seemed to be clog free. I sprayed carb cleaner into both sides of the muffler, nothing out of the ordinary came out as the fluid swished right through.

I tried to start the bike with the muffler off. No dice, it popped a little, but then nothing. Tried first with choke on then part way, then full off. I tried about 10 times. It should be loud right? the first attempt was loudest, then all other attempts were too pooped to pop. It never caught, and as I came to a stop every time it died.

So my hopes for the simple problem of the clogged cat are dashed.


My last hope for an easy fix are that this suppression wire in combination with a long run to hide the cdi are currently to blame. And that my initial break down was due to a fouled plug, with a broken boot occurring when I went to pull the plug.

Made a quick youtube vid to show the plug run below. Its probably unnecessary, but maybe it helps illustrate something.

YouTube - ‪Sickly Bike No Go‬‎

So with no car till paycheck comes I'll have to wait for finding/ordering a new plug wire, 7mm copper core.

The next step is to remove the kill switch. I know the kit one is notorious for failing. As mentioned before its currently connected to the white. What should I do with the existing wires?

Bikeguy Joe, are you talking about resealing the carb's connection to the intake, or the intake to the engine or both? For the Crank Seals, should I remove the clutch cover on the right side, and the magneto cover on the other side then just look for something fishy? I haven't yet opened either of those parts of the engine for fear of losing bearings or knocking the magneto out of wack.

All right, Thanks guys. Gonna get rid of that switch and report back.

KC, nice looking stuff there! So its not just the lockable circuit, but you upgrade the wiring as well on the cdi?

I looked at Norms link up there. My understanding is I have to take note of the direction that the magneto is installed. Is there an obvious thing that would show whether the magneto has fallen out of sync? I'll also be looking to make sure the wires are properly connected. These seals, they should be flush with the casing? I also saw from another thread that a wet magneto is a bad thing, so here's hoping its dry.

Got rid of the switch and put the muffler back on.

She started in choke, then kind of roughly transitioned to an idle when I turned off the choke. I rode a couple of blocks, brought it up to wide open throttle once, it still felt a little under powered. Then the engine just died when it came back to idle. Like before, after that I couldn't get it started back up. The pops were few and far between, with a couple eratic fires but not enough to keep the engine running. Overall, it was running about 5 minutes max before it died.

I reset the slide to the original second position. Swapped in the BP7HS (removed the B6HS) now gapped at .025 per your suggestions.

I also opened the magneto side to have a look. Definitely suspect. I was able to see the gasket peeking over the flat side of the rotor. I rotated the rotor further to inspect the gasket. It looked nicely seated to me. And I'm assuming because it was nice and dry in there, that fuel wasn't leaking in. However, there was a significant amount of rust in an area that looks like once held fluid. I assume it was water that caused the rust, I have ridden home from work a couple of times in serious rain. So I think there is a possibility that the rust may be causing problems. But, isn't a magneto really simple? Like just magnets moving against each other? How do the magnetos go bad? And the fact that the bike fired up, but then after awhile seemed to lose its spark seem like it is more likely that the rust in the magneto is just a red herring, and its more likely the CDI is to blame?

I'm making a lot of assumption, and I know how that can go....badly.. with the u and the me and the ass thing.

What I haven't done yet is pull the clutch cover and inspect that gasket seal. What happens when the seal is bad? Does it reduce compression? Cause an Air Leak or gas leak? Cause for that five minutes the bike was running half decent. Pic of the magneto attached.

Thanks GearNut,

I haven't yet soldered the wires, they are still together with those pesky clips. I've got solder and an iron, so no excuse. That's next. But would it have worked for that 5 minute run if the clip connection was bad? Only one way to find out.

I'm also calling around to see who has 7mm copper core with no suppression and a nice boot. So far its a no go with Advanced Auto and Pep Boys.