steer_rally Posted April 29, 2009 Posted April 29, 2009 Hi. Just come from introducing myself in the newbie section, and I've already come across a problem with my bike, and I'm hoping someone on here can help Bought my first bike a couple of days ago on Ebay. 1989 Yamaha XJ600.Never owned a bike before, never even sat on one. So, I've just spent the last 5 minutes riding around the garden in 1st gear and then the engine cut out and won't start again. The starter turns the engine, no problems there. The tank was pretty low on fuel when I picked the bike up, but I've put a couple of litres in and the fuel seems to be flowing ok. If I disconnect the pipe from the fuel tap and turn it to prime, fuel flows out. If I turn the tap fully on and try the starter, fuel flows. So I'm assuming that's all ok.Ignition - took a spark plug out and no spark. Tried about half a dozen times, about 4-5 seconds each time, no spark. Then, on about the 6th attempt, the plug fired off a few sparks and the engine tried to start (but obviously wouldn't run because one of the plugs was out).Any ideas what could be causing my intermittent spark problem? Any usual suspects, loose wires etc? Any advice greatfully received.Many thanks Quote
Guest Posted April 29, 2009 Posted April 29, 2009 Could be degredation in the HT leads?And this may sound daft, when you were checking the plug, I imagine you held the plug against the engine casing or something....The first time you tried, are you sure that you had a good connection between plug casing and bike (casing or frame or whatever?) Being 20odd year old bike, whatever you pressed plug against could be a bad conductor (covered in crap etc).Keep us posted... Quote
steer_rally Posted April 29, 2009 Author Posted April 29, 2009 Hi Dan. Thanks for input so far.When I checked the spark plug, I had it resting against the engine, on a bit that I'd cleaned up and scraped the paint off of. I was getting no spark for ages, and then suddenly had a spark and at the same time the engine tried to start. I had thought that maybe the plug just wasn't grounding against the engine, but the fact that she tried to run at the exact same time that I had spark at the plug I'd removed, made me think that the fault lies somewhere else. Just found a heinz manual on the net, going to try checking each part of the ignition system in turn, starting with the plug cap resistance, and will keep you posted.Any more ideas, please keep them coming.Thanks again. Quote
iain Posted April 29, 2009 Posted April 29, 2009 hi and welcome to the site the problem could even be a loose plug cap/s or at the coil end of the HT leads.also it could be the wires going to the coils, check if they are clean and tightly on.hope this is of some help mate Quote
steer_rally Posted April 29, 2009 Author Posted April 29, 2009 Sorted Finally managed to remove the seat and found that the ignition fuse and holder had been removed, and the wires spliced together , bare wires everywhere, probably shorting out the ignition system.As a temporary measure I've soldered the wires together and taped them up.Hey presto - starts first time, every time.Obviously I'll be getting a fuse on there asap. Fingers crossed that's sorted and I can move on to the next problem.Thanks all for your help Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.