bike still not starting :(

[match417]

So I did the coil conversion from the escort coil pack, it's giving me a hotter spark than I got with my old coil pack, but the bike still isn't starting, and it's making me wonder if it was my coil pack that went out in the first place. Even though I tested it and the resistance values were higher than what was mentioned in the book.

I have cleaned all wire connections that have to do with the ignition, even the connections at the fuse box. I took out every pin and took sandpaper to them. All except the gray and orange pins on the TCI box itself. And I ran a 10 gauge ground wire straight from the coil pack to the battery. Last night I thought about cleaning the engine ground wire, if it's dirty then the spark plugs won't ground that well. So I'll clean it too. Battery has a good charge, I was even trying to start it with the charger hooked up.

I even changed out my pickup with the one off of the 96 FZR I'm parting out, my rotor has oxidation on it, and I sanded down the bumps on it. I'm half-tempted to pull the rotor off of the parts bike because it looks brand new, and I also tried changing out the TCI box with the one off of the bike I'm parting out.

I AM getting fuel into the combustion chamber, I see the gas puffing out of the exhaust when I'm trying to crank the bike, and I have the airbox off of the bike so it isn't a really dirty filter issue. I even poured a little gas in each one of the cylinders to act as starter fluid.

Spark is a decent spark, but isn't igniting the fuel. I just put new plugs in a few days ago, and they've had a lot of unburned gas go around them while I've been troubleshooting, so I'm wondering if i've fouled them.

Next things I'm going to try is changing out the TCI box and sanding the contacts on the engine ground. If this doesn't do anything then I'll change out the rotor and see if that would give the TCI box a better signal.

I put the spark plug wires on so cylinder 1 on the escort coil pack goes to cylinder 1 on the bike, and I wired everything right. I double checked everything.

But i'm confused..anyone have any input?

[jong22250]

you got spark and fuel, u need to check the other key thing to make it fire, compression!

[match417]

I don't need to check compression, it hasn't overheated on me, puffed any kind of smoke, and it has never ran rough on me and there is no reason for me to have lost compression. And I don't ride it hard enough to have to worry about that. There is no need to check that, it ran fine before. It ran fine before 300 pounds of shingles and roofing crap fell on it off of a two story roof. Which makes me thing either the TCI went out (which I have swapped out with the parts bike already), it's a connection problem (cleaned all connections), or a dirty/bad ground (i'll hopefully clean later today when I get off work). I would bet on it not being compression.

[match417]

but I do agree with you that it makes sense to be a compression problem, I am kindof suspecting the spark plugs though. My valve lash may need to be adjusted too.

[reelrazor]

but I do agree with you that it makes sense to be a compression problem, I am kindof suspecting the spark plugs though. My valve lash may need to be adjusted too.

Valve clearance IS a compression issue (if they're too tight).


And, dry the plugs at least. It takes almost nothing to foul to the point of not providing a clean spark for cold start.

[haro504]

if your timing chain gets to loose it can jump teeth have you checked your timing yet i cant remember if you did

[Hawker]

Get those valves checked. My 400 went from being a mean-starting bitch to the easiest bike to fire up simply by adjusting the valves. The intake valves were so tight that there was next to no compression when the engine was cold. Now I don't need choke at all unless it is a cool morning below 15C. One touch of the button and it goes.

[match417]

Valve clearance IS a compression issue (if they're too tight).


And, dry the plugs at least. It takes almost nothing to foul to the point of not providing a clean spark for cold start.

I know, that hit me as I started to think about the compression. The reason I'm still kinda leaning toward it not being a compression issue is because it ran fine 3 days before the 300 pound pile of crap fell on it, started quick, ran great, then I tried to start it to ride it out of the pile instead of clearing a path, and it wouldn't start. Hasn't started since, so I've slowly been fixing the body over the last 6 months, just got that finished, replaced forks seals, resurfaced rotors and changed pads, then troubleshot everything and found a really weak spark, checked primary and secondary coil resistance, bad coils, put the escort coil pack on, started cleaning the electrical contacts, fixed some headlight/turn signal wiring I had been meaning to do, and did a lot of other small things, so I just now get it to where I can ride it, and there is a strong enough spark to ignite gas, as long as my plugs aren't fouled, but it still wont' start. Anyway, it just doesn't make sense to be a compression issue if it ran 3 days before the shingle pile fell on it, then it stopped running. I'll just adjust the valve lash anyway, won't hurt anything and it will rule that out.

[sweekster]

How fresh is the battery? Pickup coil and stator still test good? Have you cleaned the carbs at all? I'd look at those (unless you have already) in addition to the others that have been mentioned. It would not surprise me if your battery just doesn't have the enough cranking amps anymore. But that's just a guess.

[yamaha_george]

How fresh is the battery? Pickup coil and stator still test good? Have you cleaned the carbs at all? .

If he tried to start the bike in the debris then he has probably ingested crap into & may be beyond the filter. Fresh gas is a must, rinse out tank, new supply of gas. Had this problem after a volacano blew dust all over a bike. Fresh plugs would also benefit the cause.

[match417]

Battery has a good charge, I didn't test the pickup, my vom actually screwed up when I went to test it, so I grabbed a different one and never finished testing it. I put a different pickup on the other day, same thing. I could possibly have two bad pickups. I went through the carbs before I even started testing the spark, carbs are fine, I didn't even have to clean them. Gas is fresh, I drained all gas out of it while it was sitting, just put gas in last week. And my plugs are new, they have just seen a lot of unburned gas over the last few days.

[yamaha_george]

Battery has a good charge, I didn't test the pickup, my vom actually screwed up when I went to test it, so I grabbed a different one and never finished testing it. I put a different pickup on the other day, same thing. I could possibly have two bad pickups. I went through the carbs before I even started testing the spark, carbs are fine, I didn't even have to clean them. Gas is fresh, I drained all gas out of it while it was sitting, just put gas in last week. And my plugs are new, they have just seen a lot of unburned gas over the last few days.

Ok since the gas is fresh & fresh plugs and she still will not fire up. we have ruled out compression as 3 days before impact she worked ok.

Things that kill ignition weak battery you say it is OK, pickup coil seems OK,

How about when the crap hit the bike it has messed with the safety circuits sorry not one of my better days full of meds

[match417]

I've ruled out the safety circuits because the bike is in neutral, and the safety circuits prevent it from starting w/o the clutch pulled in and w/ the kickstand down, that prevents the starter from spinning. And sorry, I titled this "bike still not starting" without thinking, the starter spins, it just won't run. Cranking amps are fine by the way, I haven't checked the amperage of the battery, but it spins the starter well, so I'm not that concerned with that. Monday I'll clean the engine ground wire behind the starter, and I was actually thinking about cleaning the pins on the plug for the pickup. It's usually hard to plug and unplug.

[reelrazor]

Dumb question, but are you POSITIVE you have the correct signal wires hooked to the correct pins on the coils?

In other words, you are not trying to fire the 1 and 4 coil when you should be firing the 2 and 3 coil ?

[match417]

Dumb question, but are you POSITIVE you have the correct signal wires hooked to the correct pins on the coils?

In other words, you are not trying to fire the 1 and 4 coil when you should be firing the 2 and 3 coil ?

yeah, thanks.., I thought about that though, and I was actually going to double check it by pulling up the wiring diagram for the escort to make sure the left wire goes to the left coil and the right wire goes to the right coil. I made sure when I wired it up that the correct wires went to the correct side of the plug. Dude, if it is a simple as just swapping the signal wires I'll be sooooo happy. Easiest thing to do would be just to swap the plugs.