Post by Pizza on Sept 6, 2010 23:55:20 GMT -8
well i got the bike home and started digging in a little deeper after it decided that it was scared of racing and caused day-ending issues.
other than the bike barely running, i noticed a very strange sound ive never heard before when i keyed on with the stop/run switch in the run position, without turning the bike over. i pulled fuses and disconnected plugs eliminating possibilities.
when i removed the ignition fuse, the sound went away, that being the only condition that changed. off to the service manual wiring diagrams i went. i removed each component that the ignition fuse feeds one by one and checked. when i disconnected the front ignition coil, boom there it was. the sound was what youd imagine a dremel tool grinding on aluminum for about 1 second then stopped. my assumption is that the ECM does either a few sparks before firing up to clean any deposits on them, OR its just the sound of the coils charging up.
tried it with only the rear coil plugged in, and it made the same sound, but much quieter. the front however was almost 10x the volume.
i spent my evening convincing myself that there must be something wrong with the front ignition coil, and that it probably needed to be replaced. while i was at work tonight i made some quick searches on the my buell forum to see if there have been any other accounts of coils failing, and how i would even check to see if its actually damaged- couldnt find anything- which disproved that theory.
after work i decided to dig deeper. i wanted to know what the spark plugs looked like. on a bet to myself, i took off the front intake snorkel, and attempted to remove the front coil without rotating the engine this evening... and i won! out it came. with ease. the rubber end carefully slid across the wall that it generally is housed in, and it seems as though the frame was perfectly notched in order to just barely get the coil and plug out without spending the 4 hours it takes to rotate the engine!! go buell engineers! i cant believe still, that they call for rotating the engine forward and down in order just to change the spark plugs in the service manual...
compared to the rear coil, it has much more soot and metallic debris on it. not good.
took out the front and rear spark plug to see what was going on.
eehhh... wheres the electrode that used to be there?? not good. these spark plugs are 7500 miles old.
well atleast i know what the problem was.
what caused this? do i just need to change spark plugs? if so will this happen again? is it a coil problem? is it a ECM programming problem? the only computer modifications i have made were locking the Air/fuel values to 110 front and rear since it has a K&N air filter and drummer slip on, and i was unsure that it would make the necessary adjustments to run rich enough to not hurt any internal components. OR is this some type of engine internal problem? im not interested in going to the local harley dealerships that become mildly confused when i roll my bike in the shop, and im not looking to have some chrome installed, if you know what i mean!!
hmmmm.
other than the bike barely running, i noticed a very strange sound ive never heard before when i keyed on with the stop/run switch in the run position, without turning the bike over. i pulled fuses and disconnected plugs eliminating possibilities.
when i removed the ignition fuse, the sound went away, that being the only condition that changed. off to the service manual wiring diagrams i went. i removed each component that the ignition fuse feeds one by one and checked. when i disconnected the front ignition coil, boom there it was. the sound was what youd imagine a dremel tool grinding on aluminum for about 1 second then stopped. my assumption is that the ECM does either a few sparks before firing up to clean any deposits on them, OR its just the sound of the coils charging up.
tried it with only the rear coil plugged in, and it made the same sound, but much quieter. the front however was almost 10x the volume.
i spent my evening convincing myself that there must be something wrong with the front ignition coil, and that it probably needed to be replaced. while i was at work tonight i made some quick searches on the my buell forum to see if there have been any other accounts of coils failing, and how i would even check to see if its actually damaged- couldnt find anything- which disproved that theory.
after work i decided to dig deeper. i wanted to know what the spark plugs looked like. on a bet to myself, i took off the front intake snorkel, and attempted to remove the front coil without rotating the engine this evening... and i won! out it came. with ease. the rubber end carefully slid across the wall that it generally is housed in, and it seems as though the frame was perfectly notched in order to just barely get the coil and plug out without spending the 4 hours it takes to rotate the engine!! go buell engineers! i cant believe still, that they call for rotating the engine forward and down in order just to change the spark plugs in the service manual...
compared to the rear coil, it has much more soot and metallic debris on it. not good.
took out the front and rear spark plug to see what was going on.
eehhh... wheres the electrode that used to be there?? not good. these spark plugs are 7500 miles old.
well atleast i know what the problem was.
what caused this? do i just need to change spark plugs? if so will this happen again? is it a coil problem? is it a ECM programming problem? the only computer modifications i have made were locking the Air/fuel values to 110 front and rear since it has a K&N air filter and drummer slip on, and i was unsure that it would make the necessary adjustments to run rich enough to not hurt any internal components. OR is this some type of engine internal problem? im not interested in going to the local harley dealerships that become mildly confused when i roll my bike in the shop, and im not looking to have some chrome installed, if you know what i mean!!
hmmmm.
