UPDATE: 79 GW 1000, no spark on right side both cylinders

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Rocker79
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UPDATE: 79 GW 1000, no spark on right side both cylinders

#1

Post by Rocker79 »

didnt run bike for about a month, started up to take a short cruise, ran rough, came home and found right side cylinders not firing.. Pulled plug wires off and nothing, no spark.. left side fine.. any ideas?
Plugs not fouled, gas is good.
Has electronic ignition.

Update 1: Mechanic checked spark, both sides firing, Adjusted carbs and replaced Floats. Replaced plugs and plug wires, continuing to check out, haven't found exactly why its running rough.

Update 2: Got an offer to buy my bike while still at the mechanics shop and took it. So for me, problem solved.

Thank you all for the advice and help while i had the bike for the last few years, much appreciated, this is a great forum.
Gary
Last edited by Rocker79 on Sat Dec 26, 2020 1:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Current rides:
79 GL1000
81 CBX Pro Link

Prev owned, not in order.
72 Suz GT500
75 Kaw 900 Z1
80 Suz GS1000
83 GPZ1100
84 GPZ 750 Turbo
85 Low Rider
89 HD Bagger
93 Kaw ZX1100
96 HD FLHT 96" with Nitrous 125hp
05 Triumph Rocket III 150hp
09 Street Glide
10 Bonneville Café style
18 Road Glide Special
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robin1731
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Re: 79 GW 1000, no spark on right side both cylinders

#2

Post by robin1731 »

Dealing with two different coils and ignition modules there. It's possible one half of each coil went bad at the same time but not likely.

I'd start with the easy stuff. Put new plugs in it.

.
1976 Goldwing Super Sport
1985 Honda Elite
1976 KZ900 Dragbike
1992 ZX7 Dragbike (KZ900 style motor w/NOS)
and a rotation of various purchases
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gltriker
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Re: 79 GW 1000, no spark on right side both cylinders

#3

Post by gltriker »

Did something chew through the sparkplug wire insulation on those 2 adjacent, affected cylinders?
Cliff (74yrs ;) )

Keep your eyes and ears open and you'll learn something new, everyday. tumb2

New users please visit our "Shop Talk" for common tips and help: <---jdvorchak
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^^^^^^^click up here^^^^^ :oldies

RE: a thorough fuel tank cleaning
"And your carbs will thank you. They no longer live down stream from a sewage plant." -gregforesi tumb2
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Cliff

'75 GL1000 home built trike; http://www.ngwclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=39996
October,2017 BOTM :shock: https://nakedgoldwingsclub.com/forum/page/Welcome

previous rides:
1953 H-D Servi-car, naked, 1969-1978 (serial#53G1559 committed to memory!)
1980 CB900 Custom (triked) 1997-2003 .... R.I.P.
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Rocker79
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Re: 79 GW 1000, no spark on right side both cylinders

#4

Post by Rocker79 »

I put new plugs in it. No spark to the right side.
Current rides:
79 GL1000
81 CBX Pro Link

Prev owned, not in order.
72 Suz GT500
75 Kaw 900 Z1
80 Suz GS1000
83 GPZ1100
84 GPZ 750 Turbo
85 Low Rider
89 HD Bagger
93 Kaw ZX1100
96 HD FLHT 96" with Nitrous 125hp
05 Triumph Rocket III 150hp
09 Street Glide
10 Bonneville Café style
18 Road Glide Special
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robin1731
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Re: 79 GW 1000, no spark on right side both cylinders

#5

Post by robin1731 »

Rocker79 wrote: Wed Sep 23, 2020 7:47 am I put new plugs in it. No spark to the right side.


So then you keep working your way up the plug wires/coils/ignitors/ignition module. Starting with the caps. As gltriker said something may have chewed the wires. But nothing in the ignition ties the two plugs on the same side together.

.
1976 Goldwing Super Sport
1985 Honda Elite
1976 KZ900 Dragbike
1992 ZX7 Dragbike (KZ900 style motor w/NOS)
and a rotation of various purchases
Randakk approved Carb Rebuilder
yawjansen
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Re: 79 GW 1000, no spark on right side both cylinders

#6

Post by yawjansen »

Had the same problem and fixed it by changing out my old coils, wires and caps. Could be the "black magic" where your points used to be as well...Could try swapping wires to opposite sides to verify function.
1979 GL1000 Early Stages of Rebuild 08/01/2020 First Shot at it!
Paola Zago
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Re: 79 GW 1000, no spark on right side both cylinders

#7

Post by Paola Zago »

hello, tell us your GL has electronic ignition. to a friend of mine, with GL and Dyna electronic ignition, the same thing happened and the mechanic said that an (irreplaceable) ignition pick-up had burned out! as it costs a lot, he decided to put back the original ignition with points and had no more problems.
Paola (Italy)
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Re: 79 GW 1000, no spark on right side both cylinders

#8

Post by Rocker79 »

Thanks for the advice guys, ill let you know what i find out.
Current rides:
79 GL1000
81 CBX Pro Link

Prev owned, not in order.
72 Suz GT500
75 Kaw 900 Z1
80 Suz GS1000
83 GPZ1100
84 GPZ 750 Turbo
85 Low Rider
89 HD Bagger
93 Kaw ZX1100
96 HD FLHT 96" with Nitrous 125hp
05 Triumph Rocket III 150hp
09 Street Glide
10 Bonneville Café style
18 Road Glide Special
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ericheath
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Re: 79 GW 1000, no spark on right side both cylinders

#9

Post by ericheath »

You say no spark. If you checked at plug, ignore what I write, but if you say no spark, but mean, the right side is not igniting based on temperature of exhaust:

Any chance your wires have become crossed? One coil and it’s source of trigger (electronic or points) fires the front cylinder’s, one coil fires the back cylinders. (This is what Robin was saying above)

Follow your wires up to the coils and make sure they are routed correctly.

Almost all other four cylinder bikes are wired 1-3 on a coil and 2-4 on the other. The Wing is different. 1-2 and 3-4.
Whatever I suggest here should be given ample time for a moderator to delicately correct. I apologize in advance.
77 WING, 1200 engine with 77 heads, cams, gl1100 foot pegs, Magna V65 front end, 764A carbs, [-gone Suzuki M109 monoshock--, replaced with gl1100 shocks] gl 1200 swing arm, gl1500 final drive, wheel and rear brakes Valkyrie seat, Meanstreak tank, Sportster pipes, Power Arc ignition off crank.
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robin1731
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Re: 79 GW 1000, no spark on right side both cylinders

#10

Post by robin1731 »

ericheath wrote: Fri Sep 25, 2020 8:52 am You say no spark. If you checked at plug, ignore what I write, but if you say no spark, but mean, the right side is not igniting based on temperature of exhaust:

Any chance your wires have become crossed? One coil and it’s source of trigger (electronic or points) fires the front cylinder’s, one coil fires the back cylinders. (This is what Robin was saying above)

Follow your wires up to the coils and make sure they are routed correctly.

Almost all other four cylinder bikes are wired 1-3 on a coil and 2-4 on the other. The Wing is different. 1-2 and 3-4.
I believe "most" inline 4 cylinders bikes are 1/4 on one coil, 2/3 on the other. That is the way Kawasaki did it on the KZ900/1000. But yes, a GL 4 cylinder is 1/2, 3/4.

.
1976 Goldwing Super Sport
1985 Honda Elite
1976 KZ900 Dragbike
1992 ZX7 Dragbike (KZ900 style motor w/NOS)
and a rotation of various purchases
Randakk approved Carb Rebuilder
redglbx
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Re: 79 GW 1000, no spark on right side both cylinders

#11

Post by redglbx »

Have you checked the spark plug caps ? They should be less than 5k ohms, like around 4.7-4.9k ohms. The reason I ask is that I am redoing an 82 cb750f that once I rebuilt the carbs it was still running badly so I pulled and measured all the plug caps & found the center 2 (different coils) measured completely open. First time I’ve seen them to be completely open.

So on your wing being that the rh side ( #1 & 3) do NOT share anything in the ignition & both have no spark it can only be either bad spark plug caps or the spark plug wires.

#’s 1&3 each use a different coil and a different set of points or pickup modules and being the LH set (#’s 2&4) have spark the coils and points/modules have to be good. Has to be either the plug caps or the wires.
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Gowing
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Re: 79 GW 1000, no spark on right side both cylinders

#12

Post by Gowing »

Wonder what the cause was?
Dave

1975 GL 1000
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1981 ct110
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Sidecar Bob
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Re: 79 GW 1000, no spark on right side both cylinders

#13

Post by Sidecar Bob »

redglbx wrote: Tue Sep 29, 2020 10:42 am << so I pulled and measured all the plug caps & found the center 2 (different coils) measured completely open. First time I’ve seen them to be completely open.>>
I recently tested some CX/GL500/650 caps that someone was interested in from the Cheap Parts I'm trying to get rid of before I have to clean up the garage so the car can park indoors for the winter and found the same thing. At first I thought it was bad resistors but even with them opened up and the insides cleaned there was no continuity between the screw that goes into the wire and the inside of the cap. I've never seen anything like that before either.
Mr. Honda ('83 GL1100/Dnepr) summer How a motorcycle evolves thread
The Famous Eccles ('84 CX650EI/VeloUral) winter Never Ending Build (CX500forum)
Click: Colour schematics for all GL1000 & GL1100 and GL1200 standard models plus instructions on how to download the full size version
"A guy with two sidecars can't be all bad." - Cookie
Another guy with two sidecars..... Hmmmm... must be something to that....
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Re: 79 GW 1000, no spark on right side both cylinders

#14

Post by gltriker »

Rocker79 wrote: Tue Sep 22, 2020 10:21 pm didnt run bike for about a month, started up to take a short cruise, ran rough, came home and found right side cylinders not firing.. Pulled plug wires off and nothing, no spark.. left side fine.. any ideas?
Plugs not fouled, gas is good.
Has electronic ignition.

Gowing wrote: Sun Oct 04, 2020 3:08 pm Wonder what the cause was?

from Rocker67's profile: he was Last active:Fri Sep 25, 2020 8:43 am
Last edited by gltriker on Fri Oct 09, 2020 8:45 pm, edited 3 times in total.
Cliff (74yrs ;) )

Keep your eyes and ears open and you'll learn something new, everyday. tumb2

New users please visit our "Shop Talk" for common tips and help: <---jdvorchak
http://www.ngwclub.com/forum/page/ST
^^^^^^^click up here^^^^^ :oldies

RE: a thorough fuel tank cleaning
"And your carbs will thank you. They no longer live down stream from a sewage plant." -gregforesi tumb2
"Can't see the paint when your looking thru the handlebars..........." -Oldewing ;)
"I'd rather Ride than Shine" -RAT tumb2 Me Too!!

Cliff

'75 GL1000 home built trike; http://www.ngwclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=39996
October,2017 BOTM :shock: https://nakedgoldwingsclub.com/forum/page/Welcome

previous rides:
1953 H-D Servi-car, naked, 1969-1978 (serial#53G1559 committed to memory!)
1980 CB900 Custom (triked) 1997-2003 .... R.I.P.
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Sidecar Bob
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Re: 79 GW 1000, no spark on right side both cylinders

#15

Post by Sidecar Bob »

That's only 2 weeks ago.....
Mr. Honda ('83 GL1100/Dnepr) summer How a motorcycle evolves thread
The Famous Eccles ('84 CX650EI/VeloUral) winter Never Ending Build (CX500forum)
Click: Colour schematics for all GL1000 & GL1100 and GL1200 standard models plus instructions on how to download the full size version
"A guy with two sidecars can't be all bad." - Cookie
Another guy with two sidecars..... Hmmmm... must be something to that....
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