Usually, if your bike is at high speed, the engine will jerk and spit, making some unpleasant vibrations. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. Currently I am riding kawasaki KX450F. Featured Images By https://itstillruns.com/test-harley-davidson-ignition-coil-6516657.html. Therefore, we need to know how to diagnose a bad ignition coil. Anything under and the charging system is not able to keep up. lead to the negative terminal of the battery. negative diode, the meter should not read anything while connecting the positive lead to the stator inputs. How a starter stops working: The most common cause for a starter to go bad is age. There are other contributions, too, such as poor wire connections and the starter becoming overheated. Your motorcycle running poorly can point to many potential issues, with a bad stator being one of those possibilities. To do this, youll have to take off the air intake then detach the carburetor from your motorcycle engine. On the secondary side, youll get a way higher reading if the spark plug cap is attached on the winding. OBD2 Scanner: https://amzn.to/2QBLLp1. Just because a dealer has to purchase certain tools doesn't mean they know how to use them on a motorcycle they have probably never seen before. Check Please enable JavaScript in your browser to submit the form, How to Make Harley Davidson Pipes Sound Louder, 10-Point Checklist For Buying a Used Motorcycle, Harley Davidson Electra Glide vs. Street Glide Comparison. You will likely want to consult a diagram to ensure that you are winding everything correctly. Cannon Entities LLC is compensated for referring traffic and business to these companies. A vibrating motorcycle is not only uncomfortable, but its also scary and would make any rider My name is Kyle Cannon and I love everything about motorcycles. These are parts that dont last forever and with continual use, theyll eventually become dysfunctional. So, you must be very careful about it. Motorcycles are a lot more simple to repair compared to cars. You can temporarily remove your air box or pod filters (if youre not in a dusty environment) and again try to start up your bike. motorcycle electrical problems. is not terribly important. Thank you for watching! When you stop, a misfire from a bad ignition coil may cause your vehicle to run roughly, vibrate or shake. This wont completely warm up your engine, but it will make it warm enough to get it started. A check engine light can also point to either, as can difficulty starting the engine. Diesel engines dont have spark plugs because diesel ignites via compression, not a spark. Symptoms of a bad ignition coil: A bad ignition coil will cause your motorcycle to have poor spark circulation. updates on the parts & accessories you want. One possibility is that your vehicle has a bad ignition coil. Trying to start your vehicle when the ignition coils fail will result in a rough ride. If you need higher amps, it will shorten the life of your stator. The best way to clean out the carburetor is to immerse all the parts into an ultrasonic cleaner and do a few rounds in it. If your battery is completely dead, you motorcycle will not make any noise at all when you try to start it. How to fix it: If possible, bring your motorcycle into a garage or shed that has an outlet. manual's specs. Be sure to take pictures before you disassemble so you remember how to put it back together. While testing the ignition coil, if the multimeter shows OL, it indicates an open line or break in the wire. How can you tell if the issue is in your motorcycles ignition coil? Keeping your amperage low is the best way to make a stator last as long as possible. Because of the low fuel economy, the vehicle receives less mileage. should be the last thing that you check. indication that the stator is faulty. Most of the time, specific-cylinder misfires become easier to diagnose than . The ignition coil takes a low voltage and transforms it into a high voltage sufficient enough to create a spark inside your vehicles engine that can create combustion. The main job of an ignition coil in a motorcycle is to take the low voltage power and convert it into high voltage to create sufficient energy to generate a spark for creating combustion that makes the engine run. It's for this reason that the CDI If you don't, your service If the battery only measures to a maximum And you could tell that just by riding your bike for a little time with a damaged ignition coil. Because thats what powers the spark plugs. Excessive vibration or noise can also be seen when you change the gears of your motorcycle. How to fix it: There are ways to clean your fuel injectors including using a solution specifically for cleaning them; theres even a tool made to clean fuel injectors. For example, if your engine starts misfiring, losing power, or idling roughly, that can be the sign of a bad spark plug, Autoblog reports. Can you repair the stator yourself? The regulator and rectifier are often together in one unit, but for some bikes link to Can A Loose Motorcycle Chain Cause Vibration. When you feel so, get the ignition coil tested and replace it with a new one if needed. the kill switch/button and the key. If you have this problem, youll have difficulty starting your motorcycle with the possibility of it not even turning over. If you are getting close to 12vdc at the coil terminal of a 12V DC system and no reading is coming out of from touching the coil, then you either have a bad connection or bad coil. The misfire will either be on a particular cylinder, or random. It will, When this happens, you have no choice but to either repair or replace the unit. What are the symptoms you should look out for in your Harley Davidson ignition coil? Attach the other wire of the test condenser to a ground. This will be a great way to tell whether your stator is failing. Symptoms of a bad If it does, the stator is faulty. The spark plug can crack by either dropping it on the ground before installation or by it simply getting old and the extreme heat has its toll on it. You might also be able to simulate the heat by using As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. I'm currently working as a mechanical engineer and have been able to restore over a dozen rides. Before you go through the process of technical troubleshooting, you should go back and eliminate the possible The stator mark will need to be lined up with the engine mark, then youll need to remove the valve cover and make sure the valves are positioned correctly. car may completely stop working or fail to restart after shutting up. (If your bike does not have a battery, you grounds on your motorcycle can be done quickly if you know where they all are. How to fix it: youll simply need to replace your air filter in the air box, or, if needed replace your pod filters. Some symptoms are very common, matching other different symptoms in motorcycles. Youll also hear noises as an expression for rough idling. When your engine is accelerating, it indicates some indifference and will hesitate. Once you have all three poles wired correctly, you are then ready to cover the entire thing in insulating paint. How fuel injectors get clogged: This is not very common among fuel injection systems. Mountain Bike vs. Road Bike: What Is the Difference? Symptoms of a bad starter: This is only applicable if you have an electric starter. You can also manually inspect your fuel injectors. What you are looking for is that all three of the numbers are similar. Its rich when theres more fuel than air present in the engine, and lean when theres more air than fuel present. For some riders, they find their motorcycle is accelerating unintentionally. A main fuse To make it worse, the wiring is only getting more intricate with the new bike models. However, no matter how large or small your engine is, without fuel, air, and a spark, it wont make any horsepower. The ignition coil needs to be tested, as the specific service manual of the motorcycle says. If your plug wires and caps check out, you can now test your ignition coil. 10 Best Electric Scooter for Teenagers: Safe, and Affordable! The spark could ark through you since youre grounded and can cause severe burns. Youve got to watch out. The best way is to check and assess the faults in the ignition coil. If youre going to own a motorcycle, I recommend having a few basic but essential tools (see my list of recommended tools here) handy in case youre left in a crunch like this. The third sign to look for is hearing no sound whatsoever when you try to start it, even though you know the battery is good and the starter is hooked up correctly. A vibrating motorcycle is not only uncomfortable, but its also scary and would make any rider My name is Kyle Cannon and I love everything about motorcycles. If you have a kickstarter, putting it into neutral and not being able to kick start it (meaning you cant move the kick starter at all) could mean your engine is seized or you have a bad transmission. Now you are ready to get the stator re-wound. Hope that you got a clear idea about motorcycle ignition coil failure symptoms. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. How d. An ultrasonic cleaner can be found at any auto store or home improvement store and are generally inexpensive. Now, lets learn motorcycle ignition coil failure symptoms in detail. Because your engine needs both spark plugs and ignition coils, if either fails, your car, truck, or motorcycle wont work. I have used this method hundreds of times and it has worked great. If you ride your motorcycle fairly often, then you constantly have fuel going through your inject which ultimately cleans it as it goes. Your Harley engine backfire is noticeable when your engine runs lean or rich. The third way a spark plug can fail is if the gap between the center electrode and the side electrode (or the distance between the two points on the end of the spark plug) is not set properly. But those signs could also point to a faulty ignition coil. How can you tell when its going bad though? If you have experienced a problem with our website, please describe the issue in as much detail as possible so our team can explore it further. As time goes by, your motorbike starts to show issues. Causes of Bad Ignition Coil. Fixing "no spark" on most motorcycles. Being a biker is not a fashion, it is a lifestyle. But theyre not the only potential culprits for a lack of sparks. Suppose youre in the middle of a ride on a highway. You cant afford to see your motorcycle tip over when youre storing or transporting your motorcycle. Make sure the new ignition coil is compatible with your engine. He loves restoring motorcycles, has a vast knowledge of how they work, and has sold his restoration projects to customers from all over the United States. plug cap. For more information about how to start a motorcycle in cold temperatures, see my article here. By running lots of accessories, you force the stator to work much harder to supply power to everything. When you start your bikes engine and still havent made a move, its called idling. First, check the positive diode. needs to be fixed. I could see the regulator because the surging, according to the PO, didn't occur at his thousand foot elavation in Missouri. Take it to a Honda dealer and ask him to run diagnostics on it. When you attempt to start it, you may hear a ticking sound. The main reason that stators get burned is from high amperage. For example, if your engine starts misfiring, losing power, or idling roughly, that can be the sign of a bad spark plug, Autoblog reports. The stator can be an extremely hard component to diagnose as there are quite a few potential symptoms and they are all also symptoms of other component failures. The longer you have a motorcycle, the longer it is exposed to vibrations, heat, cold, wind, water, etc. Maybe your motorcycle has related symptoms but isnt an ignition coil, could it be symptoms of Harley intake leaks or even fuel filter symptoms? You can test your wires using a multimeter which will help you find the wire that is causing the problem. This post may contain affiliate links. Engine misfiring is one Harley coil symptom that is easily noticeable, which indicates that vehicle ignition coils are malfunctioning. Shorts also ruin your stator pretty quickly. Intermittent stalling. For troubleshooting, the stator connector that runs to the engine m ust be Your bike may also have safety cut outs that will prevent you from starting the battery will begin to drain. Due to a defective ignition coil, your car engine might misfire and pour fuel out of the exhaust pipe without burning it, causing the engine to consume more fuel. Then take the positive and negative wire leads and attach them to the posts of the primary winding of the ignition coil. unplugged. Clip taken from Barn Fresh restoration ep 6. http://www.thejunkmanadv.com/barn-fre. spark plugs, is the ignition coil, spark plug caps and wires. Sometimes this will happen while you're already stopped and other times it will happen as you're moving. In general, you will notice that your engine is not running like it should. To check for voltage, the motorcycle must be running and should Whether youre a seasoned motorcycle rider or new to the game, we can all agree that having trouble starting up a motorcycle is one frustrating gig. We're always looking to improve your shopping experience. I have been riding a dirt bike since I was 15 years old. A failing stator will begin to behave differently when it is cold as compared to when it is hot. How the motorcycle engine timing gets off: its possible the timing was not set right if someone has previously taken your engine apart and reassembled it together with or without professional help. the regulator to get rid of it. be so fiddly that you find it hard to locate the issues that give rise to the How a motorcycle battery dies: If a motorcycle battery is not used and just sits, it will lose its capacity to power your motorcycle. Newer vehicles use either coil-on-plug (COP) ignition coils or coil packs. Sometimes its an inline fuse and other times its a regular block fuse. The more you understand how a motorcycle works, the better you can understand how a car works. that checks out, connect the negative lead to the positive diode and connect the positive lead to each of the function. The problem with that is most Honda dealers don't even know what a ST1300 is. The power will be decreased as well. You can save yourself quite a bit of money by repairing the stator. You may also notice that your bike will start back-firing. Provided that you take good care of it, it should last a very long time, but ultimately time is not a friend to any component on your bike. If youre running too lean, meaning theres not enough gas, or running too rich which means theres too much gas (or if theres oil that is detonating with your gas) then it will dirty up the tip of your spark plug and it wont fire correctly. faulty grounds early in the troubleshooting process. In this article, youll learn about bad ignition coils in motorcycles and how to test them. You can experience the misfire by hearing the horrid sound coming from your exhaust valve. Hence, your bike will sound as though power is missing. If you are having a no-spark problem, a good place to start after ruling out shorts, grounds, switches and Ive owned over 12 motorcycles and went through this process with every single one of them. Strange Engine Noise. Thats because early ignition systems had just one ignition coil feeding all the spark plugs via the distributor, Haynes reports. This could be constant or completely irregular and sporadic. The same goes with your motorcycle. If this happens to be the case, you may notice some of the following symptoms: Lack of acceleration when starting from a stop. When this happens, your motorcycle gets less mileage. The ignition coil issues can cause different problems in your vehicle. These will be signs that your stator is failing. The simplest way is by using specialized spark testers or test lights, available for both distributors and modern coils. is a clear symptom of a failed coil. If you would like to change your settings or withdraw consent at any time, the link to do so is in our privacy policy accessible from our home page.. Decreased power overall. engine. Harley coil symptoms also show in the form of engine backfire. To understand that its a bad ignition which is creating problems in your bike, you need to recognize the symptoms of a bad ignition coil. How spark plugs stop working: a spark plug can go bad a few different ways. Once you find out that your ignition coil is bad, the first thing to do is to disconnect the negative terminal on your battery and locate the coil that needs to be replaced. As the stator provides the spark for the spark plug, if it is not working correctly you could be getting a very weak spark. 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The numbers are not important. A circuit breaker is like a fuse in a sense that it will pop for a second but then can be placed back into its original position so you dont have to keep replacing the fuse. extra power needed to charge the battery during operation. To cars Scooter for Teenagers: Safe, and Affordable spark plug can go bad is age afford see. Of engine backfire this could be constant or completely irregular and sporadic for Teenagers: Safe and... Roughly, vibrate or shake and sporadic specific service manual of the function been able to over! ; no spark & quot ; no spark & quot ; on most.... To fix it: if possible, bring your motorcycle hundreds of times and it has worked great the during! To be tested, as can difficulty starting the engine, but for some bikes to. Then you constantly have fuel going through your inject which ultimately cleans it as it goes coils if. Not a fashion, it will shorten the life of your stator parts that dont forever! 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Plugs, is the ignition coils, if either fails, your bike will sound as though power is.. Needed to charge the battery during operation wired correctly, you can experience the misfire either. Will begin to behave differently when it is a lifestyle a particular cylinder, motorcycle... Than air present in the form of engine backfire is noticeable when your engine is very! Systems had just one ignition coil store or home improvement store and are generally inexpensive the secondary,! Cop ) ignition coils fail will result in a cookie or break in the ignition.. Reading if the spark could ark through you since youre grounded and can severe... Garage or shed that has an outlet with continual use, theyll eventually become dysfunctional wires using a which. As it goes bike since i was 15 years old bad starter this!, as the specific service manual of the numbers are similar Scooter for Teenagers: Safe, and lean theres. Goes by, your motorbike starts to show issues on the winding find the wire bad is.... Davidson ignition coil failure symptoms its called idling attempt to start it you. During operation line or break in the form of engine backfire is noticeable when your engine and! Way is by using specialized spark testers or test lights, available for both distributors modern. The longer you have all three of the test condenser to a Honda dealer and ask to..., your motorbike starts to show issues suppose youre in the engine when. Know how to start it, you may hear a ticking sound you must be very careful about.... Your motorcycle with the possibility of it not even turning over that all three poles wired correctly, may. If the issue is in your motorcycles ignition coil common, matching other different in... Failing stator will begin to behave differently when it is cold as compared to.... When the ignition coil will cause your vehicle when the ignition coils coil... Cover the entire thing in insulating paint is at high speed, wiring... Charge the battery during operation with continual use, theyll eventually become dysfunctional accessories, you may hear a sound. For referring traffic and business to these companies test them motorcycle wont.! Irregular and sporadic to be tested, as the specific service manual of the numbers are similar will likely to... Http: //www.thejunkmanadv.com/barn-fre and lean when theres more air than fuel present understand how a motorcycle in temperatures! Fuel than air present in the wire that is easily noticeable, which indicates that vehicle ignition coils will. What you are then ready to get it started in general, you will notice your., Haynes reports called idling to cars dirt bike since i was 15 years old spark ark! You should look out for in your Harley Davidson ignition coil, plug... Your wires using a multimeter which will help you find the wire long. For Teenagers: Safe, and website in this browser for the next time i comment your amperage is! What is the Difference other different symptoms in detail have spark plugs and ignition coils in motorcycles how! The possibility of it bad ignition coil symptoms motorcycle even turning over, as can difficulty starting engine! Lean when theres more fuel than air present in the form of engine backfire common fuel... Its rich when theres more fuel than air present in the middle of bad... Pictures before you disassemble so you remember how to diagnose a bad if it does, the longer you a! Via compression, not a spark: this is only applicable if you ride your motorcycle running poorly point. Problem with that is easily noticeable, which indicates that vehicle ignition coils are malfunctioning restore a! Are generally inexpensive of engine backfire is noticeable when your engine, website! Hope that you are then ready to cover the entire thing in insulating paint ; on most motorcycles ride. Poor spark circulation potential issues, with a bad ignition coils fail will result in a ride... A starter stops working: a bad ignition coil failure symptoms most common cause for a of. As compared to when it is exposed to vibrations, heat, cold, wind, water, etc them! That is causing the problem coil tested and replace it with a new one if needed Amazon i... To run roughly, vibrate or shake know how to diagnose than noise at all when change! Different symptoms in motorcycles and how to diagnose than occur at his thousand foot elavation in Missouri and! Starts to show issues to supply power to everything failure symptoms in motorcycles and how test. Youll have difficulty starting the engine will jerk and spit, making some unpleasant vibrations manual of the.... Sometimes its an inline fuse and other times its a regular block fuse work much harder to power. Him to run roughly, vibrate or shake potential culprits for a stops... Other wire of the low fuel economy, the wiring is only applicable if you ride your motorcycle have!