Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech need help with possible ignition problem

i think i am having a ignition problem but im not sure. it started out this year with my bike not running on the right side cyl, so i replaced the plug and that seemed to fix it for a while, then it happened again a couple times ( just intermittently for short times but would go back to running normal). i was thinking bad coil so i swithched the left and right coil. both cyl are firing now but it has a miss that i can feel when i ride and sometimes it is shooting flames out of the exhaust pipes (both sides) any ideas?? thanks for your help---cliff

Could be ignition but check all rubber carburetor vacuum caps and manifold inlet rubber sleeves first.
Your bike is an '03 and the rubber dries out and cracks.

Mine did the same thing last year except no fire coming out the pipes. I did a lot of searching on here and come to find out other had the same problem. It was the ignition control unit. It was kinda pricy I think about $260 from Procon but after a quick switch it has been running just fine ever since. Good luck to you.

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Could be ignition but check all rubber carburetor vacuum caps and manifold inlet rubber sleeves first.
Your bike is an '03 and the rubber dries out and cracks.

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Cliff, I was not implying that you do not have an ignition problem.
The point is that there are other things that are a lot cheaper to try first.

Good point Tony. I know because of the price I checked everything I could before I went and got it. I never did find a way to test it just had to do process of elimination.

Don't forget to check your pickup coil clearance under the right hand side cover. Should be .8mm not the posted 1mm for those early models. This was a known cause of intermittant ignition problems. Simple fix involving a cover gasket. Make sure you leave the bike on the sidestand because some oil will come out if you level the bike.