Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech Coil or CDI or ???

My 05 America rolled 50Kmi on Wednesday during my 120 mile ride to the office. When I headed home Thursday I tanked up with gas, and started tearing up the back roads. I was riding hard trying to make sure I made it to the boys soccer game.

About 25 miles in to the ride I hit a small bump where the asphalt transitioned to a concrete bridge and the engine died. I tried the starter button, I tried down shifting, then I toggle the engine kill switch and eventually she fired back up while I was still rolling.
I pulled in to a parking lot and she died. Oil temp was below 200 as it was kinda cool out.

Got her fired back up and made it another 10 miles or so and this time when I hit a similar bump in the road she died again and it took 20mins or so to get here going.
I check the Coil wires, plug wires, fuses, battery terminals, all good.
She eventually fired back up and I made it 20 more miles where my buddy meet me with a trailer. During this 20 miles I het one solid bump and she cut out, but toggling the engine kill switch brought her right back.

CDI...or Coils...seems neither cylinder was firing so I think CDI.

BTW, I still made it to the game just after half time, they were tied 1 to 1, and the boy smoked the goalie for a go-ahead goal to break the tie. They won 3-1. Damn Proud =)

Corrosion on the two small wires at the coil ??..check that first. Check the connections to the CDI for corrosion...I think CDI work or fail...not intermittent.

I had a loose connection on one of the 12v connectors on a coil that caused my bike and I grief.

Since it only seems to happen when you hit a bump, check those items that might come loose and shut down your engine. Coils and wires already mentioned. Loose, weak or missing sidestand spring. Sidestand switch and wires. Ignition switch wires. Kill switch wiring. Headlight bucket wiring.

I doubt you have a CDI failing. The plug might be loose on it though. Inspect all your wiring if you can't find something simple. Usually, something is loose and making/breaking contact to give you that condition.

Really guys? Did you not read his post? It only cuts out when he hits a bump...its his SHOCKS that are the problem!!!!!

yup, it was totally the Shocks... ;-)
Spent yesterday playing hookie with my boy so I'll be troubleshooting today

Thanks for all the input. I'll let yall know what happens

So everything looks just fine. The only thing that had backed out, and just a tad, was the starter relay.
I cleaned the kill switch, and I cleaned the kick stand kill switch, and I verified grounds on the Coils and CDI. Even did a wire flex test to verify there were no possible broken wires.

I'll install the gas tank this morning and see what happens.

Check the battery connections

battery connections are solid, as are all the connectors I've checked. Gonna pull the fuse box and key switch today and see what's up behind them.

ok, I lied... while pulling the fuse box and key switch I noticed the Positive terminal was a little loose, like 1/2 to 3/4's of a turn =)
I know I verified it was tight before, maybe...oh well, I know I haven't touched the battery terminals in about 18months so it could have easily rattled loose. Maybe that will fix it...

it probably will

I had the same problem back in April while out riding with some friends. We were doing about 60mph and the Ol' Chap just died. Pulled over and it fired right back up, did this 2 more times that day. That evening I pulled into the garage and hooked it up to the battery tender like I normally do. Now the charger usually kicks over to green fairly quickly. The next morning as I was leaving for work I noticed it was still yellow so I knew there was an issue. Turns out I had a loose negative terminal cable. I hadn't touched them since I changed the battery two years ago, tightend it up and have been good ever since. That ought to be a lesson to us to go over out bikes on a regular if not at least annual basis. I for one am bad about just hopping on it and going.