Hi Greybeard,
"But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world
to confound the wise..." First Corinthians 1:27
I did hook up an old Sears Penske timing light only to not be able to read it! It flashed but at the 4Krpm of the problem all I got was almost a steady light on. Either side too. No difference in intensity. At idle, the flash rates were somewhat odd though. Maybe due to the wasted spark principle? I'll look in the cheap parts bin for the cheapo light and try that. I replaced the plugs. Redid the elctrical connections to the battery and the coils using dielectric grease replaced the vacuum rubbers, checked the gas, drank a beer and mowed the lawn. Oh well.
Now tell me if I am over-educated please, as from some on-line research, I am concerned that of the four parts of the ignition system: Trigger coil, Source coil, Ignition coil and ignitor, one of these is bad. Do we have all of these components?
I put my ignitor on Tom's bike and Tom's bike ran fine.
I've got an ignition coil on order. If that doesn't fix it I'll take a new spark plug and bend the side electrode out straight, solder a small clamp on the side, clamp it to the cylinder head and hook up the spark plug cap. Crank the engine and observe the spark. Still twarted in my repair attempts I'll tape a cheap neon timing light to my handlebars and go for a ride. Look at the light. If the light looks bright and steady when the misfire occurs, then the problem is in carburetion. If it goes out when the misfire occurs, then the problem is with the ignition.
Then to test/replace the Trigger coil
Then to test/replace the Source Coil.
I got the verbage from a website that discusses such issues.
Dan's Motorcycle "Electronic ignition" Mike (mikemm03)had a similiar problem and they replaced his ignition pick-up coil (that would be the Trigger coil?). Ran great after that, then it happened again. I look at the microfiches and cannot locate the ignition pick-up coil. I'll look in the service manual as I believe it to be behind the alternator cover. I also believe that the Source coil too lurks behind that cover as well.
Frustrating problem. Kinda makes me long for the points and capacitor days of old... What is really frustrating is having to wait for parts. NO ONE has anything in stock. No One...
