Somethin Just Aint Right.

[Don M]

Can't seem to get my 04 twin spark R1150RT to run smoothly at low RPM.

 

Don't know if this is relevant but I recently had a low speed tip-over when it stalled in the middle of a tight U turn with a full load of camping gear and luggage. After the fall the bike was hard to start and ran like crap until I discovered a loose connection on the left stick coil. Reconnected things and it would start OK but surged slightly when cruising and wouldn't idle if the engine temp got up to six bars. Checked both stick coils when I got home and found that the right one was bad so I replaced both of them. Just did a TB sync and low speed idle adjust but still can't get it smoothed out. When I start it cold with the throttle advance it runs OK for a few seconds and then gets rough and the RPMs start to fluctuate. Once warm it will idle but surges slightly and when I start to increase RPM it gets rough just as I first start to apply the throttle.

[Spyder]

If you damaged the stick coil, you may have cracked a plug as well.

[Ken H.]

What does the sync check like?

[realshelby]

After my recent episode with stick coils, don't assume they are both working! The only way I could diagnose it was to have the throttle locked to hold about 3k and disconnecting the "secondary" plug cap. The engine would show a large drop in rpm and smoothness on the side with the bad stick coil. FYI, the bad stick coil would spark a plug against ground with a good looking spark. It apparently just would not fire in the combustion environment.

[Don M]

What does the sync check like?

 

I'v been using a carb stick for years to balance the TB's on the oilheads I've owned and I'm able to get them set up no problem. These were in sync when I worked on the bike the other day.

[Ken H.]

It stays in sync when you advance the throttle to the roughness RPM area?

[jblaze5779]

Sounds exactly like my problem... I've replaced both coils and I'm still trying to track it down.

[RT Pilot]

I just went through a similar prob with my 04 RT (38K miles); I ended up replacing the secondary plug wires (both sides) to fix my issue, although this seems to be very rare. My secondary plug wires DID show signs of wear through the outer layers of protective rubber. . .it might be worth inspecting these on your bike just to rule it out. I was able to isolate the problem wire by disconnecting each primary coil separately to see if it would run on just the secondary plugs. . I also looked at both sets of plugs and could see that the right, secondary was much dirtier than the others. I replaced both wires while I was in the neighborhood. . . .I got my replacement wires at http://www.webparts.com/ . They had the best pricing around and threw in free shipping. If you need more info, PM me.

 

RT Pilot

[jblaze5779]

Not to derail the OP's thread but I've checked all my wires and they appear to be good. I'm thinking about checking out the HES harness next.

[Boffin]

Not to derail the OP's thread but I've checked all my wires and they appear to be good. I'm thinking about checking out the HES harness next.

 

To check the wiring you have to remove the outer sheath. The wire degrades at the point it is clamped to the block and you cannot see this without stripping off the outer sleeve.

 

Andy

[jblaze5779]

Not to derail the OP's thread but I've checked all my wires and they appear to be good. I'm thinking about checking out the HES harness next.

 

To check the wiring you have to remove the outer sheath. The wire degrades at the point it is clamped to the block and you cannot see this without stripping off the outer sleeve.

 

Andy

 

I checked them both with the digital multimeter and the came in about at 16kOhm. I've read online that this is about normal.... do you agree?

[Boffin]

Sorry, I think I have confused the matter with the terminology I used. I meant to say that to check the HES harness wiring you have to strip the sheath off and do a visual check.

16K sounds about right for resistive plug wires.

 

Andy

[jblaze5779]

yeah ok we're on the same page now. I'm going to strip them down tonight if I have a chance.

[Don M]

It stays in sync when you advance the throttle to the roughness RPM area?

 

I didn't think to check sync at that point. I did rotate both throttle cable pulleys, scrape them out and hit them with compressed air to clear any debris that might have been trapped under the cable....didn't see or feel anything but the bike seems to idle better. Haven't had time to recheck sync since I cleaned the pulleys.