Special thanks from a lurker- misfiring solved

[Tilt-M]

OK, I'm cheap! When my 96 R1100RT started misfiring intermittently, I took it to a (non BMW) bike shop I've been dealing with where I thought I might save some money. They are a great bunch of guys, but after studying my problem for a couple of days, they gave up saying they didn't have the right diagnostic tools. I had planned to take it to a BMW dealer the next day but then I remembered to check this forum.

 

I found several posts where guys have had the same problem as I have been having. It seems the older bikes have an issue with the HT stick coils going bad after about 40K. So, off came the plastic (I hate that part) and plug wires. I measured the resistance in each and found one read 5.8 ohms and the other read zero. Off I went to my local scalper, spelled BMW Dealer, and bought two new ones which read 6.1 ohms each.

 

My bike now runs smoothly again and I can only send out a great big THANK YOU to the members of this forum for allowing this lurker to ... lurk.

[T__]

Tilt-M, something is wrong with your measurement.. First off it could never be “0” ohms resistance as that means ABSOULTELY NO resistance.. Everything has some resistance,, even a solid non resistor spark plug wire.. Even if it had “0” ohms resistance that would mean the wire would transmit almost all the spark put out by the ignition coil..

 

Are you sure it wasn’t measured as “infinity” (that would be an open with no continuity)?.

 

Twisty

 

[AndyS]

OK, I'm cheap! When my 96 R1100RT started misfiring intermittently,.....

It seems the older bikes have an issue with the HT stick coils going bad after about 40K......

lurk.

 

Hey Lurk, Your bike doesn't have stick coils. If it did you wouldn't have to remove the tupperware.

However, it sounds as if you have replaced the HT lead from the coil to the spark plug cap.

Whatever...it's fixed and is running well. That's good.

However, you tell us you went to a non BMW bike shop that are a 'great bunch of guys'. Well, they may be 'great', but if YOU have managed to solve the problem with just the use of a simple multimeter, then I would suggest these guys can't be that good at their job. I would certainly steer clear of them for any electrically related issues.

Andy