Pazon Sure Fire Ignition Misfire???

My engine is now stuttering/missing upon acceleration. I thought I had set the carb needles too rich causing a stutter type misfire on my 850 Commando after replacing a worn throttle cable. I figued I would try a litte richer mixture to see if it would run better.so when I was replacing worn cables I moved the needle clip from the top notch to the middle and the problems began. Stuttering/misfire. I moved the needles back today to where they were and the problem was still there. It seems to get much worse as the engine warms up?? It was not misfiring before I changed the needle notch to the middle notch. I may have caused another problem inadvertently though?? In the International Norton Tech digest it warns to never pull a plug wire to set the idle mixture with an electronic ignition system installed. It says you could permanently damage the electronic ignition. Has anyone had a problem with a Pazon Sure Fire ignition after pulling a plug wire and running it for a short time to set the idle mixture?? By the way I did put new plugs in it and it still misfired/stuttered. Any ideas?? I hate it when you fix two problems only to create a worse problem--Thanks for any advise

Mark,

The plug spark truncates the secondary voltage build-up, and thus limits the primary voltage ringing, which is seen by the ignition module. When you pull plugs and fire them, for diagnostic work, you must be sure to ground the plug body. Usually this is done by laying the plug on the top jug fin next to the hole, although I always ground it via a short test lead as well (there's not much current involved). I'm a bit confused as to why you pulled a plug to adjust the carb. While I'm a relative newcomer to this forum, in the past year I've never heard a member complain of roasting his EI in such a way; I have two Pazons going as we speak on bikes that I have rebuilt, and have spent many hours is diagnostic mode with the plugs pulled (and grounded). Anything can happen, but a damaged Pazon is, IMHO, an unlikely cause of your problem. Was your bike actually running well immediately prior to your carburettor adventures?

I had a Sparx module go bad from the cause you stated (I think), but when it went bad it was like the coils popped. Dead, nogo fini, kaputs, you get the jist. No sputtering no misfire no nothing. Old Britts replace just the module and all was good. Later upgrade to Pazon. So, if you got something, I would start checking the wiring. Seems like somethings loose or rubbing on a wear spot. Start under the points cover and start working back. That being said, I would also go through those carbs with a very fine toothed comb.

Thanks. The bike was running fine before the carb work. Maybe I jostled something loose when removing the tank?? I will look again once it is warmer tomorrow. The Norton manuals say to pull one plug wire and adjust the airmixture jet till the engine runs it's best on one cylinder and then do the same thing for the opposite cylinder. This procedure is done after synching the carbs to get the idle air mixture corect. I had to replace worn throttle cables and so the carbs required re adjustment. Other than that I have not done anything to the carbs expept tinker with the needle rich/lean settings which I am sure I have put back to where they were before the problem showed up.. It doesn't act like a carb problem now that I think about it. It is acting more like a misfire. I will go thru the usual suspect misfire checks tomorrow---Thanks again and I will get back to ya--Mark Cigainero

When the manual was written, all Nortons had points.

Pulling a plug and running on one cylinder with points is not an issue.

I think it was always an issue just not understood. When you put power to a coil and the points or an E.I. give a momentary ground the coil has to send its energy to ground. If the spark plug can’t provide the ground than it will find its own. The spark will go right through the side of the coil body to find this ground. I would suspect that the coil has been damaged. Sometimes the manual is wrong and not talking about a ground wire for this tuning crutch is just wrong. Power will always find a path to ground you can’t stop that. Now get a black marker and cross this bad advice out of your manual or add the bit about the wire with clips.

Pazon just e-mailed me back with the exact same thing you guys said. They suggested I do a spark gap test now to see if the ignition is working properly. I will also replace the coil and see if that is the problem. Luckily I do have a spare coil on hand. Thanks again for the good advise--Mark Cigainero

It might be a worthwhile excersize to try setting the timing... if for no other reason to see if you can hold 4000 rpm without breaking up.