Poping and erratic running there then gone.

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Joe Schlaberdowski said:
Called PowerArc. Was told: After 1/4 second! The ignition reverts to TDC firing. Thus it is wrong (and, dangerous in my opinion with a banged tibia that still feels the "touch" of a kick back start lever) to kick it hard to start it. You give it a prod to get it close to start feeling the compression, and then "gently kick it over". No high rotation rate to get spark. That first spark is set at TDC -- ALWAYS (1/4 second to a reset to TDC). In fact, there in lies the danger. If you give it the traditional hard kick and that kick does not result in a start, but goes round to the next compression stroke TOO SLOWLY (there wasn't a very good charge of fuel and air the first time over, OR it didn't fire the first time over, but just pulled a good charge into the cylinder, it will fire with standard advance!! And THIS time it Can kick back! The advice was as soon as you give it a nice little kick, GET YOUR FOOT OFF THE KICK STARTER! So I have a good piece of advice for Power Arc. All the problems (and the danger!) could be fixed if it could be programmed to stay at TDC firing for TWO ROTATIONS instead of one. If TDC firing was enough to get it through and over compression from the first firing through the second, now with regular advance, it will work for the second rotation as well. So even if you kick it so hard it goes round a second time with a weak or even no firing the first, the second won't backfire and kick your foot off. You could even program the ignition curve to stay at TDC (NO possibility of kickback) until you flipped the switch to the second, normal curve. But that's not the reality today. So GET YOUR FOOT OFF THE KICK START QUICK! As to my problem getting stuck in the middle of nowhere? Carry a jumper wire for diagnosis and possible cure as described above.
Click to expand...

Strewth, what a carry on. I’d bin that and put something ‘sensible’ on it!

There’s plenty to choose from.
 
Joe Schlaberdowski said:
Called PowerArc. Was told: After 1/4 second! The ignition reverts to TDC firing. Thus it is wrong (and, dangerous in my opinion with a banged tibia that still feels the "touch" of a kick back start lever) to kick it hard to start it. You give it a prod to get it close to start feeling the compression, and then "gently kick it over". No high rotation rate to get spark. That first spark is set at TDC -- ALWAYS (1/4 second to a reset to TDC). In fact, there in lies the danger. If you give it the traditional hard kick and that kick does not result in a start, but goes round to the next compression stroke TOO SLOWLY (there wasn't a very good charge of fuel and air the first time over, OR it didn't fire the first time over, but just pulled a good charge into the cylinder, it will fire with standard advance!! And THIS time it Can kick back! The advice was as soon as you give it a nice little kick, GET YOUR FOOT OFF THE KICK STARTER! So I have a good piece of advice for Power Arc. All the problems (and the danger!) could be fixed if it could be programmed to stay at TDC firing for TWO ROTATIONS instead of one. If TDC firing was enough to get it through and over compression from the first firing through the second, now with regular advance, it will work for the second rotation as well. So even if you kick it so hard it goes round a second time with a weak or even no firing the first, the second won't backfire and kick your foot off. You could even program the ignition curve to stay at TDC (NO possibility of kickback) until you flipped the switch to the second, normal curve. But that's not the reality today. So GET YOUR FOOT OFF THE KICK START QUICK! As to my problem getting stuck in the middle of nowhere? Carry a jumper wire for diagnosis and possible cure as described above.
Click to expand...

My new to me this season Pazon Altair, (replaced the old analog Boyer) does the SAME GODDAMNED THING.
I have always given an all or nothing kick. I have thought “maybe TOO much?”
Wowwww
 
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baz said:
Have you thought about fitting elektronik saches or Lucas Rita ?
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I've thought about "canning" this damn thing for what it did to my leg and for almost stranding me!! I outlined a fix for the kickback (whether they or I can program it that way, I don't know yet), but don't have a fix yet for being stranded! It would be nice if someone's done a recent comparison on, say, the top electronic ignitions. Haven't heard much about the Lucas (is it still "Lucas, prince of darkness?) Rita. And I've never heard of the "elektronik saches" ignition. Or is that a class of ignition types? But, yes, I'm at the point of being fed up with trying to debug something I paid fair price for (not one of the cheap ones, that's for sure!). I could give the reprograming kickback fix a shot. But what about being stranded. I sure didn't expect to pay much for that little pleasure. So, the question is do I just ride around the block till I get that sorted out, or only go out if I can have somebody pick me up? I've decided on a simple primitive device. Good battery, dead battery. Good wiring, bad wiring. In fact just two wires. A magneto. The only way to be sure of getting home with a 45 year old wiring harness is to replace all that with new And all the switches And the alternator as well. Or get a magneto. Yep, that's what I said. A magneto. A sparkin bangin magneto. With a retard lever (no "play on word" jokes please). Cat's out of the bag and I know I've done it now.
 
Danno said:
A blade connector can be slid in alongside the female rather than in the center and locked. Will still work-sometimes.
Click to expand...

BTDT recently. One of the 3 wires from my alternator was not pushed home in the female. Was running single phase instead of three.
 
Joe Schlaberdowski said:
I've thought about "canning" this damn thing for what it did to my leg and for almost stranding me!! I outlined a fix for the kickback (whether they or I can program it that way, I don't know yet), but don't have a fix yet for being stranded! It would be nice if someone's done a recent comparison on, say, the top electronic ignitions. Haven't heard much about the Lucas (is it still "Lucas, prince of darkness?) Rita. And I've never heard of the "elektronik saches" ignition. Or is that a class of ignition types? But, yes, I'm at the point of being fed up with trying to debug something I paid fair price for (not one of the cheap ones, that's for sure!). I could give the reprograming kickback fix a shot. But what about being stranded. I sure didn't expect to pay much for that little pleasure. So, the question is do I just ride around the block till I get that sorted out, or only go out if I can have somebody pick me up? I've decided on a simple primitive device. Good battery, dead battery. Good wiring, bad wiring. In fact just two wires. A magneto. The only way to be sure of getting home with a 45 year old wiring harness is to replace all that with new And all the switches And the alternator as well. Or get a magneto. Yep, that's what I said. A magneto. A sparkin bangin magneto. With a retard lever (no "play on word" jokes please). Cat's out of the bag and I know I've done it now.
Click to expand...
Elektronik saches is the same spec as Tri spark
Lucas Rita is ancient reliable technology
I used to have Boyer on my Norton for many years but it would randomly kick me back
I never did get to the bottom of it and couldn't risk it any more with my knee cartledg collapsing
So I went back to Lucas Rita first kick starting runs perfectly
But now is electric start as soon as I touch the button
Some of the Lucas stuff deserved the reputation but not the Rita it's second only to points in the reliability stakes
 
jbruney said:
Had my misfortune today also... Gave up on the speedometer repairs/replacement, and just did a GPS setup. Well got it all in there and right off the bat, whilst snugging up the cap bolt on top of left fork leg with that big ole box end wrench...…. It slips and I break the glass.... It survived in working order though.
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I thought I was the only one clumsy enough to do that... Tapping on the fork nut with a mallet to free the stanchion taper. Missed. Smacked the speedo. A $200 repair bill from Nisonger's. Ouch.
 
My old ZZR 1200 (after a several-thousand mile ride in Colorado) started acting as if out of fuel. I had done a carb-synch and valve set right before the big trip, where it performed flawlessly. Two months later, the intermittent problem surfaced. I first disconnected the electric fuel-cut safety valves and it would run on two instead of just dying. That enabled me to isolate the problem to one coil and I discovered one of the connections with the blade beside the female instead of inserted securely. Pulled it off and re-connected properly, re-connected the fuel cut valves and it ran perfectly again.

I can understand how laying hands on a machine and then discovering a problem says you screwed something up, but 2 months later, who'da thunk it?
 
Put a new Boyer Mk4 on several years ago now , set it and forgot it there .... never ever kickback , also running 34vm mikuni single ... before I installed mk4 had similar issues as Joe , turned out to be a coil acting up once it was hot .... since the new ignition and coils/leads no troubles in that dept. lots of other minor issues ,but not starting and running ... my bad leg loves the one kick start and rock steady idle ...
 
I've got a rock steady idle and one giant kickback start. To be fair I'm going to try the easy start approach, getting my old foot off the kickstart as fast as I can. We'll see how that works (does anybody out there think I'm a glutton for punishment?). Anybody familiar with good ole Charlie Brown and the football? Anyway I'll start it, and carry a cheater wire to bypass the circuitry in case the highly unlikely breakdown (which has already occured twice in succession) happens again. Well I paid good cash for a 45 year old bike that didn't run, didn't I? Here's the question, "Why do I like it?"
 
My wassell ei is basically same buyer analog models. I've never had kick back and I usually give it a good hard kick through after bringing to compression stroke.

Don't all EIs do something similar to retard timing at start up?
 
A sea Captain (Mike) on this forum from USA called me for some help while he and 2 of his sons were in Nova Scotia for a quick mini tour , Mike has very short legs .... his ride was ‘72 Combat Roadster with Tri-Spark ..... once we got his headers tightened and safety wired , I watched Mike start his beast several times through course of the evening, he got to BTDC , then turned ignition on and really just pushed ever so lightly on KS lever and he had fire .... I thought at first he was playing tricks but after seeing it done a few times , I was a believer , he had his bike set up just right for his stature , really quite amazing , also had nice steady idle , they left here next day for Meat Cove, Cape Breton Island , then they rode from there to Yarmouth ferry at extreme other end of our Province in a day, that would be close to 800kms/500 miles ....
 
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Not saying it can't be electrical but..

It's not likely to be vapor lock unless maybe you have a fuel filter in the line right behind the head.

But if you have a white coating inside the tank it is likely to be old "Kreem" fuel tank liner. It will need to be removed or it will continue to dissolve in alcohol fuel. Then it causes all kinds of carb problems as it builds up on the needle and slide. Eventually it can build up on the valve stem also and cause the valves to stick and sometimes even be bent -causing severe engine damage. No filter will stop it.
 
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comnoz said:
Not saying it can't be electrical but..

It's not likely to be vapor lock unless maybe you have a fuel filter in the line right behind the head.

But if you have a white coating inside the tank it is likely to be old "Kreem" fuel tank liner. It will need to be removed or it will continue to dissolve in alcohol fuel. Then it causes all kinds of carb problems as it builds up on the needle and slide. Eventually it can build up on the valve stem also and cause the valves to stick and sometimes even be bent -causing severe engine damage. No filter will stop it.
Click to expand...
How the hell do you get rid of it? By the way the tank's got a great black paint job with gold pinstripe and lettering. Kiss it goodbye?
 
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