Engine Trouble Died on me

cromartie

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Jun 17, 2011
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I've been using my motorbike to commute to work on sunny days the last few weeks. It is 17 miles each way and I have over 500 miles on the engine. It has been purring like a kitten -- in fact I just installed the Manic Mechanic hub adapter last night and cruised into work today at 30 mph.

On the way home, it was purring like a kitten as usual and when I got about 6 miles from home, it died on me out of nowhere. I thought, **** out of gas. Look in the tank and it's a quarter full!!!

Tried to start it again, no luck. Changed the spark plug to my spare, no luck. Disconnected the kill switch, no luck.

Commenced to pedal home. :cry:

After a few miles, tried to start it again. It fired up slightly, went 30-40 feet and died again.

Finished pedaling home. :eek:

What the heck is going on?
 
Since it was running fine, I'd start with the coil and CDI. Pull the fuel bowl drain out and see if it is actually getting fuel.
 
Since it was running fine, I'd start with the coil and CDI. Pull the fuel bowl drain out and see if it is actually getting fuel.

Was just outside tinkering with it. Two plugs; no spark on either when out of the cylinder. What's the more likely culprit? The CDI or the magneto? Trying to not spend a ton of money on parts that aren't broken, lol.

Is it common for these to just quit working mid-drive? Like I said, I got an instant of spark after it died, but that only lasted 30-40 feet.
 
ya know.... I had one acted just like that.

It was a leaky crank seal on the mag side. The mag got oil soaked.

Just a thought.
 
Just did some multimeter testing.

Magneto

All in ohms:

Black to white: Infinite
Blue to white: 339

CDI

Pos/Blue, Neg/Black: Infinite
Pos/Black, Neg/Blue: Infinite
Pos/Spark Plug Lead, Neg/Blue: Infinite

Looks like both are bad?? How is that possible? Like I said it was purring along then dead.

And if that is the case, where can I purchase a new magneto and CDI that won't go poof in 500 miles?

By the way, here's a pic of the Magneto housing. Anything look out of the ordinary to you guys or not?

9b328731.jpg
 
Color can be deceiving, but the coil looks like toast (see in picture below). But get rid of the white wire, cut it off. That's what is nice about electronics most of the time....when it wants to die it goes dead. The most aggravating thing is for something to go out periodically. The old coils on engines gave problems at times when they got hot, cool down and would work. But then again, you might be too young to remember that.

Is it common for these to just quit working mid-drive? Like I said, I got an instant of spark after it died, but that only lasted 30-40 feet. My very first engine had a coil problem...three days of riding and that was it. Since I didn't have the values (before I joined either forum), I deducted that it was the coil or CDI, but didn't know which one (I made a timing light). At that time they were $10.00 each so I bought one of each..it was the coil, CDI was fine..Now I have a spare. Through out life I've come to the philosophy, that if you have a extra part, that part won't go bad. Five builds (since 3/2009), and nare a bad coil or CDI.
 
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