norcalwelder
Junior Member
I had a really rough idle and I noticed some extra vibration along with a ticking noise a couple weeks ago so I pulled my spark plugs, cleaned them, and trimmed the ends of my plug leads. Totally fixed the problem until I pressured washed the bike later that day, and it started ticking and idling with a 200RPM variation! (1060-1300RPM). This kept up for a couple days so I checked my idle EGT and found a cylinder running colder than the others. I tested the coils and they checked out (problem was worse when the bike was physically hot, like sitting in the sun all day though, ran great in the morning). I thought there was maybe a crack in the coil and as they heated up, it expanded and created an open.
Either way, the coils tested out fine, so I switched the spark plug on the cold cylinder over one cylinder, and that cylinder started running cold. Bingo! Bought new spark plugs and set my idle to 1360RPM, now it was running like the bike I remember! Smooth acceleration and power, no ticking, smooth idle.
In the last week though the symptoms have come back so I am wondering if I should put some new coils in and see if that helps? Again the problem is worst when it is really hot outside. It seems to be the number 2 and 3 cylinders which are giving me problems (they are running a little cooler) and both of them are on the same coil.
Anything I've missed or does it sound like I am on the right track? The bike is simply not running smoothly like it should it and I can hear the miss firing as a ticking noise. If I run it hard and come up to a stop sign, it wants to idle at 1300-1400 like it should, but most of the time it is giving me a lumpy idle around 1260-1400 with noticeable vibration at idle.
EDIT: I did check the TPS and it goes smoothly from 16 to 100 like it should.
Either way, the coils tested out fine, so I switched the spark plug on the cold cylinder over one cylinder, and that cylinder started running cold. Bingo! Bought new spark plugs and set my idle to 1360RPM, now it was running like the bike I remember! Smooth acceleration and power, no ticking, smooth idle.
In the last week though the symptoms have come back so I am wondering if I should put some new coils in and see if that helps? Again the problem is worst when it is really hot outside. It seems to be the number 2 and 3 cylinders which are giving me problems (they are running a little cooler) and both of them are on the same coil.
Anything I've missed or does it sound like I am on the right track? The bike is simply not running smoothly like it should it and I can hear the miss firing as a ticking noise. If I run it hard and come up to a stop sign, it wants to idle at 1300-1400 like it should, but most of the time it is giving me a lumpy idle around 1260-1400 with noticeable vibration at idle.
EDIT: I did check the TPS and it goes smoothly from 16 to 100 like it should.