Sooty Plug on #4

[Jhenry]

Sorry...some clatter from #1 and #2 prior to the valve shims being put right. The clatter is now gone. I am running individual K+N filter pods, good as new, clean and tight. I have brand new Dyna 7mm copper core non-supression wires. They are not of equal length, the last set, Accels, were not of equal length either. Should they be? #4 is the longest one. I am running NGK BR8ES, I ran the eqivelent NGK Iridiums and had the same issue. Octane here is 87 to 93, the most common high test is 91 octane. Never had an issue with it before. I do have a Dyna S ignition, and have run it for probably 6 years plus. Jeff Saunders gave me quite a few pointers to get it dialed in. I set the fuel level in the bowls year before last, I guess it could be off again and I will check it when I pull the carbs. I have not noticed any change with the gas tank full or near empty, very good suggestion there, I will be on the lookout for that one. No fuel in the oil. As for the cam end plug, I think I fouled that one up by using some gasket sealer, I assume it acted as a lubricant and allowed the plug to pop out. All 4 are installed dry now. I will report back after the new regulator/rectifier is on and running... I really do appreciate the help

[Jhenry]

New solid state voltage regulator/rectifier is on and apparently working properly. I measured the volatge to each coil, both right at 9.8 volts, a little light. I would be OK with 11, but I am not OK with less then 10. So..I am now in the middle of the suggested fix from WGCarbs, the Wired George cure for low voltage to the coils on older bikes. Bought the necessary items at the Napa store on the way home from work, have the relay mounted, and one connection soldered and shrink wrapped, but not yet on to the pigtail. I still suspect some sort of carb issue is at fault at least partially, but I will at least have the coils and spark plugs doing their jobs appopriately first so I can take that off the table. With any luck, it will be the cure.

There are some events coming up and I am jonesing for a ride. The really bites, bike in disarray and the air is out in the car. On the bright side, progress is being made with some good advice allong the way.

[Jhenry]

Voltage to coils now cured. Just a couple of 10'ths less than a full 12. Fires up and idles much better. A ride this evening will tell the tale.

[bigmac103]

Good luck Jhenry, it cured my probs! well most of them!!!!I now I have normal zed issues which are easier to deal with..... spark plugs that cannot be cleaned, water in the carbs and dirty air filter... my zed runs beautifully now apart from a little pinking but, hey... she's 33 years old!

[Jhenry]

I am quite upset about this and feel as if I am eing tortured for some reason. I did the WBcarbs fix, and went for a test ride Sunday. Everything was going swimmingly and life was good. THEN at about 25 miles I had some rough running and assumed the plug was fouling again so I turned around and headed home. The issue became progressively worse to the point that I was WFO on the highway going 30 and then it shit the bed and quit I was able, with the help of a Lodge brother to get it home on a trailer. No spark to the plugs, engine turns over willingly with good battery power, but no go. The suspect plug looks pretty good so I do think the sooty plug issue is cured, but now this. The fix involved a 10A fuse on the wire from the solenoid to the new relay. That fuse was popped. I installed 2 others and they both went south at the turn of the ignition key. There are several things to check obviously ie: grounding out or short circiut somewhere, and I have yet to do that. My question is this at this point, the problem manifested itself progressively which I find odd. Any thoughts?

[bigmac103]

Glad to hear the sooty plug may be cured!

The only thing I can think of that may of caused a progressive breakdown would be the relay starting to burn out. Which relay did you use?

[Al]

Hi JH just as a temporary precaution until this is fixed you might try to wrap the handlebars inside the right hand switch with a couple of loops of insulation tape. I nipped the wires from the switch with the fork top nut in low light recently and it did the same as yours.

I also did the WG 'power relay' fix recently and then backed it up with an extra ground wire from number #85 terminal to a bolt on the cam cover. (i cant understand electrics so working on the assumption that more earth's are better than less).




Starting at the sub heading; VOLTAGE TEST and working down in order
these were my readings after the 'power relay' was installed.

Left coil...... Right coil
3.6............... 3.5 Ohms
12.28............ 12.19 Volts
1.18............ 1.56 Volts
11.81........... 11.82 Volts
........0.025 Gap in thousands of inch measured with a wire gauge not feeler blades!

OHMMETER TEST

Infinity

COIL TEST
DC1-1 for 'S' with Green coils
16.08...... 15.99 Kohms

This is with a static battery voltage of 13.5 Volts.


AL

[Jhenry]

It appears to be fixed. To make a rather long story a bit shorter, I had a burned coil that had probably been going bad and causing some issues. I put a new set of Dyna 3ohm coils on, but without the WG coil mod just to eliminate a factor. No joy on 2+3, 1+4 fired OK. Turned out I also had a malfunctioning Dyna S module. I have no idea if it went all at once or was also gradually going bad. So--I then installed a new Dyna S ignition. During static timing I had complete electrical death. I nearly died. I had installed a new 20a fuse and holder. Removed that and put the old one in, everything back to normal. I ended up retarding the ignition about 2 degrees, runs like a champ. I will take a longer ride in the AM and see if the sooty plug issue has been resolved. If it has I will likely not put the coil mod back on. I am not adverse to it, I just see no reason at the present time.

[Jhenry]

I did about 200 miles today, a beautiful day. 72 degrees, low humidity, and lovely skies. The Z1 ran like a champ, and never fouled a plug or had any issues. For those that helped with kind words and good advice I give my thanks. Goodbye.

[Al]

You jammy git, it's the August bank holiday here (a watchword for fine weather) on my way home last night in the pouring rain, near 11.00 p.m. my clutch let go. Drove back stalling at every set of lights and not being able to change down for corners etc etc.

Glad you got the better of it.


AL

[Jhenry]

What's a jammy git? I would like to use that one, but I should know what it means first Sorry to hear of the trouble. Bike issues in the rain and at night, yikes. Glad you made it home safely.

[Al]

JH i should have said; 'gosh, cor blimey, you aint half a lucky and deserving chap' because i just looked it up on wikipedia and it say 'someone of undeserving luck'.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Git_%28British_slang%29

However; it does need a citation and it is, in this case the alternate for term of affection bit like 'lucky bast*&d' (envious: part participle).
I'll stop now.

AL

P.S. I'm not sure about this but i think the idea of the relay is partly to take the load off the 'ignition switch' and the 'starter button switch' circuits. I was wondering if these could have been the reason for failure in you're coil and pick-up if they are starting to break down under load?

[tlc]

GIT (mildly derogatory) scumbag, idiot, annoying person (originally meaning illegitimate; from archaic form "get", bastard, which is still used to mean "git" in Northern dialects)

JAMMY (git) (slang) lucky (person)

So you see that a GIT is mildly derogatory but, the English tend to be rude as a way of being amusing

However in this case it is a sort of "cheeky chappy" way of saying you were undeservedly lucky. Although the sayer is glad you were and hopes he may have some of your good fortune

[tlc]

P.S. I'm not sure about this but i think the idea of the relay is partly to take the load off the 'ignition switch' and the 'starter button switch' circuits. I was wondering if these could have been the reason for failure in you're coil and pick-up if they are starting to break down under load?

A relay only needs 0.25 amps to switch so by using your existing wiring to the coils merely to activate the switch within the relay you are not stressing the circuit that goes through the kill and ignition switch.
The direct feed then goes directly to the coils and as it is a new wire will suffer with no resistance and deliver the full 12 volts at whatever amps the coils need to draw.

[Jhenry]

The word get is also pronounced git around here. Thanks guys, I will now consider myself a lucky bastard