96 Intruder 1400 ignition issues

[martrem69]

Hi y'all,
96 Intruder 1400 with 29000 miles. Zero issues for 2 years. Had it out 5 times in February in Massachusetts. Never an issue starting or running, even in the cold. Stopped one night to make a call. Starter it up and it ran poorly. Half mile up the road and it died. Towed home . Long-short I have replaced: Battery, Stator, Regulator, Ignition coils, dropped $200 on a Dynatek 3000 ignitor module, spark plugs, checked/cleaned all connections, Checked wires and connectors for heat damage.. After I replaced each part it seemed to run okay, then in no time runs like crap and dies again. I keep the battery on a tender. I say my prayers before I go to bed, but still won't freaking run. Now it barely starts at all. Last time I had it running it was putting out 13.5 volts at the battery. I get the most pathetic little yellow spark. Please, any help. ;IDunno:

[Herb]

I had almost the same issue with my 87. There are little resistors inside the spark plug caps that had developed corrosion on them. There is a screw cap inside that you unscrew and the resistor and a little spring will come out. be careful of them because they are small and the little spring bounces if you drop it and can be a bitch to find. I cleaned the resistors by rubbing the ends on my jeans and the ends of the springs with 1000 grit sandpaper. Solved the problem.

Others have had an issue with corrosion build up inside the plug wire. The caps unscrew from the wire and cut about 1/4 of an inch off of the wire and screw it back together.

[martrem69]

Thanks bro, I'll give it a try. I did reuse one boot for fitment reasons. I'll let you know how it goes.

[martrem69]

Update, and it ain't good. Tried cleaning the contacts, springs, etc in the plug boots. No difference. I pulled the plug from the fuse box and the contacts had dielectric grease on them. Scraped them just in case and plugged it back. Fired right up! Pulled her out of the shed and put the seat back on. Let it idle, revved occasionally, ran for a good 5 minutes. Hopped on, got halfway around the block and it dies with very little warning. Ran crappy for a second then wouldn't run at all. I'm losing it. Question: is the diode a little black thing about the size of a USB plug stuck on the end of some wires? Could that be my problem? When it was running I was getting like 13.6 volts at the battery. Also, been checking the voltage at the ignition coils and the front one had really lousy reading...around 9. I am fixing to rip out the entire wiring harness but I don't want to over react. Damn, I love this bike but OUCH! Any advice much appreciated!

[Herb]

The diode will prevent cranking but will not shut the engine down.

I had a problem with the plug on the ignition control box. The bike ran great until I bolted the seat on and sat down on it, as soon as I sat down it would sputter and misfire and finally die.

After much hair pulling and cussing I finally found that the ground wire for the ICU was broken inside the insulation right at the connector. Had to remove the pin and reconnect the wire to the pin and put it back in.

I would say that you have a loose/corroded/broken wire/connector and it is gonna be a total pain in the ass to find.

BTW, are you sure the ignition switch is good and you don't have extra keys or fobs on the key. There have been people that had issues with the switch shutting off because of the weight of keys/fobs on the ignition key.

One other thing that WILL kill the engine is the side stand switch. If it is out of adjustment any little movement of the side stand will kill the engine. Even with it adjusted properly hitting a bump hard will kill the engine.

[martrem69]

I must be paying for sins in a past life. I see wires and connectors in my nightmares. My pride (and my wallet) prevent me from bringing her to the shop. At least I have the long Massachusetts winter to wrack my brain about it. Everything seems to check out, but my sparks are so pale and weak; front cylinder definitely worse. I appreciate your input, in any case.

[Herb]

The stock ignition on these isn't a very strong spark, are you positive that the issue is spark, or lack of?

[martrem69]

My confidence level is pretty high on it, but you're right: I should take a step back and look at the big picture again, just in case. I try to get the best replacement parts I can, but even at that a lot of them are made in China. Also, I hate to think that there may be a little chip of metal stuck to the magnet on the rotor or something, who knows. Strange, though, the problems all started when I bought a second bike, a Honda CX500. Are Intruders generally a jealous lot? I think she might be pissed at me. In any event I can't express how grateful I am for your continued help. I'll let you know WHEN I get it sorted out. Happy trails till then!

[Herb]

I went back and re-read the whole thread. Back in the early 90's I had a problem with my 87 where it would start running like crap and then die. Let it sit for 10-20 minutes and it would start but would quickly do the same thing again. Let it sit and idle it would run until I shut it off because it was starting to overheat.

After much cussing, pushing it home 3 times, and a lot of pain in the ass work I discovered that I had crossed the fuel lines and it was crimping the fuel lines. It would allow enough fuel to let it run for a few minutes and after it quit it would slowly refill the lines and carbs so that after sitting awhile it would run again.

I recently had a problem with one of the carbs on my GS1100. There are plastic T's between the carbs that are for the carb bowl breathers. One of them had an end break off and part of it had gone into the float bowl and it would sometimes work itself over and block the main fuel pickup and the cylinder would quit firing. Sometimes it would run a whole tank of gas with no problem and other times it would happen within 2 miles of the house. Again the issue would never happen while sitting still, even revving the engine would not cause the issue.

There was someone on the old board that had an issue with the fuel cap breather that had a problem with it being plugged up and not allowing air into the tank and it would quit after a short time.

I once had a problem with an old truck that it would just quit. The problem was a paint flake that would sometimes work it's way over to the fuel pickup and get sucked up against it, let it sit for a while and the suction would release and the flake would float away and it would run again. This was especially irritating because sometimes it would run 2-3 tanks of gas before it did it.

What I am trying to say is that there are a lot of things that could cause the problem besides electrical.

I think you should check out the whole fuel system for any type of blockage and make sure that when it quits there is fuel getting to the cylinders because it seems you have done just about everything to the electrical system.

[martrem69]

Appreciated! I had gone through the carbs at the start of the season; I was getting what seemed like starvation issues right around 70 to 75 MPH. The fact that there are no roads in Massachusetts over 65 MPH has no bearing on this whatsoever. One of my floats (funny how one is plastic and the other brass) was taking on fuel and was riding low. I patched it with fuel-proof (fool proof?) epoxy and I hadn't had a hiccup in 2000 miles. I will revisit the carbs and anything else I can think of. No reason why a carb rebuild shouldn't get done anyway. Thanks for broadening my perspective: sometimes we can't see the the cause for the symptoms. I'll keep you in the loop! Thanks again for sharing your knowledge and experience, brother.

[Lechy]

Check for water in the carbs and tank.

[emoji41]