| Author | Message | ||
     Pizzaboy |
i signed up for a kind of club racing weekend out at my home track that happened this last weekend. first time ever for running any type of racing series at this track, and since the 'street' class only required normal track day prep in order to compete, i jumped on it immediately! it was full of just the local boys; all good friends of mine who ive ridden on the the track together with for the last 2 years! saturday practice and qualifying was awesome! the buell ran like it always does- perfect without any hiccups whatsoever! sunday was a different story. the 1125 must have realized it was about to be raced, and it wanted NO part of that nonsense. took 4 times starting it before it finally fired up in the morning. got it teched, ran 1 lap of the morning practice, and the second lap immedately, my bike started running like crap. lost power was backfiring, misfiring, wouldnt hold an RPM; limped back around the track, back into the pits to check it out. checked over all of the obvious stuff that could have been wrong, and everything that could have been easily fixed on the spot. couldnt find the problem, i was almost thinking it was a fuel pump the way it was acting. thanks to good friends of mine, i was still able to race; however it was on a honda 600rr instead!! i ended up still finishing top 10 in my class both races, and put down lap times on a bike i literally only rode in the warm up lap then raced it... and we all know how different a 600 is from these 1125s!!! either way, got the bike home started digging in a little deeper. noticed a very strange sound ive never heard before when i keyed on with the stop/run switch in the run position, without turning the bike over. i pulled fuses and disconnected plugs eliminating possibilities. when i removed the ignition fuse, the sound went away, that being the only condition that changed. off to the service manual wiring diagrams i went. i removed each component that the ignition fuse feeds one by one and checked. when i disconnected the front ignition coil, boom there it was. the sound was what youd imagine a dremel tool grinding on aluminum for about 1 second then stopped. my assumption is that the ECM does either a few sparks before firing up to clean any deposits on them, OR its just the sound of the coils charging up. tried it with only the rear coil plugged in, and it made the same sound, but much quieter. the front however was almost 10x the volume. i spent my evening convincing myself that there must be something wrong with the front ignition coil, and that it probably needed to be replaced. while i was at work tonight i made some quick searches on the forum to see if there have been any other accounts of coils failing, and how i would even check to see if its actually damaged- couldnt find anything. after work i decided to dig deeper. i wanted to know what the spark plugs looked like. on a bet to myself, i took off the front intake snorkel, and attempted to remove the front coil without rotating the engine this evening... and i won! out it came. with ease. the rubber end carefully slid across the wall that it generally is housed in, and it seems as though the frame was perfectly notched in order to just barely get the coil and plug out without spending the 4 hours it takes to rotate the engine!! go buell engineers!  compared to the rear coil, it has much more soot and debris on it. not good. took out the front and rear spark plug to see what was going on.  eehhh... wheres the electrode that used to be there?? not good. these spark plugs are 7500 miles old. well atleast i know what the problem was. now i must decide what the original problem was, and what the solution to it is within the week since my next track day is this next monday.... hmmmm. my buell is going to have to get over its fear of racing before AFM season 2011. dont wanna race some 'logical' bike!! | ||
| Stimbrell |
Hopefully it is just a faulty plug and the electrode went out the exhaust port. Massive rep to you for posting how to get the plugs out without rotating the engine, thanks for that information. | ||
| Brumbear |
with any luck the electrode is now part of the piston. I hope the valves didn't smash it on the way out it will mess up your valve seat | ||
| Mountainstorm |
Yow! Holy missing electrode Batman! That's a weird one. Thanks for an informative post. | ||
| Xtreme6669 |
Looks a lot like the spark plug was loose in the head... I work on BMW vehicles and have seen this happen many times when someone changes the plugs and dose not tighten them enough to properly crush the sealing washer on the plug...? | ||
| Samg |
I would agree with Xtreme... I have seen the same issue with the Honda V6 motor...plugs are lose and damage the coil pack and carbon build up around the outside of the plug | ||
| Dannybuell |
Pizzaboy - great call, you went right to it! | ||
| Jng1226 |
Darth Vader voice: "Impressive" "The student has now become the master" | ||
| Luisemilio25r |
It looks like the plug overheated because it was loose so the electrode hopefully melted. | ||
| Chopped_burban |
So if I'm readings this right, it's time to check the torque on my plugs. Pizzboy, nice write up and good find. | ||
| Pizzaboy |
judging by the fact that the crush washer on the plug is black as well, i am comfortable agreeing that gasses were escaping through the plug seal and threads, as though it became loose. i have been swapping emails with Erik Buell Racing tech support today, and they seem to have the same agreements and conclusions as i do. my dealership has spark plugs in town, however its going to be a challenge to get a front ignition coil this week. gotta have this done by the weekend so i can go to my track day on monday! | ||
| Mountainstorm |
Are you certain the coil is bad? Compare the resistance between the two and if they are both the same why replace it? Could be carbon from the leaking plug. | ||
| Fresnobuell |
Wow those plugs look pretty dark or maybe the pictures are just making it look darker. What kind of fuel enrichment have you been running? | ||
| Manxboy |
Put the new plugs in, then fit the rear coil on the front cylinder. You can put the suspect coil on the rear cylinder, and if it turns out to be bad it's a much easier change. Good luck and have fun at the track. | ||
| Pizzaboy |
ordered a new coil just to be certain; however when i put a good plug into the coil last night and keyed the ignition on, it behaved the same way that the rear did, so its not necessarily that the coil is bad. ive got all the parts i need by this friday; so assuming that the old electrode isnt in the cylinder still screwing things up, im set to rock and roll! |
