firing on one cylinder ,new ignition

[snap124]

I have an 83 xs ,stock coils ,pamco ign. simplified wiring ,ngk bp7es plugs, ngk 5 resistor caps.The left cylinder would not fire but the right did . I thought it was fuel related so I cleaned the carbs and cleaned the carbs , down loaded the carb guide pdf,read , cleaned and cleaned again. checked valves, cam chain adj. I checked the ground ,swapped out the coil with my buddys coil .Then my buddy flipped my advance rod 180 and the left side ran but the right side stopped running. I am chasing my tail here

 

[ippytattoo]

with the symptoms you describe and what your buddy did my first thought is to check and see if you have all 4 magnets in the pamco rotor or swap the plugs and see if it follows the plugs.

 

[snap124]

I swapped plug, wires, caps .The pamco has all four magnets . Rotated the pamco by hand and it sparks on one magnet ,rotates past the next three then sparks on the fourth ,so sparks 0 deg. man i'm confused

 

[ippytattoo]

So there was no change when you swapped plugs, wires and cpas? Did you do it all at once or one piece at a time? You may need to send pamcopete (he is a member here) a PM on here or an e-mail to the address listed on his website.

 

[snap124]

Should my pamco spark on more than one of the four magnets ,I think that it should spark at tdc or just a few degrees from tdc and that would be enough .I can't figure out why flipping the advance rod would make one cylinder run and one not

 

[snap124]

I touched base with pete during this week he told me to look and make sure all magnets were present. I did that then. I swapped so much stuff back and forth I could not even tell you in what order . I'm in the shop with the bike and a gang of tools volt meter extra plugs etc. I still have my old ign ,thought about wiring it back up to rule out the pamco . I even have some live chickens in the coop behind the barn if a blood sacrifice is gonna get this thing running

 

[pamcopete]

snap124,

The PAMCO fires on two of the four magnets. The one you observed and the one 180 degrees from that one, that is why it changed to the other cylinder when you turned it 180 degrees.

Even though you have all four magnets, it could be that one of them is weak, so I will send you a new rotor when you PM me your address. You could try the chicken sacrifice while waiting for the new rotor...

 

[5twins]

You have a single coil with dual outputs (two plug wires). It should fire both those plug wires each time it fires. I would test for that first to insure the coil is OK. They usually don't go bad in that manner. Usually they fire both plugs as they should or don't fire either. If only one side fires, it's usually related to the plug, plug wire, or plug cap on the side that doesn't fire, not the coil itself.

 

[snap124]

Thank you pete ,I was leaning to something I did or missed in my wiring .I LEARNED A LOT along the way ,made my own leak down tester ,how to do a leak down test and compression test . how to use a voltmeter not to mention making my own wiring harness .Rebuild carbs all of that I got off this site . thx guys .I have a problem and can't get my account to work ,I'm using my buddys account to post this could someone point me in the right direction to get this sorted out.thx jerrysean

 

[snap124]

I grounded both plugs and rotated my pamco to see where it sparked and swapped coils when I did that.

 

[5twins]

So both plugs fired at the same time? If so then that would indicate that the coil along with both sets of plug wires, caps, and the plugs are working. Then I would guess it is the Pamco plate like Pete said, not sending the signal through every time it should.

 

[snap124]

Like I said it was kinda a blessing ,I learned a lot on the way

 

[pamcopete]

Well, it can be confusing because even if one pair of the magnets is weak, it will fire with the other two and when it fires it still fires on both plugs but it does not fire on the compression stroke of one of the cylinders.

 

[pamcopete]

Replacement rotor on its way.

 

[snap124]

thx , pete

 

[pamcopete]

snap124,

Did you get the rotor? Did you install it? Did it fix the problem? Huh?

 

[snap124]

Thank you for the rotor pete, came yesterday . I put it on, cracked to life on the second kick, then died but two more kicks it cracked to life vrooommm!!! then died. PUT on vacuum line then it started and ran, I need to dial in the timing.

I just got the last of the odds and ends to do my pma today. I should start a thread.
Thanks for the input guys and thanks to pete for outstanding customer service.

 

[joshvb2012]

snap124,

The PAMCO fires on two of the four magnets. The one you observed and the one 180 degrees from that one, that is why it changed to the other cylinder when you turned it 180 degrees.

Even though you have all four magnets, it could be that one of them is weak, so I will send you a new rotor when you PM me your address. You could try the chicken sacrifice while waiting for the new rotor...

i am running into the same single cylinder death issue.. my right side will not fire, cleaned carbs, swapped plugs, swapped plug wires, tried giving fuel straight to the cylinder head through the spark plug hole on the right side but still only fires on the left side. pulling my hair out due to the fact i have 125psi in each cylinder with both getting spark... somebody help!!!! put how do i check the rotor you mentioned?

 

[pamcopete]

i am running into the same single cylinder death issue.. my right side will not fire, cleaned carbs, swapped plugs, swapped plug wires, tried giving fuel straight to the cylinder head through the spark plug hole on the right side but still only fires on the left side. pulling my hair out due to the fact i have 125psi in each cylinder with both getting spark... somebody help!!!! put how do i check the rotor you mentioned?

Remove the slotted disk on the advancer side (right side) of the cam shaft. That will allow you to spin test for spark without having to start the engine.

Spin the PAMCO rotor on the left side of the cam slowly and watch to see if both sets of magnets produce a spark. The two sets of magnets are 60 degrees apart each.

 

[joshvb2012]

Remove the slotted disk on the advancer side (right side) of the cam shaft. That will allow you to spin test for spark without having to start the engine.

Spin the PAMCO rotor on the left side of the cam slowly and watch to see if both sets of magnets produce a spark. The two sets of magnets are 60 degrees apart each.

Would those Be in a points system? Or located under then 650 covers above the spark plugs?