Did I do something wrong?

[Wingedwheel]

Hey guys, so had 80 miles on the Bobber and decided it was time to re-torque the head bolts and adjust the valves. Pulled the upper motor mounts off, torqued all the bolts in sequence and did my valve adjustments(twice to be sure). When I put the mounts back on something was telling me I missed something but I thought I looked everything over ok. Started the bike up and ran it for a minute, shut it off and rolled the cruisers out because the wife wanted to take a longer ride. When I got home today I decided to take the Bobber out but I kicked it until I was dripping wet and couldn't get it to fire. Checked the plugs and they were wet so fuel wasn't an issue. That nagging feeling about missing something was still there so I pulled the motor mounts and lo and behold there was the wire I was looking for. I re-installed everything thinking "easy fix" but even after that I couldn't get it to hit. Now my question. I obviously have not checked for spark yet(too tired from kicking 100 times) but could that ground hitting intermittently yesterday have ruined the condenser? She is getting gas so I'm going to have to look at electrical but just wondered if I might have fried my condenser somehow?

 

[hmusket]

Did you dry the plugs or put new plugs in? Good ground on the condensers, ie put back in the original location?

 

[hooser]

If you have the stock points , you may have the wires flipped.

 

[Wingedwheel]

Hooser, I didn't disconnect anything other then the ground wire. Hmusket, I dried the plugs off and cleaned the ends. checked the gap and put them back in. I can tell I'm not getting fire just because I was able to kick it so much. Normally it at least "kicks back" after a few tries.

 

[mrtwowheel]

Set ohm meter to lowest setting, see if you have continuity from the condenser bracket to battery negative. Just thinking of someplace to start.

 

[Wingedwheel]

Good idea Scott. I wonder if I'm getting a good ground when I put the wire back on. Funny thing though, it did start yesterday. All that kicking wore me out so I'll try again tomorrow.

 

[Wingedwheel]

OK, cleaned and re-installed the condenser ground, checked continuity and had a good connection. Still no fire...
I decided to start checking fuse and battery and lo and behold the battery was very low. I put it on the trickle charger and I'll try again tomorrow. Would me kicking it so much with the condenser un-grounded have run my battery down? I'm running a small battery but it sat most of the winter without losing a charge.

 

[5twins]

I don't think that ground wire on top of the motor has much to do with the condensers. It's basically just an insurance engine ground, an added extra to insure the engine is grounded to the frame. They even left it there on the later models after an electronic ignition was installed and the condensers were removed.

 

[TwoManyXS1Bs]

... I dried the plugs off and cleaned the ends. checked the gap and put them back in...

They may still be porcelain fouled. For a points ignition, pull the plugs, reconnect them and lay them on the head fins. Kick, and look for spark...

 

[Wingedwheel]

It was the battery... fired on the first kick. Maybe I left the key on???? I guess I'll have to see if it happens again. Charging system is working fine so more than likely my CRS was kicking in.......

 

[timbeck]

It's great to have a victory , isn't it ................................tim

 

[Gcraay]

Hey guys, so had 80 miles on the Bobber and decided it was time to re-torque the head bolts and adjust the valves. Pulled the upper motor mounts off, torqued all the bolts in sequence and did my valve adjustments(twice to be sure). When I put the mounts back on something was telling me I missed something but I thought I looked everything over ok. Started the bike up and ran it for a minute, shut it off and rolled the cruisers out because the wife wanted to take a longer ride. When I got home today I decided to take the Bobber out but I kicked it until I was dripping wet and couldn't get it to fire. Checked the plugs and they were wet so fuel wasn't an issue. That nagging feeling about missing something was still there so I pulled the motor mounts and lo and behold there was the wire I was looking for. I re-installed everything thinking "easy fix" but even after that I couldn't get it to hit. Now my question. I obviously have not checked for spark yet(too tired from kicking 100 times) but could that ground hitting intermittently yesterday have ruined the condenser? She is getting gas so I'm going to have to look at electrical but just wondered if I might have fried my condenser somehow?

Pull out the multi-meter, start checking from tip to tail. Double check all grounds. Heck add some if you need. I met a guy who had like 6 on his truck. The wire that was out of place, did it disconnect internally?

 

[Wingedwheel]

It's great to have a victory , isn't it ................................tim

Yea Tim I'll take any victory these days..lol
Gcraay that wire was the small ground off the condenser and it was disconnected to to user error, that and it did a great job of hiding behind my wiring harness when I did a quick glance. like the title to my post says, I'm sure it was just me.....

 

[Gcraay]

That sneaky little bastard! Glad you found it. I haven't even wired mine yet, so I'm sure I'll be chasing wires for a while.

 

[MaxPete]

Yea Tim I'll take any victory these days..lol
Gcraay that wire was the small ground off the condenser and it was disconnected to to user error, that and it did a great job of hiding behind my wiring harness when I did a quick glance. like the title to my post says, I'm sure it was just me.....

MURPHY LIVES!!!!!

yah - hooray.