Not getting the luck. With Hardley issues rumbling on – firstly with the starter motor and then the misfire occurring on main lights I decided to SORN it on Friday. The Camel blew oil all over the back the bike and me just last week too – still pending investigation.
Yesterday I pulled out the Pearl, pumped up the tyres and put the battery on charge. Went indoors and bought some VED for it.
A little later I went out and fired her up … on one. Not so unusual at the off, but the other cylinder just wouldn’t chime in. From a little smoke coming off the LH header it was clearly a right side issue. Pulled the plug – wet, but no spark. Doh.
So up on the table, and after a lot of digging and wire swapping it looks like I have a dead coil. Now why would that die whilst the bike is standing? I’d swapped out the originals for these some years back, just as a precautionary measure. Do you think I could find the old ones? So I’ll be ordering one or two new ones this morning. They are a particular small type and fit into a very awkward point on the frame.
Back on the station run with Zed this morning. Grrrr.
The bike is stored under cover (it’s like having the same barn find every Autumn), but mostly only does winter service so has not been used for some time. Perhaps interestingly, and if you remember my write up of the Dragon Rally this year that was in the Club mag several editions ago, on the trip up there in very wet conditions I did suffer an occasional misfire. The bike has never done this before. So maybe that was an early sign of imminent (sonic) destruction?
As noted, the coils are a bit of a PITA to get at on these bikes. I tried swapping the connections from the two coils, and also the plug caps between the leads - but the fault remains with the RHS. I’ve ordered a pair from Gutsibits (sp?), so hopefully will have them on the mat tomorrow ready to fit tomorrow evening. I’ll swap out both sides and keep the good used one as a spare. I’m pretty sure I’d have kept the originals that I took out, but I’m b-d if I could find them yesterday on a full house to house search.
A camel is an even-toed ungulate in the genus Camelus, bearing distinctive fatty deposits known as “humps” on its back. The three surviving species of camel are the dromedary, or one-humped camel (C. dromedarius), which inhabits the Middle East and the Horn of Africa; the Bactrian, or two-humped camel (C. bactrianus), which inhabits Central Asia; and the three-humped camel known as Humphrey
This gives me an excuse to tell a story I heard at the AGM.
Datchworth in Hertfordshire is still reeling after its latest scandal.
Two elderly ladies were standing outside the village hall in Datchworth, Hertfordshire having a smoke.
It starts to rain so Doris reaches into her pocket pulls out a condom and cuts the end off before slipping it over her cigarette to keep it dry. Fantastic idea thinks Daphne so on the way home she calls into the chemist and asks for a packet of condoms.
‘What size would you like,’ asks the chemist.
‘Oh it doesn’t matter so long as it fits over a Camel’, replied Daphne.
They have both types, dromedary and bactrian, but all have been imported. Australia now has the largest population of wild camels in the world.
There is a third type, the critically endangered wild Bactrian camel (C. ferus) that has limited populations in remote areas of northwest China and Mongolia.
My new coils came today and I fitted them this evening. Frustratingly I’d left the ign on last time, so now the battery is dead (yeah, I know - not good for coils). So I have to take jump leads off of Blue. Now I have no sparks on the left. So I swap the wiring across between the coils. And I have no sparks on the right.
So last time out the problem stayed on the right, it wasn’t the plug or the cap - it had to be the coil. Now I’m in for two new coils and I have a problem with the wiring behind them somewhere. Huh?
Don’t think there is one. This is the mk II with OE electronic ign.
I can only think that when I initially swapped over the wires to check the coils I didn’t actually swap them at all – hence thinking it was a coil that was out. Grrrrr.
The wiring close up to the coils looks good. I’m guessing that I’ll have to track everything from the triggers in the front of the motor through to what I presume are amplifier units around the rear mudguard area and then back forwards again. I’m aware of several posts recently with regard cooked and brittle insulation on the trigger pick-ups. I had hoped that hell would have frozen over before I ever had to move those again and then reset the timing; that is a real PITA job to get right.
So it has turned into another long and tedious job that I don’t have time for right now. Current casualty list from just the last few weeks;
. Hardley – dodgy starter motor, misfire with the lights on.
. Sunbeam – swapped the coil out, now won’t start.
. Camel – Massive oil blow off the back of the motor, side stand tearing out of the s/arm.
. A10 – Clutch cable, speedo cable, leaky rocker box.
. Zed – fuel gauge U/S (but who cares?)
. Pearl – Single sided sparx
Gonna need some quality garage time soon. Still, hoping to pick up my new Loop this weekend.
