PLUG WIRE PROBLEMS

So I went out the other morning too go to work and my bike was acting pretty funny. It was a little hard to kick over but I didn't think much of it since it was something like 45 degrees out. By the time I got to the end of my street I knew something was wrong but I only work a few miles away and I was short on time and options so I went ahead and limped into work. I work 24 hour shifts at the firehouse and knew that later that evening I would have a little time to look it over. I discovered it wasn't firing on #4 cylinder, bummer. So I started with the plugs and worked my way backwards on the electric highway. The plug itself looked good so I then checked the wire. On my inline four I have 2 coils, 1 & 4 are on one coil while 2 & 3 are on the other. I knew # 4 wasn't firing because the pipe wasn't getting hot but # 1 cylinder was fine. This led me to believe I had a plug wire issue so I switch the wires and sure enough, cylinder #1 stopped firing and #4 got hot. So I switched it back and took off #4 plug wire and inspected it.

This is what I found. It looked like the center of a cigar, all burned out. Well thank goodness that was all that was wrong with it. It was a bit disheartening because I didnt know what caused it so I called a fellow Honda Chopperhed, Red Good. Red and his wife Kate are the owners of Cycle One Manufacturing in Oklahoma. (They make killer frames and hardtail kits as well as sell parts and such, check em out  -  www.cycleonemanufacturing.com )  I had purhased a plug wire kit from another merchant and Red said that it was more than likely when I stripped the wire I took to much of the filament causing it to burn up. Ok, easy enough.

 

 

So I cut it back to fresh wire and salvaged my end piece and I was careful this time to not over do it. I then folded the filament back over and replaced the end piece and recrimped it.

 

Here you can see it still hanging out before I trimmed the excess. I pushed my plug cap back over the end and popped it back on and it fired right up as strong as ever. (Actually a little better) Thanks to Red for answering my call and giving me advice. Just sharing in case anyone has this problem themselves or is using a set of DYI plug wires like mine. Chop, build, ride, repeat. Now go make some memories.



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