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Author Topic: One spark plug is ALWAYS on, while the other does nothing...  (Read 357 times)

Offline PancakeShake

  • Posts: 78
I was testing for spark on a new bike I picked up.

When I touch off the plug head to the engine cylinder to test for spark,  without even cranking the engine, the spark plug starts "buzzing" and you can see a constant stream of spark coming out of it. The other plug does nothing.

Anyone run into this before and know what might be wrong?
- Runners :
'82 GS 650L
'81 Virago 750
'76 CB 360
 - Projects :
'79 XS 750
'84 Nighthawk 650
'73 CB 500 Four
'80 KZ 650
'80 KZ 750
'80 KZ 1000
'79 XS 750

Online Kanticoy

  • Site Supporter
  • *
  • Posts: 4139
  • Mad Science!
Re: One spark plug is ALWAYS on, while the other does nothing...
« Reply #1 on: Aug 18, 2012, 17:13:36 »
Cdi ignition?

...looks like some gold-chainer is planing on blessing us with another Billet abortion. I cant wait...

Offline TwinPlug

  • Posts: 66
  • Cambridge, UK
Re: One spark plug is ALWAYS on, while the other does nothing...
« Reply #2 on: Aug 19, 2012, 04:41:45 »
Have you got a battery charger hooked up while doing this test???

Offline PancakeShake

  • Posts: 78
Re: One spark plug is ALWAYS on, while the other does nothing...
« Reply #3 on: Aug 19, 2012, 16:04:04 »
Have you got a battery charger hooked up while doing this test???

yeah I do.
- Runners :
'82 GS 650L
'81 Virago 750
'76 CB 360
 - Projects :
'79 XS 750
'84 Nighthawk 650
'73 CB 500 Four
'80 KZ 650
'80 KZ 750
'80 KZ 1000
'79 XS 750

Offline TwinPlug

  • Posts: 66
  • Cambridge, UK
Re: One spark plug is ALWAYS on, while the other does nothing...
« Reply #4 on: Aug 19, 2012, 16:16:18 »
What can happen is that a battery chargers output is actually dirty DC, good enough for charging a battery, but as it's not fully rectified it can look like half wave AC to anything worried about frequency.

An ignition coil works by charging the primary side (points closed) and when the points open the field in the primary side of the coil collapses (as it's no longer charging up with the points open) as this field collapses it energises the secondary field on the ht coil, which then collapses once the primary is 'empty' causing the spark - this is happening 60 times/second (for those in the USA), 50/sec here the UK when connected to a battery charger with poor rectification.

Get a well charged battery on there and try it, it should stop the buzzing without the battery charger on.

If you have any switches on the charger, play with them and note the buzzing noise of the spark will change as the chargers output changes, another test is that the buzzing will seem worse after you try cranking on the starter as this drains the battery, so the charger tries harder to re-charge it.

Sorry for the science bit, but I like to give full answers so that people can see the 'why' behind it :)

Offline PancakeShake

  • Posts: 78
Re: One spark plug is ALWAYS on, while the other does nothing...
« Reply #5 on: Aug 20, 2012, 07:07:48 »
I give you a gold star for the day.

100% Correct.

Bike fired right up with a battery!

Thanks again
- Runners :
'82 GS 650L
'81 Virago 750
'76 CB 360
 - Projects :
'79 XS 750
'84 Nighthawk 650
'73 CB 500 Four
'80 KZ 650
'80 KZ 750
'80 KZ 1000
'79 XS 750

Offline TwinPlug

  • Posts: 66
  • Cambridge, UK
Re: One spark plug is ALWAYS on, while the other does nothing...
« Reply #6 on: Aug 20, 2012, 07:19:45 »
No worries, glad it sorted it.

Offline HerrDeacon

  • Posts: 2440
    • MB5 Web
Re: One spark plug is ALWAYS on, while the other does nothing...
« Reply #7 on: Aug 20, 2012, 07:37:14 »
Very cool TwinPlug, thanks for explaining that.

Offline TwinPlug

  • Posts: 66
  • Cambridge, UK
Re: One spark plug is ALWAYS on, while the other does nothing...
« Reply #8 on: Aug 20, 2012, 08:19:15 »
I discovered this by accident while trying to get my R100 motor going a few months back with a charger hooked up.

The plugs would buzz away for a few seconds after a cranking attempt to get oil around the engine and some oil pressue up after being stood for years, as the battery was half decent the charger would top the battery up quickly and the buzzinng plugs would stop after a few seconds.

It did lead onto discovering other issues for a guy on an Airhead forum (no battery charger attached), he couldn't time his bike up as the inductive strobe light would trigger when ever it felt like and give the impression the timing was skipping all over the place by about 50 degree's, his tacho needle was frenzied too.

Turned out his alternator was worn and making very rough DC, a set of brushes and a good ole wire wiggle had it sorted - he'd been trying to diagnose the issue for months prior.