Need some help

[Big B]

I have an 04 Ridgeback. I rode about 2 weeks ago and all was fine. No rain or water. Tried to ride this past weekend and it would not start. Turned over fine, headlight works, horn works. I took off the air cleaner and believe it is getting gas. I pulled the plugs. They looked a little black. I cleaned them up. I tried grounding them to the fins and did not see any spark.

The closest dealership is 2 hours away.

Any advice?

Thanks

B

 

[JoshT]

Hey Big B... ok I was in this position about a week ago... First have you checked you Ignition Moduale under the seat to see if it is working correctly? 2nd if that is working ( lighting up when trying to start) check to make sure you are getting power to your coil or coils. 3rd you are going to have to check on your Ignition Cam sensor. That is what was wrong with mine. I did several tests on it. A continuity test and amp test. Im not sure what tools you have around but these tests will tell you right away what is wrong. On the Sensor you should have 3 wires ( Red, Black, and Green) Red is your constant and Black is the ground and green is the signal that is shot out to your ignition mod...

 

[chaingunner]

get new plugs and check again. test battery make sure your getting enough juice.

 

[Big B]

Hey Big B... ok I was in this position about a week ago... First have you checked you Ignition Moduale under the seat to see if it is working correctly? 2nd if that is working ( lighting up when trying to start) check to make sure you are getting power to your coil or coils. 3rd you are going to have to check on your Ignition Cam sensor. That is what was wrong with mine. I did several tests on it. A continuity test and amp test. Im not sure what tools you have around but these tests will tell you right away what is wrong. On the Sensor you should have 3 wires ( Red, Black, and Green) Red is your constant and Black is the ground and green is the signal that is shot out to your ignition mod...

I got the under the seat part. How do I check the ignition module to see if it working correctly? When I take the seat off, no lights on. I turn the key on and no lights. I hit the run button and 1 red light comes on. I hit start and it turns over. A green light blinks several times and stops.

Does that make any sense? Am I in the right spot. I have worked on cars and trucks before, but working on a bike is pretty new to me.

The battery was new last fall and had a trickle charger on it all winter.

Thanks for your help.

B

 

[JoshT]

ok it seems you mod is working... so try checking your coil to see if you are getting power there. One side should be constant, and the other should be only lighting up when your starting the bike. As if the spark plugs where lighting up. If that is not flickering or pulsating I would thing it would be your sensor.

 

[Raywood]

I have an 04 Ridgeback. I rode about 2 weeks ago and all was fine. No rain or water. Tried to ride this past weekend and it would not start. Turned over fine, headlight works, horn works. I took off the air cleaner and believe it is getting gas. I pulled the plugs. They looked a little black. I cleaned them up. I tried grounding them to the fins and did not see any spark.

The closest dealership is 2 hours away.

Any advice?

Thanks

B

No offense Big B but based on what you said above. I would ensure you have gas in the tank and that it's getting to the plugs.
If you can verify that you don't have spark at the plugs then check the back of the coil and see if one of the wires vibrated off. Spark is hard to see outside also!

If you have gas and spark then we can look elsewhere.

 

[Big B]

Are there lights for this? Do I need to take the cover off that the key is in?

 

[Raywood]

Are there lights for this? Do I need to take the cover off that the key is in?

Big B, when you ask a question you should use the "Quote" button so we know who you are asking then it posts like you see here.

You don't have to pull the coil cover to check to see if the wires are still connected but you will if you want to do further testing.

 

[BorgerBigDog]

Shine a flashlight from the other side of the bike into the back of the coil cover you should see the three wires if you do not see visible damage i would take the cover off and inspect it closer

 

[Big B]

No offense Big B but based on what you said above. I would ensure you have gas in the tank and that it's getting to the plugs.
If you can verify that you don't have spark at the plugs then check the back of the coil and see if one of the wires vibrated off. Spark is hard to see outside also!

If you have gas and spark then we can look elsewhere.

No offense taken as long as you are trying to help. I just now took off the gas cap and can see gas in the tank. When I had the air cleaner off yesterday I could smell the gas and thought I saw a mist when I rolled the throttle. What is the best way to see if I am getting gas? I also tried with the petcock in on and res.

 

[Raywood]

three wires if you do not see visible damage i would take the cover off and inspect it closer

04 was "dual" fire. There are only 2 wires I believe just so he doesn't wonder about seeing 3 wires!!

 

[Raywood]

No offense taken as long as you are trying to help. I just now took off the gas cap and can see gas in the tank. When I had the air cleaner off yesterday I could smell the gas and thought I saw a mist when I rolled the throttle. What is the best way to see if I am getting gas? I also tried with the petcock in on and res.

Well good you are getting gas so check again to verify your getting spark. Then lets talk about how you start the bike.

Hopefully you aren't just flooding it out with the enrichener on. It floods a motor in no time. Also you shouldn't have the throttle open at all when it's cranking.
You didn't mention what part of the country you live in but if it's the southern areas I would NEVER use the enrichener. If you have to use it then just use it till the bike start then shut it off and use the throttle.

 

[lee]

Big B - did you clean the plugs before you checked for spark? How did you do it? Also, have you checked for spark on both pugs?

 

[Big B]

04 was "dual" fire. There are only 2 wires I believe just so he doesn't wonder about seeing 3 wires!!

I could see the wires. Blue, red then yellow. It looks new back there. The plug wires are tight as well. I may be able to get a volt meter on them if I need to.

 

[Big B]

Well good you are getting gas so check again to verify your getting spark. Then lets talk about how you start the bike.

Hopefully you aren't just flooding it out with the enrichener on. It floods a motor in no time. Also you shouldn't have the throttle open at all when it's cranking.
You didn't mention what part of the country you live in but if it's the southern areas I would NEVER use the enrichener. If you have to use it then just use it till the bike start then shut it off and use the throttle.

I assume by enrichener you are referring to what I call the choke. Although after having the air cleaner off I can see that it is not a choke as I know them. Normally when cold I would have to open the enrichener. I only use it when starting and shut it off after it starts. I do believe the bike runs a little rich. Normally I would not touch the throttle when cranking. I only did yesterday with the air cleaner off because nothing else seemed to be working.

I live in mid Missouri, just outside of Jefferson City.

 

[Big B]

Big B - did you clean the plugs before you checked for spark? How did you do it? Also, have you checked for spark on both pugs?

I did clean the plugs with a rag. I checked for a spark on the front plug by connecting the wire and putting the threads of the plug against the fins of the motor. I did not check the back plug.

 

[Raywood]

I assume by enrichener you are referring to what I call the choke. Although after having the air cleaner off I can see that it is not a choke as I know them. Normally when cold I would have to open the enrichener. I only use it when starting and shut it off after it starts. I do believe the bike runs a little rich. Normally I would not touch the throttle when cranking. I only did yesterday with the air cleaner off because nothing else seemed to be working.

I live in mid Missouri, just outside of Jefferson City.

The enrichener fouls out a motor very quickly. A choke doesn't so much.

So you have spark and you think you are getting fuel to the plugs.

How charged is your battery? How old is it and have you had it load tested?

 

[Big B]

The enrichener fouls out a motor very quickly. A choke doesn't so much.

So you have spark and you think you are getting fuel to the plugs.

How charged is your battery? How old is it and have you had it load tested?

I do not know that I am getting spark. I did not see one yesterday when I tried, but I was outside and frankly was not prepared for the compression. I stopped because I did not want to mess something up.

The battery was new last fall and has had a tender on it all winter.

What is the best way to test the coil? It has a blue, a red and a yellow wire.

 

[Big B]

Hey Big B... ok I was in this position about a week ago... First have you checked you Ignition Moduale under the seat to see if it is working correctly? 2nd if that is working ( lighting up when trying to start) check to make sure you are getting power to your coil or coils. 3rd you are going to have to check on your Ignition Cam sensor. That is what was wrong with mine. I did several tests on it. A continuity test and amp test. Im not sure what tools you have around but these tests will tell you right away what is wrong. On the Sensor you should have 3 wires ( Red, Black, and Green) Red is your constant and Black is the ground and green is the signal that is shot out to your ignition mod...

Where is the cam sensor?

 

[danosrs]

Ok, I read thur this thread two times and still don't see when the plugs were replaced? I have had fouled plugs before due to starting after sitting for some time and even after cleaning plugs with carb cleaner and soft wire brush they still did not fire good, replaced plugs and no problems.

Plugs are cheap, you can even take a plug out of your car or any other motor and plug them into plug wire hold against head and watch for spark, ignition system don't care what part number plug is in wire.

Good luck.