What Next?

[Duccout]

Apologies for a rant, but I need some sympathy!

Do you ever feel that mechanical things have it in for you? Lately anything mechanical seems to be laughing at me: last week the battery failed in my car, the first time that has ever happened in Summer. I did all the checks and the alternator was charging and there was no drain on the battery, and a new one seems to have done the trick. Last week I also took the 250 clutch cover in for repair, so that was more mechanical time. Later in the week I went out on the old 900 Ducati and was having the usual great, roaring time when it cut out on the front cylinder, in the normal fashion when the fuel gets low and it needs switching to reserve, but reserve did not chime it in again, so I continued to the petrol station on one cylinder and filled up. However, it was still running on one cylinder! Looked down and the front carb was off of the head and hanging on the cables! Out with the tool kit, but at least it was easy to fix.

Which brings me to this week.....On Monday I was preparing to go for a bicycle ride, and as I pumped up the tyres the front valve stem snapped off, so I had to change the tube. This morning it was the turn of the 350 to have a run, and I had just got about a mile from my house when it cut out dead. I was not about to get all messy so close to home, so I pushed it back, giving me yet another lesson in how old I am getting. It is not easy pushing a bike carrying crash helmet and leather jacket in the heat of an August day. Having made it home I removed the spark plug and there is no spark, so further investigations are required and I hope that it is something simple like a wire off and not the Electrex World ignition, as I don't know how you trouble-shoot that, or if there are spares available. The 350 has been getting hard to start lately, and the last time that I rode it it cut out as I pulled away at the end of my road, which I put down to a cold engine, which was strange in Summer, so this has probably been brewing for a while. I think that I need a holiday.......


Cheers,

Colin

[graeme]

Sympathy for you Colin,

Welcome to my world !
Seems like the older I get the more mechanical things hate me.
I restored a 78 Darmah over the last few years (now sold). This was the most hateful, spiteful thing I have ever had the misfortune to work on.
Last bevel twin I want to own. Singles make so much more sense. (to me)
I’m sure these things, and many more, are my fault for being in the wrong frame of mind.
I’ve learnt to accept that things happen and mechanical devices break down.
I will try and make it work and if not walk away for a day or two.
Come back to find the problem easily.
I’ve had this happen more in the last few years.

So I feel for you.

Graeme

[ranton_rambler]

Apologies for a rant, but I need some sympathy!

Do you ever feel that mechanical things have it in for you? Lately anything mechanical seems to be laughing at me: last week the battery failed in my car, the first time that has ever happened in Summer. I did all the checks and the alternator was charging and there was no drain on the battery, and a new one seems to have done the trick. Last week I also took the 250 clutch cover in for repair, so that was more mechanical time. Later in the week I went out on the old 900 Ducati and was having the usual great, roaring time when it cut out on the front cylinder, in the normal fashion when the fuel gets low and it needs switching to reserve, but reserve did not chime it in again, so I continued to the petrol station on one cylinder and filled up. However, it was still running on one cylinder! Looked down and the front carb was off of the head and hanging on the cables! Out with the tool kit, but at least it was easy to fix.

Which brings me to this week.....On Monday I was preparing to go for a bicycle ride, and as I pumped up the tyres the front valve stem snapped off, so I had to change the tube. This morning it was the turn of the 350 to have a run, and I had just got about a mile from my house when it cut out dead. I was not about to get all messy so close to home, so I pushed it back, giving me yet another lesson in how old I am getting. It is not easy pushing a bike carrying crash helmet and leather jacket in the heat of an August day. Having made it home I removed the spark plug and there is no spark, so further investigations are required and I hope that it is something simple like a wire off and not the Electrex World ignition, as I don't know how you trouble-shoot that, or if there are spares available. The 350 has been getting hard to start lately, and the last time that I rode it it cut out as I pulled away at the end of my road, which I put down to a cold engine, which was strange in Summer, so this has probably been brewing for a while. I think that I need a holiday.......


Cheers,

Colin

On your 350, I wouldn't rule out the spark plug. I had the same issue and symptoms on my 175. A new plug sorted it, but not before I had worked my way through everything else first and found no faults.

[blethermaskite]

Colin, welcome to my world as well, so I think( ) its something to do with the infrequent use of our 'toys' added to a shot of old age, when I was riding my bikes to work or generally by necessity I was always on top of and attuned to their condition and behaviour through daily familiarity, if something was going wrong it was noticed almost instantly. However nowadays I am only using the Ducati maybe a couple or so times a month (that is when the sun is shining) in reality that means my everyday connection to the machine is no longer there and its very easy to miss something going a bit off. I still carry on my regular maintenance .......but....... it is a Ducati
As I get older I find myself driving my vintage (road legal) racing car more than the Ducati which just adds to the disconnect. There are so many things that we all have gathered up over the years that now in older age we use less and less which simply breeds unexpected failures due to the limited time we spend on them. I went to make a part for my car on the lathe last week ......simple job...... the clutch which was working perfectly last time wouldn't grip properly. there seems to be something wrong with the actuating mechanism...why?....I don't use it enough to notice something was going wrong. As Graeme says you just have to walk away and come back at it another day
Take it easy,
George

[Duccout]

Hi Graeme. I love the bevel twins, but I think that the electric start ruined them; it added a Hell of a lot of weight, changed the frame, made getting the clutch cover off a lot more difficult, the sprag bearing gave trouble and it made the electrics more complex. It really changed the bevel twin from a small, light bike to a large, heavy one.

Ian, thanks for the tip about the spark plug. I've just been out in the garage and now there is a massive spark, so either I did not see it before (doubtful, but at my age anything's possible, and I had just pushed the bike back and was hot and bothered) or it is breaking down somehow when hot. I will have to carry out an inspection for anything obvious (including a blocked needle jet, although I think if that were blocked the engine would have started, but not taken any throttle). Another possibility is that the plug is a fake NGK; apparently there are loads of fake NGK s out there and I recently fitted a new one. I would like to find a definite cause, otherwise it will happen again and I will not want to use it.

George, that is so true. I think that leaving bikes standing for weeks with ethanol fuel is causing problems too, it is corrosive and water forms at the bottom of the tank.


Cheers,

Colin

[Duccout]

I'm lost. Cleaned the plug, stripped and cleaned the carb and found nothing wrong at all, and the engine started up no problem, so I have no idea what is wrong, which is, in some ways, the worst scenario, I would have rather it had refused to start and I could have traced the problem. I will have a look at the wiring in case something is loose, but......

It could have been a fouled plug I suppose. I wonder if I should be using a B6HS rather than a B7HS as I am running at low speed a lot of the time and the engine is softly tuned? Has anyone used a B6HS in a 350?

Cheers,

Colin

[LaceyDucati]

Colin
In the past I have had similar problems with my Single and bevel twin, both times it was related to the ignition switch contacts.... Just another suggestion. Random failures that come and go can be a nightmare to diagnose. A B6HS should be fine for your use.

Nigel

[Duccout]

Hi Nigel,

Hope that you and Edina are well again now?

Yes, twice over its lifetime my 900 bevel has stopped with a broken ignition switch, both times close to home, and both times the AA has got me going by by-passing the switch at the fuse box. The first time it happened I had no idea what was wrong, but the clever breakdown guy soon traced the fault to the switch, and so when it happened a few years later I was able to direct the guy to the fault and the remedy.

Apart from changing the switch as a precaution, I suppose that I could carry a piece of wire with a spade at each end and if it happens again, join the wires together under the switch.

Thanks for the advice,

Colin

[Duccout]

Actually, it is probably a wise precaution to change the switch, as it is a lot easier than a breakdown, and I think I have a new switch somewhere amongst all my junk.....Now where is it?



Colin

[themoudie]

Aye Colin,

Oh the joys!

Apart from the 2 year debacle with the 450 MKIII blowing the carb off the inlet stub and now sitting idle with the front end off it due to steering bearing failure, the repair of which is in hand.

The 1979 Moto Morini 125H is still throwing wobblers after 22 years and refuses to play ball. Ducati Electronnica rotor/stator set up and CDI/coil is used and after the original internal trigger coil for the ignition on the stator failed, pre Covid, new trigger coils, new low tension ignition coil, changing the polarity of the trigger coil and numerous "experts" checking their runes, wind sucking through their teeth and general confusion as to "How?" essentialy a Vespa scooter ignition system could have worked on a 4 stroke single. One very able tecehnician has altered the wiring of the stator on an identical engine/ setup to mine and the owner re-installed the stator, with excellent results, with the ignition advancing at ~1,250rpm. The technician has made the same alteration to the wiring of my stator. Unfortunately, having got the bike on the road, the bike owner was knocked off at a roundabout by a MAMIL (Middle Aged Male In Lycra) on a pedal cycle, cutting across his bows and riding off into the sunset, without apology or concern for his health. Grazed, bruised and with a machine requiring surgery to the fuel tank, exhaust system and other minor parts, I haven't been able to ellicit anything more about the running of the engine.

I spent the whole of last Saturday, checking through everything, timing, carburettor and ignition, having left the bike to sulk under a cover for at least 6 months, whilst I enjoyed riding a motorcycle. Lots of coughing and short running at tick-over, but nothing else. After going through the carb twice, finding clogged jets due to varnish inside the carb loosening off, inspite of draining and storing it dry, with the float bowl loose. It even ran in reverse, as though it were a Bantam, much to the amazement of my friend, who I had asked to check my valve and ignition timing, as I was desparate!

Finally, on Monday, after yet another full check, the engine started and ticked over faultlessly at 1,100rpm. However, the response to opening the throttle was just the same, an increase in backfiring, stuttering, a glowing exhaust pipe and no advance of the ignition timing when viewed with a timing light!

After consulting, with another Scottish Classic Motorcycle Club friend, I have yet another"expert's" telephone number and will make a call after I have given the technician, who changed the wiring polarity, succesfully on the other engine, a chance to answer my latest enquiry, "Why does mine not work?"

Somebody, designed, built and ran it before, so I must be able to get it to run and use it. So far, I haven't consigned it to a skip, it's too good for that and there must be an electronics engineer who can work this out, I just don't know them!

The Chinese external trigger coil set ups look OK and at £11.00 aren't going to break the bank, but obtaining the vital dimensions for fitting them to the crankcase, the position of the rotor's Woodruff keyway in relation to the static ignition timing position, fitting the whole behind the engine cover and setting up the timing to be correct, statically, let alone dynamically, makes I a nervous person. Replacements for 2 stroke engines are ten a penny and cheap, but still leave me with the same conundrum of obtaining ignition advance that isn't neccesary for a 2 stroke single.

Then there is the 350 MKIII rebuild and the Yamaha SRX600 twin shock top end (maybe more) ...............!

Good health, Bill