Kawi2strokes.com Forum

I would appreciate any help/comments!

I am in the finishing stages of my H2C 750 restore. It has been parked for 10 years, the reason I parked it was that I was just not driving it at all and also that I had trouble getting it to run on all 3 cylinders. I thought it was just a plug fouling problem and never really troubleshooted it much. I tore it down to the frame and it is now back together and I am confident that the wiring is correct. I just about have the wiring diagram memorized.

I have rebuilt the carbs, synced, new coils, new battery etc..

I did get it running last fall, but winter set in and I am just now getting back to it.

compression is 145 in all 3, when I got it running it would still only run well on the center and right cyl, but the left cyl was intermittant, the same one and same problem from years ago.. the pipe was warm, but nowhere near as hot as the other 2.
I swapped coils, and swapped which CD box was firing the bad cyl, I swapped carbs too, no change. Now I can't get it running at all. I ran thru the troubleshooting guides and all seem to test well with the proper ohms and diode checks. When it was running I was getting a good charge from the alternator ( 14 volts or so).

I bought a little spark tester where you can dial in the spark gap and eyeball the spark and I now only get a spark about every 4 kicks of the kickstarter. ( spark plugs out and grounded so it will kick over easy and fast) I think it should all 3 should be bright and strong on every kick, but all 3 are there, not real bright, and only every 3 or 4 kicks. I disconnected the CDI green wire from all three and attached just one at a time ( per the troubleshooting guide) and I only get the same weaker spark still every 3-4 kicks.

I have studied several posts here and comments are made about a bad regulator, or alternator could cause this, How? so I wonder if sending the boxes out for rebuild will solve my problem since my ohms and diode checks passed? I really don't have a way to check magneto voltage, or pulse to the coils outside of frying myself and jolting my heart and make it stop beating! ( I am getting old)

is there something in the way 2 strokes work ( bypass relief valves, crank seals, etc.). that would also cause my problem? Can I check vacumm from the left cyl vs the others to see if there is another problem and what could it be if I did?

Will getting my boxes rebuilt most likely solve my problem?

Thanks again for any help?

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- Joe

If coils and engine are properly grounded, I would suspect a CDI problem. Unfortunately, the only real test available to most is replacement.
It might be worthwhile to check the gap on the pickups.

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Answers are here: http://kawatriple.com/

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Always remember, there will be greater and lesser people than yourself . . . you can learn from either!

You need to get the sparks worked out first. If you have another stator, try it. The 40 year old electronics have been failing at an alarming rate in the last couple of years. It's not a bad idea to get your boxes rebuilt. Jim here does a great job.

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Twist the throttle, tilt the horizon, and have a great time. What triples are all about...........

Hey Rick; are you just careful not to foul the NGKs (on your riders); or what brand(s) do you like? thx.

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I actually like NGK's and have used them relentlessly for decades But, because I have used them so much I know that if iou foul a new plug by flooding it then it very often will never work correctly again, no clue why but they just don't - The more expensive the NGK plug, then the less prone to fouling and the longer they last . . . basically, as with anything, you get what you pay for . . . Oh, there is a P.S. to this, get the bike running initially on the cgheapo plugs, THEN swap to the good ones

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Always remember, there will be greater and lesser people than yourself . . . you can learn from either!

I thought I was the only one with that fouling thing! Once when I was trying to get my S3 running, I put the centre carb slide in backwards (well it was actually the slide for the right hand carb -- yes, you can mix them up) Anyhow, I would put in a brand new NGK fire it up and after a minute or two of running, the plug would foul out and even though it still looked brand spanking new, it would never fire again! I surmised that the unspent energy destroyed something in the core. Oh it took me about 6 plugs before someone tipped me off as to my mistake.

Not to turn this into a plug thread but I like the NGK's too, other folks have good use on other types but for me I don't even try anything else anymore. with the exception of the Harley ALL my bikes run 8's or 9's and I buy them in bulk on eBay.

My experience is like Rick's with NGK - I've not killed new ones by flooding but I've had them go bad - especially on my dirt bikes - and just stop working. Oh they'll spark and "look" ok but they're toast and nothing brings them back (I think Moo has a point about them not working under compression) so they go in my bad plug can which is getting quite full - again. I have a hard time throwing anything away, you'd think there's a TV show about me or something.

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This is true. Where I grew up the hills were so steep and long, when your ball rolled down the hill you just said "screw it"...

Wet plugs will short through the gas. This can leave a carbon track which can't be seen, but the spark will follow it, and not jump the gap. It may be the surface finish on the NGKs that make it easier for a carbon track to form. There is a way to do this on plugs to screw with your buddies, but I'm NOT going to tell you lot!

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Twist the throttle, tilt the horizon, and have a great time. What triples are all about...........

I've run them through the wire wheel and still no joy!

Barry, that's hilarious that you won't throw them out...me too And then I actually go to the trouble of trying them again later because they look so good. Guess what? They still don't work!