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Failed To Start

Posted: Thu Aug 08, 2019 6:17 pm
by black fingernail
My bike is a 1998, iron barreI, 4 speed, kick start model.
I've been using the old girl as a daily commuter @12 miles each way. as the miles mount up she seems to run a bit better and starts first time just about every time.
However, this morning, she failed completely. The ammeter did not move when ignition was turned on and engine turned over, but did when lights were turned on.
I removed the plastic points cover, and was surprised by the quantity of water that came out, so I dried it out, to no avail, still no movement on ammeter. I set the cam to the lowest point, and cleaned the points with a bit of card, and noticed they weren't gripping the card as I pulled it in and out, I wiggled the points a bit and found the tufnol pivot was gripping the pin and not snapping shut, The water must have swelled the tufnol.
I removed the moving half of the points, it was quite tight to pull off, I found a drill that just pushed into the hole, I gently moved it round by hand to ease the hole a bit, added a light smear of grease to the pin, reassembled everything, and BINGO she started first time.
My question is, Where did the water come from? I do not go out in the rain (not that there has been much), I do not use a pressure washer, I hang a rag over the points cover and air filter when I hose her off.
I have drilled a 6mm hole in the bottom of points cover, hopefully preventing it to happen again.

Re: Failed To Start

Posted: Thu Aug 08, 2019 9:08 pm
by Adrian
Condensation finding is way in from somewhere?

A.

Re: Failed To Start

Posted: Fri Aug 09, 2019 6:44 am
by vince
Hi, 12 miles is quite a short run and the engine probably never gets hot enough to burn off the condensation particularly in cold and damp weather .Vince

Re: Failed To Start

Posted: Fri Aug 09, 2019 9:23 am
by ed.lazda
Same thing happened to me a while back. Damp cold morning, wouldn't start. Some WD40 on the points got it going the first time it happened. Little puddle of water in the distributor case. Drilled a small hole to allow drainage, more WD40, not been a problem since. Chamfering the edge of the hole on the inside helps it to drain properly.

Re: Failed To Start

Posted: Fri Aug 09, 2019 8:33 pm
by black fingernail
vince wrote:
Fri Aug 09, 2019 6:44 am
Hi, 12 miles is quite a short run and the engine probably never gets hot enough to burn off the condensation particularly in cold and damp weather .Vince
Half of the 12 mile journey is in fairly heavy traffic, in the morning it takes @ 1/2 an hour, in the evening, it can take@ 3/4 of an hour, so she does get thoroughly warmed up, and the weather is warm enough for shorts and t shirt.
I have chamfered the hole. I have also found an elastic band that makes an o ring for the cap to sit on and I've used a bit of silicone around the wire.
The cap is a 'chromed' plastic one, I wonder if this is anything to do with it, I think I might try a rubber one.