Forum

[Michael]

Oh... and Alan, the MIL lamp is the 'check engine light' equivalent for the EFI. If its on or flashing then something's up, if its off then your probably OK. The EFI replacement for an ammeter...

[Jack]

Mickael,get it running right before touching the sprag!

[grunda 12]

hi michael ,about a year ago my pal with the efi combo had a rattle ,primary off it turned out to be the bolt that holds the front primary sprocket on where incidently the sprag clutch lives just food for thought i mentioned this as the bolt was rattling inside the primary case atb paul.your starting issue could just be a new plug required,get the primary cover off asap before you do serious damage that could be costly

[Michael]

Ok, took primary cover off today and it was clean as a whistle inside. Took clutch basket and engine sprockets off and clean as a whistle there too. Disassembled sprag assembly and one TINY fragment was broken off the sprag lying between sprag teeth and inner bearing surface. No scoring whatsoever either! The bearing surfaces are not SMOOTH, but you can feel slight undulations on both inner and out surface where sprag teeth bind - is this acceptable? Would that or the TINY fragment of sprag casing cause my issues? Incidentally, I couldn't find where on the sprag itself the piece came from - we are talking 1 millimetre square here. Photo when I find out how to upload them!

Might it be the starter motor itself clunking? Or, something worse

For those that care, the efi engine is pretty easy to work on. Sprag in and out in 3 hours and that included fabricating my own special service tools...

[palace15]

Michael, I think I may well have a sprag problem on my 2010 C5, I have NO kickstart, any chance you can give me details of the tools required for removal of clutch and engine sprocket? Many thanks Dave

[Michael]

OK, a couple of pics (hopefully). Sorry if this doesn't work - trying to upload photos for the first time. If I mess it up, you can laugh (but then please tell me how to post pics one you've finished laughing...)

Specialist tool to remove engine sprocket and clutch basket:


[img]C:UsersMichaelPicturesBike RepairIMG_0215[/img]


Broken bit of sprag (just above yellow ruler sticker):


[img]C:UsersMichaelPicturesBike RepairIMG_0220[/img]


Sprag itself:


[img]C:UsersMichaelPicturesBike RepairIMG_0221[/img]


Stupidly didn't take a photo of the sprag-housing bearing surfaces. They felt slightly bumpy to the touch.

[Michael]

OK, TOTAL FAIL there... a couple of pics (2nd time lucky?).



Specialist tool to remove engine sprocket and clutch basket:




Broken bit of sprag (just above yellow ruler sticker):




Sprag itself:




Oh, and DAVE, the only tricky bits in doing the job were the need to level off the chaincase cover carefully (I used an off-cut of hardwood flooring - the groove mated perfectly with the little lever points on the casing) and the need to move the left hand footrest out the way. It is hard to remove, but swinging it out of the way is a better option: hopefully a pic here too:




Merry Xmas all...

[david w]

Hi All,
Sorry to hear of your probs Michael and I know that yours is an EFI but your problems sound very familiar. My machine is a 65 and I broke the sprag a little while back, I then removed it . The cause was a spitback through the carb of enormous proportions. My machine had never done that before. It has not run properly since. I thought I had the problem solved, starts real easy ,runs then throws a spitting fit and stops. One day it stopped and wouldn't go again.Since I have tried everything else,fitting of electronic ignition, rejetting the carb(my jets werestandard and the bike was running an SB filter). I decided to replace the coil and hey presto ,it ran again, started first time every time but I cannot get rid of the tendency for it to spit back and stall out.
Regards David

[grunda 12]

hi david ,my old 350 uesd to spit back occasionally when it was ticking over and warm,i think it was caused by an air leak at the carb manifold just a thought have you got the mikcarb with rubber manifold? i also read that a weak mixture can cause spit back just a thought atb paul,

[Michael]

Hi All, sorry to bump a thread up but I'm hoping for some advice before shelling out for parts. As I said above, my sprag housing isn't perfectly smooth and I can feel slight undulations in both the inner and outer bearing surfaces - would this cause my sprag slipping issues? I've no confidence in my diagnosis skills, and am worried I'm over looking something, but the bike runs well-ish normally, and 15000 miles including some loooong trips seems not too bad for a known weak part on Electra models - replacement isn't cheap so I'd hate to get it wrong! Any advice from those who have replaced sprag a in the past would be most welcome.