Hello All!

I am brand new to this forum, I was recommended by a R1 owner at work to come here. I am also a first time bike owner. I have recently purchased a 1987 Hurricane 600 for $500, it ran. Bike had been laid down and oil was leaking from the right crankcase cover. It started sputtering at anything greater than 3/4 throttle and anthing over 6.5/7k rpms. I'm working some overtime and i figured, why not, 500$. I love the bike. Here is my issue:

Bike is not getting spark (checked #3 plug),the bike was running before i decided to **** with it. I have replaced the spark plugs(same NGK spark Plugs),ignition switch(off of an 88 cbr600f), and the right crankcase cover. It turns over, but no spark, i just end up flooding the bike. When I replaced the right crankcase cover I used the same pulser. Although, i did NOT have the battery disconnected nor did i disconnect it from underneath the tank Could that be my issue, are the pulsers fairly sensitive?

Is it safe to take the multimeter leads and poke through the insulation on the pulser wires to test the OHMS? They seem to be fairly light gauge. I ask that for a reason... my petcock is stuck in the ON position therefor I cannot remove the fuel tank to disconnect the sensor without draining my full tank. I will do it I just figured I was working smarter not harder .

I can't tell if it's a pulser issue, flooding issue or my battery is not hot enough ( It is not fully charged but it still turns the bike over 3-4 times per second.) Im headed up to buy a charger right after i click "Sumbit New Thread".

Thank you for any input you guys may have. I know my bike terminology is rough and I have made some dumb mistakes. We all have to start somewhere...

 

I ended up getting all of the gas out and removing the gas tank. Disconnected the plug and tested both the WB/B and WY/Y for OHMS. Supposed to be 450-550 ohms, I could not get a reading at all. I made sure my multimeter was on the correct setting but am not 100% the multimeter is true. I could not pull a reading at all off of both leads. Is there another part on the bike, or anything for that matter what I could check to make sure the multimeter is functioning correctly? Any help would be greatly appreciated and thanks ahead of time!

 

Tested the pulser, ignition coils, 6 and 4 pin connector to CDI box. Everything tested out OK. I know you cannot test the CDI box with a standard multimeter. I believe I have checked everything but that. What is strange, is the bike was starting and running with no problem before. I did try to jump it from my truck battery while the truck was ON. (was uneducated at the time). Is it possible my CDI box is fried? Is there anywhere I can take to have it tested fairly cheap?

Please Help! I'm at my witts end!

 

Make sure the plug boots are pushed down flush with the valve cover...they don't always cooperate when putting them back on. You should feel them click..
If you only have one plug not firing then the pulser, cdi, and coils are good. Try bad lead, bad plug, or dirty carb as the first three places to look.

 

Check the obvious/stupid things. Is the kill switch in the run position? (Stupid, I know, but I can't even count the number of times that one has got me) Are ALL wires plugged in? All grounds hooked up? Are you sure the ignition switch worked before you installed it?

Are you sure the ignition switch off an '88 is identical to a '87? I think some later models had a kick stand switch that killed the ignition if the kickstand wasn't up. Any unused terminals/wires coming out of the new switch?

How did you check to see if you were getting spark? If you didn't have it grounded well it will give you a false reading. You said you only checked the #3 plug for spark, what about the rest?

Does the bike even sputter or backfire or anything? I once hooked up the spark plug wires in the wrong order, are you positive you got it right?

 

Got it running, for about 3 min. I ended up taking the left crankcase cover off agian and noticed there was black residue on the contacts on the pulser, sprayed it with electrical cleaner... put it back together and it fired right up. All of the header pipes were hott to the touch but I noticed a faint ticking.... Couldnt rev it very high (3-4k) and shortly after, it shut off (had the petccock on OFF still). It was not backfiring, or missing, just cutting out when you blipped the throtte. I turned the petcock on.... it won't start now. I let it sit for 1 hour with same results. Did i just do a temperary fix on the pulser? By the way, seafoam has been in the tank for around 1 week (length of bike being down). Tank has be sloshed around several times so I doubt it's seperated from the fuel.

Any ideas?

and yes, killswitch on, fuel in, ignition in the ON position. Boots are down, tested them for resistance.

 

could the carb bowls just be empty?

 

The bowls are empty if you ran it till it quit with the fuel shut off. The hurricane had a semi transparent fuel filter on it OEM. With the left hand sidecover off you should be able to see if there is fuel moving in the line...or just air. If you have fuel in the tank above the level of the carbs, it should gravity feed. If the fuel pump is functioning it may just need a little prime to get liquid in the pump.

 

Just an observation...If the fuel filter has been changed from OEM the routing of the fuel line may be altered too.

 

I let it sit for the night and it ended up firing right up the next morning. Bike is running very strong. All of this from a dirty pick up coil... Thank you all for your help.