Hi, New boy from Berkshire

[fallenmikethebike]

I am waiting for Mr Krusty to join in on the discussion, I,ve read some of his replies, he likes the crack methinks. Where are you going on Thursday, one day we will meet up on a ride out. I don,t mind getting my bike dirty, but if the going gets tough I do struggle a bit. I won,t say how old I am, but the calender thing does,nt go back far enough for me to enter my age. But to give you an idea how old I am my first bike was an Aerial Arrow. Came off it when the chain came off and jammed in the rear brakedrum. I landed wrapped around a gate and was carted off to hospital. Years later they invented a word for it. They called it a "HIGHSIDE". Cheers for now.

CHRIST, you hear this guys, I might not be the oldest swinger in town, well not quite, i came from a particularly good vintage that was the Autumn of 57, and no nothing to do with Heinz, before the quipper,s get started.
Yes Thurs, it's a TRF run out,Hopefully with it being a weekday, there will be less of the "intolerant " weekend warrior walkers around , to spoil the run.
Mike

[CR Mmmmm]

Mike, Good news, your not the oldest, but at least we were both hatched in the same decade. Now more serious business, my man has just informed me that I need an ignition coil, all the gear he bought of e-bay has made not a shite of difference. But the bike has no spark at all. Where can I get one from a bit quick, and a bit cheap. How can you loose a spark, it had one when I took it to him. Thrown out in the rain and snow for a month and a half would,nt of helped, he does,nt have a lot of room in his workshop. But then he tells me that some of the electrical connectors are corroded. This bike might well bankrupt me. I am hoping you can help me find this frigging coil, or could it be something else. Cheers.

[fallenmikethebike]

Your intuitions may be right, so, in order to reduce your workshop bills it may be worth, grabbing the bike back for a while.
The prime suspect for the lack of spark, providing the alternator is generating a low tension circuit, is the Kill switch, i have removed mine from the bike altogether due to it's erratic behaviour, and no problems since.
If you do need a coil it's probably going to be a trawl through fleabay .
It sounds like it may be worth your while just spending a day going through the bikes electrical connection's in a methodical manner.
Given the bikes working environment, ie wet, and gloop, the connections generally benefit from an easing apart, clean,and reassemble using, IMO, some ACF fluid, but your choice of inhibitor will work just as well.
A multi meter, is a useful addition to your workshop, and we have some guys on here with way above average electrical knowledge, don't we KK .
I don't know your friendly bike mechanic, but most guys on here generally fettle their own bikes, mostly from necessity, but some because they enjoy it.
I doubt your mechanic will respond to a request for help on wet Sunday afternoon, when your stuck 2 mls from the nearest road, so some knowledge of your bike, and basics of what's going on is always going to be useful.
Oh Thursdays ride out is from Guildford area to all points west and Petersfield eventually.
Mike

[CR Mmmmm]

Thanks Mike, You always come back with sound solid sense. My chap is confidant that it is the coil, I have to go along with him so I will get another coil. There are a few on e-bay, do other Mks fit, or is it the scabby A.R. one I,ll have to buy. I have asked the question in the technical area, I,ll probably get a tongue-lashing for it but I,m getting desperate. looks like I,ll be riding the Serow again at the weekend. Thanks.

[CR Mmmmm]

Hi Mike, I know you are getting ready for tomorrow, just wanted to update you on the coil saga. The coil has a splitfire HT lead fitted to it. L-Trail tell me the lead should be moulded to the coil. Can I get over this or do I have to buy another coil. New from LT is £65.00, or get the scabby one from thorpespeedracing. Have a good day tomorrow. Cheers. Kevin. It,s a good name, so don,t take the p**s.

[fallenmikethebike]

[quote="CR Mmmmm"]Hi Mike, I know you are getting ready for tomorrow, just wanted to update you on the coil saga. The coil has a splitfire HT lead fitted to it. L-Trail tell me the lead should be moulded to the coil. Can I get over this or do I have to buy another coil. New from LT is £65.00, or get the scabby one from thorpespeedracing. Have a good day tomorrow. Cheers. Kevin. It,s a good name, so don,t take the p**s.[/quote
Hi Kev
I have replaced all the lead from the coil, to put a longer piece in, and due to poor connections, so it is possible, here's what i did.
Take the whole coil to a reputable motor spares shop, buy a length of HT lead, and a good quality cap, rubber type, you will also need some good quality silicone sealant, or a tube of RTV type , that is also useful for sealing the exhaust as its fairly heat proof, and some self amalgamating rubber tape [it's the stuff BT engineers use, it's very waterproof, and forms a solid mass when set.].
You should be able to unscrew the old lead, with a pulling and twisting action, there is at the base of the wire inlet aperture a brass, threaded screw, set into the plastic, that forms the connection to the coil.
So the idea is to screw your new good quality lead into this and seal it at the same time, with some RTV , leave lots of spare lead, use some of that tape to seal over the coil to lead connection, you may have to wait for the RTV to go off first , and do not fix the plug holder to the new lead until you have re-assembled , and checked, for a spark.
Cut the new lead with enough length to double back on it's self, trust me, this makes plug changes a doddle as you can now get the plug holder right out of your way, allowing enough room to get your mit in there and twiddle.
Now RTV the plug holder to lead connection, there you go, one super sealed, coil and plug cap.
IN my experience it's rarely the coil that is the fault, but more likely a low tension connection somewhere, especially that bl@@dy kill switch, which even when cleaned and serviced,still can give trouble.
Mike

[CR Mmmmm]

Hi Mike, How was your day out, I,m thinking of joining Wilts TRF then we may be able to sort out a ride out. Still have,nt got the ar back. I will give him until the weekend, then if it,s not sorted I will get it back. Just bought a new coil £70.00 from L.T. hope it does the job because they won,t take it back. Regards, Kevin.

[fallenmikethebike]

Hi Kev, that's a pain, with the bike, yes you may have to be, what do they say these day's ? proactive
Yes if map reading is not your forte, then a TRF membership is a great idea.
You probably need to make that sooner rather than later, as Wilts , who had been a very MPV friendly C.C. are now less so.
I see Eddies organising another ride out in North Wales , we'll have to Organise a Southern Softies CRM meet up on the Plains or surrounding areas, What with the plains, and Ox Drove ect there's enough for a good 5 hour loop.
Yea, great day out, trouble was the Trail bike Trial on the following Sunday, the poor old Knees were letting me know all about for a week afterwards.
The coil change on an AR although relatively straight forward, needs approaching in a methodical and patient manner, as the amount of gear you have to take off to get at the swine is staggering , if you can earth the new coil somewhere, and get the low tension wire on it, it may be worth checking to establish, that, it's a coil fault first .
Mike

[CR Mmmmm]

Mike, It,s Kevin again. Saw the guy who is trying to fix the A.R. He has fitted the £70.00 coil, still has no spark. He thinks it might be a fault with the C.D.I. How the f**k much is that going to cost me. He has found that the side stand switch has been removed, and the three wires from it have been looped together, he reckons that this may have put a "spike" into the C.D.I. Could you give me your thoughts please. At the moment £150. 00 has been spent on components which have not worked. Cheers.

[knackeredMk1]

Sidestand switch removal is really common practise. It is very unlikely to have caused any problem unless the wrong wires are connected.

[CR Mmmmm]

Thanks for that, I think I should have bought any Mk, and left the A.R alone, I had read enough on them to realise they are too technical, now I,m living the nightmare. Cheers.

[fallenmikethebike]

Yes, switch on mine is removed, a fault should have been apparent immediately the loop was made and the bike failed to run.
Sorry, you did say you bought the bike as a runner didn't you?
If as seems likely, i am your nearest fellow ARer , when you are in possession of the bike again, it might be worth a punt, to have a swap around of CDIs, if only to rule that in or out as the fault.I'm about an hour away from you.
If, and i am doubtful that it is, you may be looking a £450 for a replacement, if you can find one
Mike

[SkidMark]

CRM mmmm
I feel your pain and frustration - I've dealt with the whole CDI/Power Valve not working thing and to be honest your symptons do not sound like a typical CDI problem at all. I have just read back through this whole thread and would suggest that you do too. Having just done that myself a few (sometimes blunt) obvservations which I may have to apologies for later :
1. Hunting at idle is not linked to a loss of spark it is a carb problem. Follow Mike's advice regarding setting the mixture screw. (Changing the pilot jet won't hurt either)
2. (Personal Opinion follows...) Get your bike back from the guy that is supposedly fixing it and follow the advice on this forum. If he can't swallow his pride and take advice from people that live with and maintain these bikes day in and day out then he could be chasing his tail and spending your money for a long time... (plus if you are interested in learning how to fix it yourself then the sooner you start the sooner you learn and the sooner you save yourself someone elses labour charges )
3. Which side did the bike go down on? Left? Good chance the side stand switch wires got disturbed (depending where and how they were secured). Right? Kill Switch. Otherwise I would go through the electrical connections and clean them all up as previously advised.
4. Put the DEP back on. (But if you do decide to sell it let me know )
5. Don't regret buying the AR - they are awesome and once this problem is fixed as long as you carry out routine maintenance then you will have loads-a-fun.

I guess in short my advice would be "Do what Mike tells you"

Let us know how it goes,
Regards
Mark

[CR Mmmmm]

Hi mark, Thanks for reading through the post, I,d forgotton half of what I,d written. The bike went down on the left hand side, it was pretty violent. The stand switch has been disconnected. The guy whose trying to fix it came with me when I first looked at the bike, and rated it. This is not helping the cause. He is very apolegetic that he can,t get it going, but it never seems to move foreward. Mike has said he will check out the C.D.I, which is brilliant, I have had so much support on this site, and hopefully I can repay their kindness one day. Welding and sheetmetal work is my forte, one day I can help these guys out. cheers Kevin.

[SkidMark]

Sheetmetal huh! I do a bit of that too as an Aircraft Mechanic...
Welding - you can go into business for CRM250 forumites relocating mounting points so they can fit plastic CR150 tanks