Sick Suzuki Part II

[Dave_Snelson]

Following on from my previous post....I have had all the fuel line, delivery, pump, carburettors, floats, jets, needles etc checked - and they are all fine. Seems now it may be the CDI unit breaking down under load.

Anyone any experiences that are similar?

Just to recap 100HP Suzuki V4 2-Stroke. 18 months old. Starts OK, runs OK until under load. Gets onto the plane for half mile or so, then gradually loses power and shuts down slowly. Have to leave it a few hours to recover. Then it repeats the exact same symptoms all over again.

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[tr7v8]

Check the coil pack very carefully, on some I've seen cracking in the casing from overheating on some of these coil packs, Vauxhalls are classic for this. The other possibility could be the triggers failing when hot. As someone said a cheapy neon that goes in the plug lead would be a good test of whether you are loosing the spark.

<hr width=100% size=1>Jim

Draco 2500

 

[Dave_Snelson]

You could be right Jim. The mechanic working on it has said that instead of a nice fat blue spark, there is a dim yellow one - on all four plugs. Not wot yood expect from high tech CDI.

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[tr7v8]

Good trick is to open up the plug gaps to about 5mm and try again, knackered coils normally struggle to fire across this gap although it only needs about 5Kv.
I suggest you are sitting down when you find out the price of a coil pack!

<hr width=100% size=1>Jim

Draco 2500

 

[Dave_Snelson]

The reason for all the diagnoses is that it's a long way from where I am, to the dealer where I bought it. I am having it looked at for diagnosis by an ex-Suzi agent nearby with all the tools(Suzi recinded his dealership because of low unit sales - b@stards!) . If it turns out to be a faulty CDI pack then it goes straight back to the original dealer under its 2 year warranty. I'm doing the exploratory work now in order that I know precisely the reason to invest in a 270 mile round trip!!

Thanks for the advice Jim.

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[jfm]

suzuki dealers

Sorry if I'm being thick, but doesn't the suzuki warranty allow you to take it to any suzuki dealer, not just the original supplier? There's definitely one in Anglesey, becos I was in it a while ago. In Pentrath (sp?)

Which dealer did Suzuki fire for low volume? Was it Rhyl marine?

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[Dave_Snelson]

Re: suzuki dealers

No, you aren't thick, you are correct. There is a dealer called Dulas Boats in Dulas, Pentraeth. I may well use them to avoid the trip to the original dealer, but warranties are strange things and if I hold Suzuki to fixing this under their "any authorised dealer" terms, then there is the possibility that the original dealer is off the hook as far as supplier / purchaser is concerned.

But then again......270 or 70 miles??? Hmmmm.....

The dealer that was, is called TRR Powerboats in Pwllheli, not 20 mins from where I keep my boat, and the disappointing thing is that he is a good competant guy with a workshop full of all things Suzi. Suzuki clearly only care for sales - and aftercare means Jack Sh1t to them.

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[jfm]

Re: suzuki dealers

Hmmm, yes, see what you mean.

I'd guess the original supplier is pretty much off the hook anyway after 18months. The guy 35miles away will I presume be quite happy to fix it as he makes a margin on the spare parts supply and bills his labour costs to Suzi under the warranty arrangements. I mean, I assume it's like cars where your local dealer is happy to get the warranty business even if he didn't originally supply the car.

I asked about Rhyl because I bought some Mercury outboards off them many years ago.

Good luck anyway!

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[andyball]

As I said before.....light-up plug caps and/or timing light is most useful to diagnose loss of spark under load. Have had this same prob' loads of times on m/cycles (own m/c electrics business).

Only certain diagnosis is substitute cdi (I never,ever found a set of resistance figures to be the least use in testing these things), but if you can eliminate everything else,that's the culprit.

Usual way is 1st establish that loss of spark is the problem (light-up caps/timing light), then having previously checked all pickup/supply/ignition coil resistances DC voltages (if any) & that kill button/ign.switch are OK.....you can compare readings to be sure that everything else is alright when the spark goes ( pickup cdi coils may increase a little due to heat).

If is all OK, must be cdi box.

Many sparks from decent ign .systems are not fat, but very thin looking, but should be blue. however yellow often caused by dodgy plugs ( I trust you've changed them to be sure, & I never use anything but NGK in a 2-stroke from bitter experience with bosch/champion & especially ND).

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[Dave_Snelson]

Wonderful diagnosis Andy!!

Even though I had changed the plugs at the back end of last season (only 5-10 hours old) one of them had gone faulty and was upsetting the CDI somehow. Plug changed, carbs cleaned and adjusted, goes like a rocket, and I'm a happy chappy again. I agree re NGK - they're brill.

Thankyou all for your help and advice.

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[andyball]

Awww shucks. Glad you're motoring again w/o a long drive to suzuki dealer.

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[chippie]

Andy, I am amazed that the info re NGK plugs still holds true. Your post stirred memories of my motorcycling days years ago when we cured many a failing two stroke by ditching the fitted plugs and putting in NGK.
Interestingly it only seemed to apply to two strokes.

Cheers

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[andyball]

Well I'm talking about 10+ years ago....maybe the others are better now?

Remember once I gave away over 10 boxes of ND plugs after one too many failed in a 2-stroke the day after I had fitted it....a local dealer used to import them/sell cheap so many people bought them, I lost count of the number of non-starters/rough-runners that were cured in 5 minutes even though the plugs were nearly new.

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[tr7v8]

Disagree I swear by them in four strokes as well, only time I used to use Champion was out and out race engines cause at the time NGK didn't do a race plug but do now....
They seem to have a slightly wider heat range than the rest of the market which has aways served me well.

<hr width=100% size=1>Jim

Draco 2500

 

[chippie]

I was quite happy to have them in four strokes, but never seemed to have the amount of plug problems in four strokes that we had in the smokers, the worst of which was an early Kawasaki 500 triple.
There seems to be quite a few ex bikers on these forums , I wonder what sort of progression it is that replaces pouring money into something fast for something slow.
Advancing age probably.

Cheers

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[Dave_Snelson]

Yep, I\'m also an ex biker nm

nm

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