Certainly could have led to the problem, at the very least it wasn't helping prevent it.
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Hanging idle after load - 1973 CB450
- Thread starter bh450
- Start date
Not something I've ever been involved with, but if the condensers were still connected to the Pamco circuit you could just try disconnecting them first to see how it runs.
RobMan
Veteran Member
Test the condensers if you do decide to continue going back to points. I had two old sets of condensers and after testing found 3 were bad and only 1 appeared to be good. Bought new ones from 4into1 I believe.
Removed condensers and ran the pamco again. No dice. Could not align timing between the two cylinders. Decided to go back to mech points.
When I put the points plate on, it won’t fully seat. There is a gap. Is the advancer misaligned? Or is this gap fine?
Noted on Condensers, will check those next.
When I put the points plate on, it won’t fully seat. There is a gap. Is the advancer misaligned? Or is this gap fine?
Noted on Condensers, will check those next.
The high part of the points cam is trying to open both sets of points, which is putting downward pressure on the plate which keeps you from just setting the plate in there. Push upward on the plate as you push down, it should drop into the recessed areas top and bottom of the points base.
Ah yea should have known. maybe a bit hot here to be doing this today. Thanks gonna keep going forward.
And remember, you have to start from the beginning with points gaps and timing. Highly unlikely that the gaps on the points will be right as it sits.
All four condensers I have are shot…looks like i’m finishing this another day. Thanks for catching that.
stl360+450
Veteran Member
Not questioning the diagnosis, but curious how you tested the condensers and what you found. Each should have a capacitance of about 0.25 μF, measured from either yellow or blue to the body. You probably need to use the capacitor setting on your multimeter.
Fair point, it isn't often you'd see 4 bad ones at the same time.
Touching the condenser body with the negative and positive to the lead wire, i charged the condenser on the resistance setting, the. intermittently released the charge on the dc volts setting, checking to see if charge was held between each partial release. then repeated.
all four condensers immediately read OL when in resistance mode. One of them would release a charge but not hold.
Is there another way to check them? I bought these off ebay so i am not assuming they are in working condition, only hoping…
stl360+450
Veteran Member
Does your meter have a capacitor function? It would look like this: -||-. If so, you connect ground to the case and positive to either of the wire leads (blue or yellow) and read the capacitance. It should be 0.25 μF or 250 nF with some tolerance.
If you are unable to confirm that the condensers are good, you can still proceed to set up your ignition. If you notice excessive sparking at the points, then it would suggest the condensers are, in fact, bad.
If you are unable to confirm that the condensers are good, you can still proceed to set up your ignition. If you notice excessive sparking at the points, then it would suggest the condensers are, in fact, bad.
Unfortunately my multimeter does not.
Hooked it all up, set gaps and timing statically. everything seemed fine. started the bike up, tough to start. I don’t think the right side is firing. That side is cold and the left side is hot. not sure where the disconnect is occurring. maybe a loose connection somewhere.
stl360+450
Veteran Member
Did you check for spark with the right plug against the head?
yep, no spark. going through all of the connections. not finding anything loose yet.
You could try swapping sides with the condensers just in case. And when you connected the wires to the points, did you check all the fiber insulators involved to make sure they were all there and incorrect order?
stl360+450
Veteran Member
But the test light goes off and then on right on the F mark?
You can "swap" the coils by changing all of the connections from left to right (without physically swapping them). This might help narrow down the problem.
RobMan
Veteran Member
That is the method I used to check mine and after I got the new condensers I checked them as well as a comparison and they checked good so I was comfortable throwing the old ones in the bin.
swapped the condensers, now both sides firing but the left side is dominant. if i pull the right cap with the bike running, rpm’s drop. if i pull the left, the bike dies.
fiber insulators? as in the wires running to coils or something else?
interesting, bike would not start when i swapped the coils…
wondering why I am just noticing this issue now that I have mechanical points and not with the pamco. Also if the right side coil is not operating properly, wouldn’t that have translated to issues on the right cylinder previously?
stl360+450
Veteran Member
The swap requires the spark plug leads to be reversed as well as the points leads to each coil. Condensers can stay where they were.
Once you got both sides to fire, swapping wasn't really needed since both sides were firing at that point. The imbalance may have been related to the idle screws or other fuel/air differences that you could adjust.
Once you got both sides to fire, swapping wasn't really needed since both sides were firing at that point. The imbalance may have been related to the idle screws or other fuel/air differences that you could adjust.
oh right of course! Okay, i will have to pick this up later this week. hopefully this is in fact the source of the hanging idle.
if not, i have one more idea, bought new throttle valve seals since i heard some people found that to resolve idle issues. one thing at a time.
The fiber washers on the points connections, but it seems you have spark on both sides so not likely an issue.