HAWK on the COBDRI

[PalladinSC]

I took my 2015 HAWK on the Colorado Backcountry Discovery Route last week. It was doing fine for 2 days then started missing at higher RPM. Finally it quit, like I'd turned off the switch. Checking it I found it had a very weak spark. Ignition coil? CDI? Both?

Any good parts source other than RPS?

[Weldangrind]

If it's at all bright outside, a strong spark can be difficult to see. What plug do you have in there?

[JerryHawk250]

Check that you have a good ground connection at all grounding points.

[PalladinSC]

All the connections were tight. Spark, even with a NEW NGK plug was very weak.

[Ariel Red Hunter]

Originally Posted by PalladinSC

All the connections were tight. Spark, even with a NEW NGK plug was very weak.

I wonder if the magneto coil slipped too close/too far away from the rotor. The E-gap is pretty sensetive. If you put a business card between the magneto coil and the rotor, rotate the rotor until the Magnet sucks the coil down to the business card, tighten the screws, and Bob's your uncle....ARH

[PalladinSC]

I wonder if I could convert it to a stick coil. Any thoughts?

[Sport Rider]

Bummer to hear. did you have to abandon the trip at that point?

[PalladinSC]

Did not have to abandon the trip. My nephew was trailing us in his Toyota FJ Cruiser w/trailer so we just loaded it up onto the trailer and continued the march. I later got to ride my BIL's Suzuki DRZ400S and also Paulie Heydemann's Yamaha WR250R. I still had a great time and would go again. I was prepared for some kind of breakdown, just not that one. Who carries extra ignition stuff (other than spark plugs)?

[Sport Rider]

Originally Posted by PalladinSC

Did not have to abandon the trip. My nephew was trailing us in his Toyota FJ Cruiser w/trailer so we just loaded it up onto the trailer and continued the march. I later got to ride my BIL's Suzuki DRZ400S and also Paulie Heydemann's Yamaha WR250R. I still had a great time and would go again. I was prepared for some kind of breakdown, just not that one. Who carries extra ignition stuff (other than spark plugs)?

chinabike riders!

I've not heard of a lot of people here on the site that have taken that aggressive of a trip. I did manage to get out when at the rally last month. I did about 125 miles going up over cherohala and back. BTW....I threw a chain again. LOL I'm not sure how much more shakedown you could do for something like your problem.

[PalladinSC]

LOL! I did over twice the miles you did in the course of two days along with several water crossings and climbed to over 11,000 feet elevation. Bike was doing great until it quit.

[PalladinSC]

Well, I replaced the ignition coil and the CDI. No joy. Any other suggestions?

[PalladinSC]

ARH. Can you point me to the magneto coil?

[Ariel Red Hunter]

Originally Posted by PalladinSC

ARH. Can you point me to the magneto coil?

If you remove the rotor (under the left side crankcase cover), looks kinda like a brake drum, there sits the stator. One of the coils is connected to the CDI unit. The other coils are used to charge the battery, and runs the lights via the zenor diode that converts the ac to dc, so that the battery stays happy. The lights don't really care if they are running off of ac or dc. But the turn signal controller cares. Anyway, this is what used to be called a low tension magneto. In this application it sends a small amount of self-generated current up a wire to the Condenser Discharge Ignition module, which cleans up and intensifies the juice, sends it to the coil where it rises up to somewhere around 50,000 volts, and fires the plug. How does the magneto know when to send that shot of juice up to the CDI? It has its own dedicated magnet that creates the electricity at exactly the right time, around top dead center. Your problem may be a skinned wire where the wires come out of the motor on top, more or less, of the outer crankcase cover through a U shaped slot. Check those wires very carefully for rubbing on the engine, a break or a short. Unlikely to be a bad magneto coil on a new bike, much more likely to be where those wires come out of the crankcase. Other guys on here know more about these things than I do, but basically, that's how it works...ARH

[Mudflap]

I don't think you have to remove the rotor to get to the stator. The stator is usually bolted to the side cover.

Originally Posted by Ariel Red Hunter

If you remove the rotor (under the left side crankcase cover), looks kinda like a brake drum, there sits the stator. One of the coils is connected to the CDI unit. The other coils are used to charge the battery, and runs the lights via the zenor diode that converts the ac to dc, so that the battery stays happy. The lights don't really care if they are running off of ac or dc. But the turn signal controller cares. Anyway, this is what used to be called a low tension magneto. In this application it sends a small amount of self-generated current up a wire to the Condenser Discharge Ignition module, which cleans up and intensifies the juice, sends it to the coil where it rises up to somewhere around 50,000 volts, and fires the plug. How does the magneto know when to send that shot of juice up to the CDI? It has its own dedicated magnet that creates the electricity at exactly the right time, around top dead center. Your problem may be a skinned wire where the wires come out of the motor on top, more or less, of the outer crankcase cover through a U shaped slot. Check those wires very carefully for rubbing on the engine, a break or a short. Unlikely to be a bad magneto coil on a new bike, much more likely to be where those wires come out of the crankcase. Other guys on here know more about these things than I do, but basically, that's how it works...ARH

[goat67]

Originally Posted by Ariel Red Hunter

If you remove the rotor (under the left side crankcase cover), looks kinda like a brake drum, there sits the stator. One of the coils is connected to the CDI unit. The other coils are used to charge the battery, and runs the lights via the zenor diode that converts the ac to dc, so that the battery stays happy. The lights don't really care if they are running off of ac or dc. But the turn signal controller cares. Anyway, this is what used to be called a low tension magneto. In this application it sends a small amount of self-generated current up a wire to the Condenser Discharge Ignition module, which cleans up and intensifies the juice, sends it to the coil where it rises up to somewhere around 50,000 volts, and fires the plug. How does the magneto know when to send that shot of juice up to the CDI? It has its own dedicated magnet that creates the electricity at exactly the right time, around top dead center. Your problem may be a skinned wire where the wires come out of the motor on top, more or less, of the outer crankcase cover through a U shaped slot. Check those wires very carefully for rubbing on the engine, a break or a short. Unlikely to be a bad magneto coil on a new bike, much more likely to be where those wires come out of the crankcase. Other guys on here know more about these things than I do, but basically, that's how it works...ARH

Minor correction to this operational description regarding this sentence.

The other coils are used to charge the battery, and runs the lights via the zenor diode that converts the ac to dc, so that the battery stays happy.

To convert ac to dc requires a rectifier which consists of 2 diodes for a half way and 4 diodes for a full way. A zener diode on the other hand is used to clamp a voltage at a set level these diodes come in various voltage ratings.
A zener can act as a regulator a very simple one. Usually a regulator uses a few more passive components. We just see the heatsinks on ours.