No spark, no ride

[Rick]

Thought I would relay a little problem I had out in the desert on Monday.  

We were geared up and ready to head out on a 60 mile ride, and were warming the bikes.  I shot up a couple hills, when the bike just died.  I kicked a couple of times, but no go.  Fortunately, I was on a hill just above the van, and simply coasted down to the repair wagon.

First things first:  Yup, installed a brand spankin' new BR8EVX.  No go.

Number 2: I pulled the plug, inserted a long philips into the plug wire, and moved the kicker down to rotate the crank.  No spark.

Hmmm, number 3: pulled the tank and checked all connections.  I thought maybe my kill switch shorted, so diconnected.  No spark. checked all coil connections. No spark.

Rats,  number 4: pulled the plug on the 125 to check that my new plug was good.  Spark!!  Rats, on the wrong bike.

This sucks, number 5: pulled the flywheel cover, flywheel and stator.  Good thing I keep a puller, 1/2 impact, and large nitrogen tank in the van, as it made for easy removal.  Yea...  Corrosion on the back of the stator where it contacts the case.  Cleaned back of stator, case, chased threads with a tap, installed new 8mm head bolts in place of the philips on the stator.  Installed flywheel.  Spark!!!!! Hurah!  An even on the right bike.

All kidding aside, the stator had built up corrosion where it contacts the case, eliminated spark.  Cleaned her up, and had a successful ride.  In fact, the ol' 5-0 has renewed power.  Must have been a problem developing for a little while.  I have heard of this happening, but have never experienced the problem, especially on a 1 year old bike.  Since the first race of the regional season in Sunday, I'm glad the problem occured the weekend before.  

I thought I would provide my story just in case someone else experiences a no-spark problem of their own.  I just eliminated the easy problems, working towards the hard stuff until I came to the one that got me going again.

Boy am I thankful for a well stocked and outfited race van.  

Rick

[QuantumDuck]

DUDE!!!...Your race van ROCKS!

Just out of curiosity...How long was your total down time?

[Rick]

I really need to grab the camera and post some pictures of my van.  In 1998, one of my sponsors was a large Honda/Kawasaki/GMC/Cheverolet/Geo dealer.  We were looking a buying a new box trailer, and Brian Brown had just bought a van for racing.  After checking his van out, measuring (for bike fit) every van I could find, searching wrecking yards for a rear seat, and having the dealer search the country for a new loaded cargo van (White, grey interior, 3/4 ton, Chevy), we finally found one in Utah.  They had to trade out a 3/4 ton 4x4 to get it, but I bought the van for their cost, and they chipped in the dealer givebacks from the factory to lower the cost even more.  The first weekend, my wife and I installed a carpet kit, and the following week I had a sound system installed complete with 12 inch sub and amps.  I found a the same color rear seat out of an extended cab truck (they are really shot, so allowed me to buy a standard length van instead of an extended van), built a frame that incorporated a rear bar with tabs to hold the front wheel in place on the bikes.  I later installed a nitrogen tank, hangers for riding cloths, a shelf on one side for my 4 helmets, a craftman tool box, a gun rack for holding handlebars and goggles, and a small flip open bin for bolts, patches, bearings, spark plugs, suspension shims, etc.  I thought a lot about how to set the van up to carry two bikes and 5 people, and have never seen a better setup.  In fact, I have had folks take pictures of my van to capture the ideas for their own vans.  

As a note, my other vehicle is a red 1968 Corvette convertible that has less than 60,000 miles, with the stock 350HP 327cu. inch./ 4-speed.  If I had to sell one, and choose between the two, I would keep the van.  Guess I have 2-strock running through my body.

I'll try and get some pictures together and post.

On the second question, total down time was 40 minutes from the time I rolled up to the van to pulling out for the ride.  Wish all problems were this easy to diagnose and fix...

Rick