Boxerworks.com

No problem if you’re yelling, my hearing isn’t so good.

So you’re positive that there should be a low resistance connection between the alternator stator winding and its housing? All the other sources state that there absolutely should not be and the bike also likes to run much better without the stator connected. Tacho works, too, after I connected the wire at the coil end.

I already received the used but healthy Audi/VW ICU from the eighties, tried it to find out the timing is still retarded. The original Bosch 0 227 100 103 is toast and the bike refuses to start with it.

You are wasting time screwing around with the ICU until you confirm that the cam timing is correct.

robert wrote: ↑Thu Aug 02, 2018 8:20 pm You are wasting time screwing around with the ICU until you confirm that the cam timing is correct.

Can the chain jump a tooth after being installed correctly?
Timing mark so low in the hole is odd tho.

Robert said: "You are wasting time screwing around with the ICU until you confirm that the cam timing is correct."
I think you are correct Robert, everything is pointing in that direction. There is a very real possibility though that an electrical or electronic issue is preventing the ignition from functioning as it should. I still suspect (from past experiences) that there may be a problem with the ignition and/or the advance mechanism, and that mess in the dash leads me to think there might be some unwanted feedback, AC spikes, leakage, bad grounding or short circuitry happening so it would be better to eliminate that possibility first.


Ok Kojones, you've tried the new ECU, the timing is still retarded, as I was 99.9% sure it would be.
You said:"the bike also likes to run much better without the stator connected"
Why are you so fixated on the effin charging system when you can't even time the ignition?

As far as I'm concerned, you have 2 options
option 1- ISOLATE THE ENGINE AND ITS IGNITION SYSTEM AND ITS STARTING SYSTEM FROM THE WHOLE REST OF THE BIKE INCLUDING ITS MAIN WIRING HARNESS and then see if you can get the timing set properly. If that doesn't work, go to option 2

option 2- remove the timing cover and see if the sprockets are aligned .

The charging system should be the last of your worries and might even fix itself when that rat nest of a dash is fixed properly.

ME 109 wrote: ↑Thu Aug 02, 2018 9:14 pm

robert wrote: ↑Thu Aug 02, 2018 8:20 pm You are wasting time screwing around with the ICU until you confirm that the cam timing is correct.

Can the chain jump a tooth after being installed correctly?
Timing mark so low in the hole is odd tho.

Not easily but it could have been assembled retarded. '78 and later cams were advanced several deg. if the cam installed one tooth retarded it would be just a few deg. retarded from the earlier models but the ign. timing
would out of range.

ME 109 asked: Can the chain jump a tooth after being installed correctly?
Never seen it happen, but then, I never saw a circlip almost destroy an engine like what happened to you.

Timing mark so low in the hole is odd tho.
Yes, very odd. indeed.

Question to Kojones. Just wodering, Does your timing light have an advance/retard function?. These were used back in the day for setting the timing on some older vehicles that only had TDC mark on the harmonic balancer.
https://beta.photobucket.com/u/1990gspd ... 772f1859dc

Timing mark on my twin plug high comp 1000cc G/S is out of sight too.
Folks who actually know something about airheads report that the optimum timing for a stock bike can be up to six degrees from the marks on the flywheel.
Add in a few more for twin plugs and them may a few more for any other mods you made and a few scratching s on the flywheel are almost irrelevant.
And if you read the factory manual regarding setting the timing it doesn't actually say what most folk seem to claim it says.

Mr Beemerboff sir,
With all due respect, who are these 'folks' who actually know something about aitheads? Maybe i know some of them. I have been a airhead owner since 1975 (new r90s vin4980603) and have owned over a dozen other airheads. I was employed as a BMW technician at 5 different BMW motorcycle shops since. The last airhead production was 1995 BTW.

I ended up diversifying into Audi, Porsche, VW products mostly because the money is much better in automotive service than motorcycles. I have my Porsche master mechanic certification papers, although they have not been updated since 2010. I have been specializing in electrical issues, mostly with vehicles still under warranty, for many years.

I, sir, also ride a high compression 1000cc GS (9.5 Siebenrock), my pride and joy, but do so with my timing set dead-on at S at idle and Z at 3000 rpm and up (AS PER FACTORY MANUAL). Your statement, "And if you read the factory manual regarding setting the timing it doesn't actually say what most folk seem to claim it says" does not make sense, because the factory manual actually says what it says, regardless of what anybody thinks.

I have not succumbed to the dual plugging fad but I do have all the necessary items and know how to put them into use should I choose to. I choose not to. I have done dozens of dual plug conversions for street customer$ who inSi$ted on it. I run 91 to 94 octane fuel and experience no pinging. My fuel consumption is 6l/100km at a steady 120km/h. My bike has non factory jetting and exhaust. It idles as smooth as any airhead out there and I can start it by hand, first try, anytime, using the kickstarter. If my bike was strictly a track machine, I might possibly dual plug it, re-jet it and run avgas.

I have no problem with you timing your bike 6, 12, or even 30 degrees out of spec if you choose to, but Mr.Cojones bike, the subject of this discussion, has no logical excuse for not adhering to stock parameters.

Thank you, and god bless.
https://beta.photobucket.com/u/1990gspd ... 597fc2a329

GSPD said: "Why are you so fixated on the effin charging system when you can't even time the ignition?”

Because it can take weeks to get spare parts and this is my only ride, I don’t have a car and I need something to move around.

"HOWEVER: There must be no continuity to ground from any stator terminal (stator disconnected from the diode board)."

So it's broken, have to find a new one. Wonder if the ICU took it with it when it blew.

GSPD said: ”Just wodering, Does your timing light have an advance/retard function?. These were used back in the day for setting the timing on some older vehicles that only had TDC mark on the harmonic balancer.”

No, it’s a cheap Powerspark branded light I bought about 7 years ago.

Well, I'll check the timing chain today, it's fairly easy now as I have the stator off already. Don't have a new gasket for the cover, though.