Should I clean out the chamber so it's squeaky clean and dry? Should it not have some sort of lubricant in it? Where is the spark plug I'm supposed to be able to remove?
Would be beneficial if it was cleaned out, a LIGHT coating of wd40 or similar would prevent further corrosion etc? The sparkplug is riiiiiiiiiiight at the bottom of that tube, you will need a long plug spanner to access it? Either something like this: 16MM LONG REACH SPARK PLUG SPANNER 10MM THREAD PLUGS | eBay Or a spark plug socket with a long socket extension & ratchet?
That looks like you've either sprayed WD in there and livened things or has water been seeping in from road use . Havent read this thread from the start but is this the front cyl. The spark plug is still there from what I can see of your picture and it looks to me as if part of the coil has come off on the spark plug. Get your thin walled socket in there ,remove plug put it back in coil and see if youve got a spark.
Does it really look like bad? Don't know about previous owners but I rode it for a year in very weather condition. Even got hit by snow!
It looks a bit crusty, yes! :biggrin: Like an oyster. Get the plug out tomorrow and see what it looks like? Im thinking they havnt been changed for a while... Always good practice to strip the faorings off after winter and give everything a good scrub, or the salt will, errrr... Ferment.
Looks like any other Duc ridden in all weathers and not looked after. Seems to me your getting to grips with ownership and doing what you can for youself. Good on you IMHO.
You previously mentioned that you had compressed air. Before you attempt the removal of the plug blast the air down the hole to dry it out. The 'stick coil' tip will unscrew, watch out for the spring when you undo the tip. Give it all a good clean before reassembly.
Maybe get some brake cleaner in there to clean the orifice out before you get the plug out? +1 on you having a go! Good work so far
Hi djkis, As 470four say's you are doing a good job, looks like all the advice so far is the same that I would suggest too. I had a black 04 749 before my current 749s it had been used in all weather and the left outside too I think. Anyway I went though the very same as you when trying to resolve a few niggles. I see from your photo that you have the early style coils which have the connector at the head, the later style have the connector on an additional wire away from the head to help ensure you don't get water ingress in the coil. With the early style make sure the connector is clean too. Once you get the plug out and replaced or cleaned, when you put the coil back if you are using the bike in all weather it would be wise to put a little sealant (silicone) around the top rim to get a water tight fit. Hopefully this will fix you issue, I had a similar problem which turned out to be nothing to do with the coils or RPM/crank sensor. From your desecription it sounds nearly the same, after replacing all the above parts and still getting the problem I got the bike on a dyno, it turned out I had a loose connection on the main wiring loom where it enters the airbox. If the cleaning up and refitting of the coil/plug comes to no avail I would reckoned checking/cleaning the looms connections before replacing anything if you can. Hope that this helps
thanks for all the advice. yip, finally bit the bullet and decided to do it myself. lol all new to me so any help is great! ill give u an update when i get the tool for removing spark plug
just had a look in my toolbox. all ive got is a long 16mm and 21mm long reach spanner for spark plug removals. think i picked it up in pound land a while back! size i need is 10mm is that correct?
This is what you need a 16mm thin walled socket,find it on ebay. The 10mm is the size of the spark plug threaded body ,I misplaced mine a while back so ground a std one down on a bench grinder , then found the thin walled one later on.
Started bike in garage with fairings off. Noticed small amounts of oil dripping from the bottom of the oil filter onto the exhaust pipe below it. Also noticed the probe I removed from the horizontal cylinder was oily. Is there too much oil in this bike or has something gone?
That could be a leaky filter seal and by probe I take it you mean coil pack. have you tried to see if you've got a spark yet . As Glid says though you could use the services of a dealer methinks.
Tool came today to remove spark plug. Not long enough and I've not got bits to extend it. Need to use bike on Saturday for transport so had to put fairings back on and test it oU. Just been about 10 miles on it there. Had no problems getting to triple digits..... Had only one drop in power that lasted a split second when it was cruising at a steady 50mph Was very annoying when that happened ,up till that point I thought it was fixed.
Yeah Peter James I mean probe pack. Got it out and was dripping with what I suspect to be oil/petrol. Perhaps that's why it randomly cuts for a second
