Engine misfire/surge

[nightrunner]

I should add that I think everyone who as replaced the coils had already gone through and cleaned the carbs and the problem persisted.

As for the cables, Mustang's idea sounds good but I use a towel as a brace/pad and just leave the throttle cable connected.  The carbs rest nicely on the Hepco and Becker engine guards with a little help.  The choke cable is easy to remove.   I think I disconnected both cables one time and that was more trouble than it was worth.

On the filter I added an in-line filter before the carbs, but unlike others I left the stock filter in as a back up.

Let us know what you find.

[RiderX]

I put everything back together last night. I added an in line filter just below the tank valve. I put gas back in and it took a while for the carbs to fill back up and then it started up. I am afraid to say that it still sounds like it did before all the work although I haven't ridden it yet.

I suppose my next question is where to find replacement coils. I looked at Nology and they are a non-retailing manufacturer. I tried a number of the links to retailers on their website and couldn't find a listing for their coils. Any suggestions?

[JetdocX]

Try here:

http://www.nologyhotwires.com/

[abruzzi]

Do we steamer owners need the single outlet or dual outlet?  I'm assuming single, right?

Geof

[RiderX]

Correct, single outlet. It is the number of spark plug wires that plug into each coil and in our case it is one coil per plug and why we need three coils at $69 each total of $210. Argh. I got this while placing my order on http://www.nologyhotwires.com/ (http://www.nologyhotwires.com/)

[RiderX]

Manifold


Worn speedo cable


Triple carb

[Colonel Nikolai]

I suppose my next question is where to find replacement coils. I looked at Nology and they are a non-retailing manufacturer. I tried a number of the links to retailers on their website and couldn't find a listing for their coils. Any suggestions?

I have the same problem with a 96 Tiger. I tested the three coils with two different meters (after messing with the carbs, et al) and I find that all three coils are basically at 0.0 primary resistance (?!?!?! manual says  this should be .63 ohms +/- 10%). The secondary resistance on one meter said 7-8,000 on all three coils (manual says this should be something over 10,000). The other meter said 6-6,500 ohms on all three.

Does it make sense all three are consistently off like this?

Nonetheless, I ordered the nology coils hoping this would fix it. Crossing my fingers.

[RiderX]

Good luck Colonel, let us know how it works out. Changing them is a snap.

[Colonel Nikolai]

I replaced the coils. Helped a little bit, but it turns out that my real problem was the carburetors. I decided that carb rebuilding was too advanced for me (I can tackle anything up to "3 wrenches" of difficulty in my Haynes manual. This was 4). so I had the dealer do it. $700.

This was what the work order says:

REPLACED:
3 needle jet 0-6
3 piston springs
3 diaphragm
3 float chamber seals
3 o-rings for the vaccum pipe
3 needles SE56-3
3 other o-rings
1 new airbox
1 new carb-to-head rubber
2 new clips for the carb-to-head rubber
3 new DP8EA-9 Spark plugs

Now the thing runs like the clappers. There are a few annoying things wrong with it still. The temperature gauge is not working. The rear brake light doesn't light when the front brake is engaged. (rear brake lights it, though) and the rear shock is shot. So I have my winter cut out for me.

[Colonel Nikolai]

There is a bit of a dead spot in the power band still. It's subtle but I notice it because my 96 Sprint doesn't have this. It hits at around 4k, feels like the bike is backing off a bit. Not very pronounced, but it's there for about 500 rpms. This part of the power band on my Sprint is where I feel like I'm on the space shuttle so it's really odd considering how close these two siblings are in engineering. Also my Sprint starts up instantly with almost no choke after 10 seconds or so. The Tiger seems much more cold-blooded and really needs to warm up before I can back off the choke / idle. Is that normal?

[Mustang]

you need to increase the size of the main jets ............also raising the needles up 1 notch helps a lot also
pilot air screws like to be at about 2 turns to 2 1/2 turns

cured the dead spot on my tiger with Keihin carbs  mikunis are similar

with the mikunis she will be a GAS HOG .

[nightrunner]

Mustang is right.  Additionally though, at least in my case, the screws were already 2-1/4 to 2-1/2 turns out from the factory.  [Note that 3 turns is the end of the range.  Further will have no effect]   I have the 98 with Kiehins.  Went up a jet size on the pilots and set the screws to about 1-1/4 turns.  Cold starts are now easy, low end response improved, and gas mileage went up.  Most bikes are lean from the factory but I think the steamers are extra lean.   Sorry to hear about the $700 bill.  We probably could have walked you through it here.  Many of us here have gone through the carbs.

[nightrunner]

On the coils, mine ohmed (if that's a word) out to factory specs but still caused problems.    After all I have read on this issue and my own experience, I tell people to just either get the nologys or do the TT600 on-the-plug coild swap, even if their coils are still good.

[Colonel Nikolai]

Next time I will try to sort the carbs myself. I've never done it before and the Haynes manual looked a little scary (many, many steps)

I replaced the Tiger coils with the Nology coils. I think my ohmmeter is just too crude to give me a better reading. Either that or I'm a pinhead. (Okay, who are we kidding, I'm a pinhead.)

But I have Mikuni carbs on both the Sprint and the Tiger. In my tests I'm getting about 37 mg on the Tiger. I could check the valve clearances.

My 96 sprint got about 40 mpg but has dropped down to to about the same as the Tiger in the last 15k. I probably need to clean the air-box and replace the plugs on the Sprint and maybe adjust the valves. The color of the exhaust is a dark grey, not black, so its probably mixing OK.

Can I get Kehin carbs? I've heard they're better than the Mikunis anyway.

[MIMbox]

I bought a set of keihin carbs from a late model Tiger from ebay, and fitted them to my '95 with no adjustments. Works fine. HOWEVER, don't forget the airbox/carb rubbers (not inlet/carb rubber) are different between Mikunis and Keihins, so you need to source either a late airbox and get the fittings, or buy some correct ones, if available separately.
Runs cleaner with the Keihins than with the Mikunis