The new guy needs some help

[Mthayes]

so to make this shorter .... the bike died on me the other day, after days of reading threads on the forums, following dead links, and reading until my eyes hurt ... i replaced what stormi calls the RR    i re wired the hot and groud wires to go to the ground and to the pos battery post (with in line 30 amp fuse) and bingo bike runs

but then i rememebered reading a few times about spraying the exhaust at the head with water to make sure all 4 are getting hot (make sure im fireing on all 4) and sence the bike has to idle high or it will stall and is rough and i can hear something funny i spray them and the number 3 is just warm where as the other 3 insta-steam

time to throw more parts at it before i bother rebuilding the cdi

so to the point .... i need to know what coils are a good replacement, what wires will work (by that i mean the boot, and if they make some pre made that will work) what plugs work, if there is a rebuild kit for the carbs i can order

think thats all i need for now, then we shall see if all this fixes it lol

i need to get back on the road quick so im looking for companys that have stuff in stock that i can get in a few days 

[Mthayes]

looks like im going to try the coil stick mod, anyone know what type of connectors they have so i dont have to bother cutting up an old harness? seems like a waste to me

[Mthayes]

anone know if these would work

http://compare.ebay.com/like/310322152409?var=lv&ltyp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar&_lwgsi=y&cbt=y

[Mthayes]

ok the coils, wires, boots, and plugs have been ruled out.  swapped them all around and its still only #3, got suction from the carbs and good gas flow.

so when i was tlaking to the kid at work i got it from he said he cleaned the carbs not that long ago and inspected the o rings and they where fine.  but when he put it all back together he did not balance the carbs and he never adjusted the valves ... could that fix it?

[Mthayes]

so in thinking about it, cranking the bike up and smelling the exhaust i realized there is no gas smell what so ever ... so i know im getting spark, im getting suction but its not as much as say the number 4 carb, i know there is gas flowing from the carb but what if its simply not flowing correctly ... i guess is could be the valves  .... its not smoking what so ever btw


any help out there?

[banditjohn]

I'm not all knowing on this but I'm thinking balance the carbs after the valve clearance's if they need doing, if the top end was ok and hasn't been off it's more likely to be balancing than gaps

All the best John

[Mthayes]

thats the direction im going too, but with over 30k miles on it if the valves have never been done i should just do it, so for anyone who has, i understand top dead check the intake valves (lobes pointing out <-->) then turn (>--<) for exhaust valves .... but im guess ing that s top dead for the #1, so what about the #3 ? im guessing there is no mark for that so do i just eyeball it ?

[pmackie]

the bike has to idle high or it will stall and is rough and i can hear something funny i spray them and the number 3 is just warm

In my experience, this is usually carburation issues and it appears that most of these Bandit 400 suffer from carb issues. At idle, it could be a plugged pilot jet. Have you checked the air screws?

Next I would also check compression across all the cylinders.

Of course, checking valve clearances and balancing is the carbs is always a good idea.