[Tubemkr]

I recently inherited a 2004 Goldwing from my dad. It was a project we were working on together, but he passed away before we could finish it. Backstory is that the owner’s son in law had borrowed the bike, but had a falling out with the family. It was left somewhere and the kid moved away. After some time, the owner recovered the bike. but not until rodents had destroyed the harness. Owner elects to sell. Purchaser sees how bad it it and bails on the task of replacing the entire harness. That’s where my dad and I came into the story. We have never heard this bike run, nor had the guy we purchased it from. Bike was purchased with most plastic and seat removed already. We cleaned fuel cell (took literally days to get the goo out) air box, fuel pump/strainer assembly, etc. bike had sat a couple years. Harness replaced with used harness with same part number and identical plugs/color code, literally identical except without the teeth marks. Trying to get the bike to fire up but having no luck. Compression tested at 180 on 5 cylinders and 190 on the 6th. Plugs cleaned and gap checked. Spark verified on all cylinders, but stronger on left bank than right side coil. FI light comes on for a short test when key on and fuel pump cycles. Sidestand switch, neutral light, radio, emergency flashers, headlamps, etc all works. The only thing I see not working is the lcd has no display, but my dad did have it working because he got the mileage (30k) from it and my brother confirmed he saw the introduction screen as well. The battery has been on a charger and has a tad over 13 volts no load. Drops to about 10.8-11.0 cranking. Bike tries to start (hits) but not consistently enough to run. I e seen it spin up to about 1000 rpm when it hits several times in a row. If the throttle is cracked, it acts like it has ignition too far advanced and will pop in the intake. In addition, it will only crank a few seconds at a time because it seems as if every few revolutions it hits before top dead center and stops the rotation briefly before rolling through it. When this happens, the radio shuts off completely and then boots back up. Cranking with no power to the coils allows it to crank normally with no strange events. I had thought this was a fuel issue, but discovered a very strange anomaly. It tries to start, but will not. Application of a shot of starting fluid and it will not hit a single time until the fluid is cleared, at which time it will fire a cylinder now and then. A shot of starting fluid whil cranking immediately makes the motor spin as though the coils are unhooked. I’m completely out of ideas as to what’s going on here.
Do any of the experts here have any idea what my next move should be?

 

[Taddpole]

Welcome Tubemkr! You've come to the right place - there are a couple of guys here that can point you in the right direction.

@techdude2000 - this sounds like it's right up your alley!

 

[OldGuyRL]

First thing I would do is replace the battery. Your cranking voltage is much too low.

 

[Tubemkr]

Will

First thing I would do is replace the battery. Your cranking voltage is much too low.

I will be doing that sometime this week after work

 

[totalcomfort]

Check your camshaft timing or the camshaft sensor, maybe it is out of time, has anyone been in the motor for maybe a valve adjustment? Did not get cam chain on correctly.

 

[totalcomfort]

Check your camshaft timing or the camshaft sensor, maybe it is out of time, has anyone been in the motor for maybe a valve adjustment? Did not get cam chain on correctly.

 

[Va Winger]

The cranking voltage sounds ok to me. Somewhere along the line I got the impression that cranking voltage should be 10.5 or above. You may not need a new battery. Wait to hear from Techdude2000 before spending money on a battery.

 

[Tubemkr]

Check your camshaft timing or the camshaft sensor, maybe it is out of time, has anyone been in the motor for maybe a valve adjustment? Did not get cam chain on correctly.

There doesn’t appear to have been any intrusion into the mechanical part of the bike. Compression is 180/190, so I am confident the mechanical aspect of the timing is correct. The sensors have never been removed or messed with. Only the wiring has been replaced. I wouldn’t be surprised if the cam or crank sensor/connection is the issue, but don’t want to just take things more apart without good reason based on my suspicions. I know once it comes further apart I will not be able to try starting it till it gets out somewhat back together again
Edit to add:
I am 100% feeling that it is trying to send spark when the valves are slightly open before top dead center. I’m just not “wing enough” to know why…

 

[Tubemkr]

The cranking voltage sounds ok to me. Somewhere along the line I got the impression that cranking voltage should be 10.5 or above. You may not need a new battery. Wait to hear from Techdude2000 before spending money on a battery.

I’m thinking to power it with a known good automotive battery for testing before making that purchase. I’m kinda a tightwad like that. I’d suspect it’s nothing mechanical but rather electrical in nature. It just seriously confused me when I discovered starting fluid had the exact opposite effect it should have. It literally would not hit a single time until all the starting fluid is gone from the system.

 

[revrunt]

Have the battery load tested. If the dash is going out when the starting revolutions stop, you have a voltage issue. After a bike has sat it will need close to full healthy voltage to crank the first time. I am assuming you replaced the plugs when you had them out(?). If not, I would. If you’ve loaded the cylinders with fuel more than once (the regular fuel supply plus starting fluid) the plugs may be fouled.

 

[Tubemkr]

Have the battery load tested. If the dash is going out when the starting revolutions stop, you have a voltage issue. After a bike has sat it will need close to full healthy voltage to crank the first time. I am assuming you replaced the plugs when you had them out(?). If not, I would. If you’ve loaded the cylinders with fuel more than once (the regular fuel supply plus starting fluid) the plugs may be fouled.

Plugs aren’t new, but like new. I’ve cleaned them of all carbon and tested them for fire. I’m certain they have never been flooded, but more likely too little fuel if anything. The dash lights do go out momentarily when cranking with coils powered and it fries to fire early. With coils not powered it cranks like a Goldwing normally cranks. I’m planning to use a better battery this evening to verify it’s not a weak battery starving the electrical system during attempts to start.

 

[CAWing78]

Will be following this one. Definitely sounds as if you some decent mechanical knowledge, good luck

 

[Tubemkr]

Will be following this one. Definitely sounds as if you some decent mechanical knowledge, good luck

Mostly automotive knowledge. It happens like that when you’re a ******* operating on an insufficient financial budget. Lol Around here we have only 3 real choices… #1 Learn how to do it yourself, #2 Win the lottery so you can afford to pay someone else to do it for you, or #3 Do without that thing, (it was broken after all). Clearly, I’m far too stupid to quit, more or less financially strapped (lest we wouldn’t be having this conversation) which brings me here. I do enjoy turning a wrench now and then, but I’m having issues with troubleshooting computer controlled stuff. Cars when I was young had less wiring than this Goldwing.
Wow… apparently r e d n e c k is a bad word?

 

[CAWing78]

Mostly automotive knowledge. It happens like that when you’re a *** operating on an insufficient financial budget. Lol Around here we have only 3 real choices… #1 Learn how to do it yourself, #2 Win the lottery so you can afford to pay someone else to do it for you, or #3 Do without that thing, (it was broken after all). Clearly, I’m far too stupid to quit, more or less financially strapped (lest we wouldn’t be having this conversation) which brings me here. I do enjoy turning a wrench now and then, but I’m having issues with troubleshooting computer controlled stuff. Cars when I was young had less wiring than this Goldwing.
Wow… apparently r e d n e c k is a bad word?

I know exactly what you're saying as lots of us had no choice but to struggle through fixing lots of things ourselves in our lifetime Theirs a forum member whose name is Techdude who I'm sure will see this and he will definitely be along to give you a tremendous amount of help in solving your problem.
Don't know why the forum software is so sensitive to that R E D N E C K word

 

[Tubemkr]

I know exactly what you're saying as lots of us had no choice but to struggle through fixing lots of things ourselves in our lifetime Theirs a forum member whose name is Techdude who I'm sure will see this and he will definitely be along to give you a tremendous amount of help in solving your problem.
Don't know why the forum software is so sensitive to that R E D N E C K word

I’ve read tons of the threads here that I thought could benefit me and noticed he seemed to be the Wing whisperer.
it’s funny they would block it since it’s not a racial slur or anything. Shoot, around these parts it’s either a way of life or a demographic, and certainly not a bad one in either instance. I’d spend every waking moment tromping the woods, hunting and fishing if it weren’t for this pesky job of mine.
Oh, also THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE, SIR!

 

[Warranted]

I’ve read tons of the threads here that I thought could benefit me and noticed he seemed to be the Wing whisperer.
it’s funny they would block it since it’s not a racial slur or anything. Shoot, around these parts it’s either a way of life or a demographic, and certainly not a bad one in either instance. I’d spend every waking moment tromping the woods, hunting and fishing if it weren’t for this pesky job of mine.
Oh, also THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE, SIR!

Being from the hills of the south, I consider that word to be a term of endearment. Although technically, I might be more accurately referred to as a "hick." Perhaps a distinction without a difference.

God speed in your pursuit of combustion from the old girl. I have an 04 and so far, knock on some southern pine here, she has never failed to start in her 80K miles plus.....

 

[Tubemkr]

Being from the hills of the south, I consider that word to be a term of endearment. Although technically, I might be more accurately referred to as a "hick." Perhaps a distinction without a difference.

God speed in your pursuit of combustion from the old girl. I have an 04 and so far, knock on some southern pine here, she has never failed to start in her 80K miles plus.....

I’m an Okie, so that’s fairly south for sure. Perhaps I’m a transitional r e d n e c k. Hick or country bumpkin are also terms we use ‘round here.
Definitely looking forward to putting some miles on it this summer if I can figure out it’s malfunction.

 

[techdude2000]

Reading through this, my mind wanders to a few post that we’ve seen where a wing was sitting for a while and came down with a stuck valve or two. First thing I would do is pull the valve covers off and confirm that all valves are moving properly when cranked.

 

[Tubemkr]

Reading through this, my mind wanders to a few post that we’ve seen where a wing was sitting for a while and came down with a stuck valve or two. First thing I would do is pull the valve covers off and confirm that all valves are moving properly when cranked.

I can do that. I had thought valves sticking, which is why I ran the compression test on it. If you think that is still a possibility, I’ll do it.
I was able to look back on the texts between my dad and myself before he died, and found the mileage on the bike. 10,594.

 

[CoyoteWing]

I'm originally from Tennessee, and the description of choice back then was Hillbilly. Don't leave us out!!