For those of you who have read some of my posts Im having problems with my left cylinder not firing, this all started out as loosing power on the freeway, but since then I have been systematically going over the bike. Carbs have been cleaned and synced, intake boots replaced and sealed no leaks!, new plugs, petcock checked over,screen where the line come out of the tank is clean, fuel lines clean, inline fuel filter installed. ok..this all helped but the problem didn't go away. I finally caught the left side coil not firing after it was warm, so that was replaced..but still the problem persists...ok..so..im going over the wiring now, pickup coils are within the correct resistance, continuity in the wires that come from the coils, the connecter also has continuity, so do the other connectors nearby..here is the strange part..I have been messing around and I have discovered something odd. If I take the wire off the plug and make the spark jump from the cable to the top of the plug it starts firing normally...in fact it sounds completely normal through the entire RPM range, take the wire too far away and it stops firing on that side (well duh!! yah..) but bring it too close to the plug tip or clamp it on the plug like it normally is..it also stops firing..., and yes I just bought new plugs..now I ask you..What's up with that??? and no Im not making this up honest !!! So anyone have any ideas?? hope I explained all that right..thanks in advance for your time.

Jeff

Try replacing the plug cap... If it's cracked it'll arc right into the cylinder head insteadof the plug.

I had a problem with one cylinder not firing. I took it to the shop and they said it was an ignition coil. They replaced it and there hasn't been any problems since.

The problem was that one cylinder wasn't firing. It fired a little, but most of the time it wouldn't. I rode less than 15 miles during this problem and it was getting worse. The guys in the shop took 2 days to figure it out. I think they connected the electrics from one cylinder to the other to help figure out what it was. Then they borrowed parts from Suzuki to try replacing bits one at a time.

Sorry I can't give you any more information about it, I'm no mechanic and I don't know what an ignition coil is.

My first instinct is to widen the spark plug gap...then replace the cap.  How curious that it needs more resistance...to fire normally...hmm...

Do you have an aftermarket ignition advancer?

Jeff, did you have any luck locating a used "black box"?  I found a link for getting price quotes from motorcycle salvage yards around the country.

Check out http://www.necycle.com/acers/

PS: How is your "adventure" coming, anyway?

My eliminator absolutely is murder on plug caps. Even a small crack and it will jump to the cylinder wall. The plugs go into a tight tunnel and the cap has metal right next to it in all directions. The most common solution people offer when you say the bikes misfiring is this. So get some good metal core wires and caps from an auto parts store....Accel sells them as a set for a V8 for $25 or so and it will satisfy 4 GS's for caps and probably 10 gs's for wires. Cool yellow and red also available...Put them in and you in business.
Cool.
Srinath.

Well, for now I took an used plug and gapped it wide...umm realy wide  :mrgreen:  I broke off the L shaped "ground" completly,(the part that is normaly close to the center where it jumps on the plug tip inside the engine)  I figured it needs more distance then ill give it more distance, ran PREFECTLY for 114 miles yesterday before I stoped riding for the day...I am pretty sure its not arcing anywhere else, I tried it with the plug cap off and literaly put the tip of the wire right to the top of the plug...acted the same...pull the wire back..make it jump 1/8 to 3/8 of an inch and it starts running fine...but i cant ride and hold the wire like that...lol, so my super wide gap plug is my answer for now...but the question is...in the long term will it do any harm?? I must say the bike seems to love it...dont think it ever ran this good since iv owned it!!! thanks for your help guys...maby someday we will find out what is going on..Im gonna take it to a suzuki dealer on saturday, and there gonna check over my whole electrical system for about 48$$, not sure its absolutly nessicary at this point but I want to know what is happening and why so i can learn from it.