Twin spark 2003 1150 coil problem

[ELIMINATOR]

Bike seems to be lumpy. Odd that it happened after spraying with ACF50, probably coincidence.

Bike seems lumpy at idle, at 80 seems sluggish when opening it up.

Read about coils breaking down. So out to the garage, L/H secondary HT lead off, huge spark jumping gap, engine still running.

Repeated on R/H cylinder, engine stopped.

I assume that this is conclusive proof.

I may be able to swap coil with a mates GS.

One of the coil packs was noticably swollen / corroded when I looked at it when I did the 24,000 mile service. Bike now on 26,900.

Am I right? just wary about coughing up about £60 & getting it wrong.

Where's the best place to buy?

 

[Steptoe]

I may be able to swap coil with a mates GS.

?

No need - just swop the R/H over to the L/H, and vice versa .

The non running cylinder should move with the duff coil cap .

 

[ELIMINATOR]

Where do they disconnect from?

Just been out to garage again, removed coils. Post picture in a minute, all will be revealed.

 

[ELIMINATOR]

Perhaps the top one is past its sell by date?

I read that Fanum (I think) sprays WD40 occassionally around the coil in an attempt to slow / eradicate this "rot".

Repeat the question, who's the beast person to buy from. Neil, do you sell them?

Red stuff is Red Rubber grease, I thought that it might make them easier to remove. I did this at the 24,000 mile service.

Another indication that this was the problem, was that the offending item was poking out further than the "currently" good one.

 

[Steptoe]

Where do they disconnect from?

.

disconnect just out of shot in the picture you've posted. You'll see a very small plastic locking tab. press it in,and the caps pull off.

Maindealers are your best bet for new caps, or james sherlock

 

[ELIMINATOR]

Is there anyway of prolonging these coil packs? Is it breaking down internally, or due to the metal casing corroding, would coating the metal casing in a thin layer of silicone make any difference. Copper grease perhaps.

Or as I suspect is it just a case of live with it?

 

[Steptoe]

Is there anyway of prolonging these coil packs?
Or as I suspect is it just a case of live with it?

These are the same coil caps as fitted to the 1200, yet i've not heard of any failing on those models - unless BMW is changing them under warranty without letting on there's a problem.

Because they're 4 of these caps on a 1200 - and that'll be over £200 to replace

 

[ELIMINATOR]

So, that'll be bugger buying a 1200 then

 

[ELIMINATOR]

Ahaa! This seems to be a good reason why I have put ACF50 on the seams of my new coil & the existing one. Just look at that creeping corossion
I might see how far I can go separating the components.

Looks to be a copper tube under the steel outer. If this is damp then maybe the coil shorts out?

[/IMG]

 

[Snooky]

I coated mine in ACF50 when I replaced them, then left for a day or so, then covered them in grease as well, all seems OK now after about 10k, just add a little ACF50 every now and again to the head area, not bothered with the main body

 

[ELIMINATOR]

I chucked the coilpack before taking another picture. But, here is my opinion.

After stripping the ferrous cladding from the coil, there was a transparent layer of some insulating material between the ferrous outer cover & the copper windings. Looking at the earlier pictures, I would guess that the corrossion damages the thin transparent insulating layer, causing the coil to short.

So, ACF-50 it completely,well, I have.

Although I should say that on the US site, where I posted these images, comments were made about coilpack failure without "obvious" signs of corrossion

 

[Steptoe]

Although I should say that on the US site, where I posted these images, comments were made about coilpack failure without "obvious" signs of corrossion

I've seen perfect looking coils that have failed ; and coils that looked like they'd been on the seabed for months that were fine.