EX-500 coils/parts?

[Punjistick]

Does anyboady have any EX-500 parts lying around I could buy. In particular I'm looking for coils I think. I would also buy a throttle assembly and brake lever if anyone has one.

I had my brother's bike at Derek's and it wasn't running the best. He seemed to think one of the coils might be going or bad plugs.

I'm gona pull the plugs tomorrow to see if that might be the problem.

[TheIglu]

I have a spare coil.

[Punjistick]

I'm not sure it's even the coil but I appreciate it. I pulled the plugs and they were black and covered in carbon and smelled like fuel. The manual said it could be caused by weak ignition, excessive idling, too cold of spark plug, etc.

The Ignition Coil Igniter is making a buzzing sound so it might be that. Do you
have one of those lying around?

Or do you know how to check the coils to see if they are okay? The manual says to check for resitance on the primary for 2.3-3.5 ohms and the secondary for 12-18 ohms. I don't know what they mean by primary/secondary or the procedure for testing. I do have a multi-meter.

[McBiggity]

the igniter will buzz when the battery is too weak.
Same thing happens with mine right now, I need to replace the battery.
I've just been using jumper cables to start it

[Punjistick]

Well that's good to know. Do you happen to know how to test the coils so I can maybe rule those out?

[McBiggity]

not sure how to do that. sorry.

[stoinkythepig]

Primary is from one low voltage connector to the other. Secondary is from the high voltage connector to each of the low voltage connectors, really does not matter which, both should have resistance.

Edited to add: I would guess the numbers given are in ohms for the primary and kohms for the secondary.

I would look into spark plug caps. If the EX 500 is like my Concours (it's basically half a concours engine), the caps have 5 kohm resistors and little ablative springs inside. The springs wear out and leave carbon deposits on the resistors. NGK makes replacement caps for cheap money.

[Punjistick]

Cool, I'll pick up some new caps when I get new plugs tomorrow. A guy on the EX-500 forum told me how to test the coils so I will do that tomorrow as well.

I also narrowed the buzzing sound down to the turn signal relay, so I think the IC igniter is fine.

Hopefully the coils are fine and the new plugs and caps will fix the problem. If not then it's on to the carbs, of which I know nothing about.

[McBiggity]

the carbs are pretty simple and nothing to be scared of. I've had mine apart more times than I can count.
I could always lend a hand

[Punjistick]

I checked out the coils and the ignition system seems fine. I installed the new plugs, drained the old gas and filled it with new gas. Wouldn't you know, it started right up and ran fine.

I've got a question about my bike now. I started my EX-500 and it started right up and ran fine with the choke on, but if I turn the choke off it will stall. Even after the engine was warmed up if the choke is tuned off, the rpms start to drop and it eventually stalls. Do you think I need to turn the idle speed up or is something wrong with the carbs?

[Honclfibr]

If it runs with choke but not without, you're starved for gas in your idle circuit. Since it ran with fresh gas on choke, sounds like you didn't stabil the gas or didn't run the engine / drain your float bowls, and now your idle jets are varnished. Remove the carbs, pull the idle jets and soak them in carb cleaner.

[Punjistick]

Tomorrow should be interesting... I've never touched a carb before

I poured in some fuel injector/carb cleaner type product. Do you think I could just drive it around with the choke on and the jets would clean themselves?

[McBiggity]

nope- have to pull them out.
It's very easy.
unscrew float bowls and the jets are staring ya right in the face.