Sorry no offensive remark intended, just reflecting on my own miss understanding in placing a back up nut in Greg's kit on correct side mechanically but wrong side magnetically conductivity is all - for a famous night long noise event at a rally. Greg's kit instructions are correct. Many ways to skin the Boyer trigger wire cat- just be aware not to foul things behind plate is all. Hope yours makes lasting sweet fires.

If my Pazion failure was like another one with clearance issues d/t Norton or Pazion manufacture, then twice I've been foiled by things hidden behind trigger plates.
No make that 3x's now, last month a mechanical advance weight pin came off - hidden till popped the trigger plate out. Fixed by NOS adv. unit I could make sense of.

It woudnt hert to clean the kill switch. What ever you do do them one at a time so you know what the problum was. Unless you dont care

Phil

Last time i adjusted Trixies valves she wouldn't start easy nor idle smooth
til I realized, again, fixed one thing but knocked a wire off or pinched something else. I can't claim much competence as last 3 attempts failed to start Trixie and don't know if just too cold for her lean tune or something broken or just over looked again. One time Peel wouldn't make it to drive way across grass w/o missfires then died but she started fine, tuned out to be tail light ground inside lens area bouncing to short out -intermittently and steal Boyer voltage.

I have a MK111 and a Trident, and fwiw in my experience the cause is almost always the simplest root cause. I've experienced a blocked tank vent as has been suggested by several others and it behaved exactly as you have described. the thing that threw me off was the motor would die at varying times. That turned out to be caused by the amount of gas in the tank. Just pop the tank top and start her up. If she doesn't die in 10 minutes, you're healed. I also agree with some electrical contact cleanr in the stop switch. In any even, don't go pulling ignition systems till the easy stuff is eliminated. If you'll indulge me, I'll tell you a true story that illustrates how we can make things more complicated than they are.
About 15 years ago I was walking down Monument Ave in Richmond, VA, when I came upon a young man with a new honda. He had the tank off, the seat, timing covers, plugs, valve covers, carbs half apart and battery out all off and spread out all over the place. He had a work shop manual out and half the bike spread out on the sidewalk. I stopped and mentioned that I knew a little something about motorcycles and asked what the problem was. He said "the bike won't fire. she turns over but no fire". "I traced the electrical system and I have spark , but the plugs are dry". It was then that I noticed that the bike had 30 day temporary tags (brand new bike, brand new rider). I looked down at my feet and saw the gas tank. I bent down and picked it up and gave the tank a shake. Bone freaking dry, I mean not even a drop of fuel. The young riders face became red as realization hit home. I smiled and told him I was happy to be of service and to not be too hard on himself.
Cameron
'75 mk111 850 roadster
'74 T150V Trident

Old Brit sells one that replaces everything from pickup to spark plugs kinda pricey but works good and has a selectable advance curve just don't try to start it on the "aggresive" curve if you don't want to look down on your bike from way up.

Commando Cam wrote:I have a MK111 and a Trident, and fwiw in my experience the cause is almost always the simplest root cause. I've experienced a blocked tank vent as has been suggested by several others and it behaved exactly as you have described. the thing that threw me off was the motor would die at varying times. That turned out to be caused by the amount of gas in the tank. Just pop the tank top and start her up. If she doesn't die in 10 minutes, you're healed. I also agree with some electrical contact cleanr in the stop switch. In any even, don't go pulling ignition systems till the easy stuff is eliminated. If you'll indulge me, I'll tell you a true story that illustrates how we can make things more complicated than they are.
About 15 years ago I was walking down Monument Ave in Richmond, VA, when I came upon a young man with a new honda. He had the tank off, the seat, timing covers, plugs, valve covers, carbs half apart and battery out all off and spread out all over the place. He had a work shop manual out and half the bike spread out on the sidewalk. I stopped and mentioned that I knew a little something about motorcycles and asked what the problem was. He said "the bike won't fire. she turns over but no fire". "I traced the electrical system and I have spark , but the plugs are dry". It was then that I noticed that the bike had 30 day temporary tags (brand new bike, brand new rider). I looked down at my feet and saw the gas tank. I bent down and picked it up and gave the tank a shake. Bone freaking dry, I mean not even a drop of fuel. The young riders face became red as realization hit home. I smiled and told him I was happy to be of service and to not be too hard on himself.
Cameron
'75 mk111 850 roadster
'74 T150V Trident

OOOOOOOH! maybe it's outta gas, why didn't I ever think to check that?

stang484 wrote:Old Brit sells one that replaces everything from pickup to spark plugs kinda pricey but works good and has a selectable advance curve just don't try to start it on the "aggresive" curve if you don't want to look down on your bike from way up.

I really have no Idea what that post means, but thanks for trying to help.

Norton-Villier wrote:It woudnt hert to clean the kill switch. What ever you do do them one at a time so you know what the problum was. Unless you dont care

Phil

There was a thread about The Things You Want To Do When You Get a Commando. I think it was on this forum. Some kind of Boyer fix and a relay for the ignition were both on it. Why wait?

Keeping the electrical connections and contacts clean is important on all bikes.
I've owned this particular bike for 19 years, I would like to think that I know it's idiosyncrasies.

The problem is definitely electrical, not fuel related.

I just bought what I need to rewire the ignition system, I'm planning on doing it this weekend.
hopefully it works,
if not, I'm just going to consider this Boyer used up and buy a Pazon.

Mark wrote:The problem is definitely electrical, not fuel related.

Famous last words.

Im willing to bet its one or the other.

Mark wrote:

stang484 wrote:Old Brit sells one that replaces everything from pickup to spark plugs kinda pricey but works good and has a selectable advance curve just don't try to start it on the "aggresive" curve if you don't want to look down on your bike from way up.

I really have no Idea what that post means, but thanks for trying to help.

I think stang484 is referring to the Power Arc ignition sold by Old Britts.
http://www.oldbritts.com/51_150101.html

swooshdave wrote:

Mark wrote:The problem is definitely electrical, not fuel related.

Famous last words.

Must be my inexperience but the word definitely sure doesn't apply to my Norton!

Power Arc, just took out the Boyer threw it away. Power arc is so nice! bike has never run this nice. Call Fred at Old Britts.