850 would not start after riding all previous day in rain

prelude to this is that my ign warning lamp would not work just as i was about to head to the ferry to get to the south island. looked at fuse and it appeared ok. horn worked so thought i would give it a go. it started and off we went for the 5 days in the south. on the laqst day, it pissed down. got to nelson and had lunch with family. drove to havelock and spent the night with my cousin. next day. no go.back firing and all that. It even backfired as the ign was turn off. boyer ign. ???? [ fully dressed and sweating ] we down to garage and bought 2 newspark plugs. fitted them and away we went. got to ferry and parked up. went to sart at ferry. no go, so pushed bike onboard.
rang my brother in law to meet me with the ute at the other side. started on the ferry and drove off. put bike on truck and headed for home.
next day I could not find anythin wrong. I charge d the battery in case the voltage was down [ my oold meter read 10 volts ] bought a new meter and it rread 13.2 volts. engine running at 2500 it read 14.25 v. with lights on yt was reading 13.6 v . all seems ok. even starts and runs with the original spark plugs now. By the way, i worked out that if i fitted a 5 terminal realy instead of the ign light actuator it should work. it did work. I am 1100 kms from our supplier so had to do something. the warning light circuit does nothing within the charging system it appears, so what i have done should not have any adverse effect.
any suggestions. I am puzzled as there has never been a problem before.

Re: 850 would not start after riding all previous day in rai

Although you seem to be getting decent voltages at battery if it is more than two or three years old I'd be thinking it may be the problem.
I had a battery go bad even though it seemed to take a charge but shortly after wouldn't keep my spark going.

Re: 850 would not start after riding all previous day in rai

i used to have trouble in the wet and finally worked out that the cable entering the back of the points housing did not have a seal and water would track down and short out the electronic ignition.
WD40 by the same entry and it would fire straight up.

Re: 850 would not start after riding all previous day in rai

I think the battery is less than 1 yrs old. I wrote the purchase details on it but they have come of with the slight weep from my swing arm auto oiler in front of the battery. I forgot to mention that i discovered one of the terminals on the rectifier had appeared to be getting hot so have cut the old terminal off the wire and soldered a new lucar female connector to the wire. This may have allowed the battery voltage to get down, but it seemed ok when i was able to measure it. I will check the actual age of battery to make sure though. I do remember years ago I had a dead battery on my 71 750, but i could allways get it started [ eventually ]. Many thanks for your suggestion [ rx7171 ].
I checked the bike over for water when the first problem arose. the plugs and leads were clean and there was no sign of moisture inside the ignition cover. i will check the area where the wire enters the engine to see if there may be some water getting in. doesnt hurt to check again. I ahve nevewr looked at this since i bought this bike about 6 years ago. this bike has always had a rough low speed problem, and i never trust its ablity to idle while at traffic lights.
my 750 has points ignition and it runs so much smoother than the 850 at lower speeds. I cant wait till i have it totally restored. just have to buy new exhausts, do up the wheels and repaint the tank and side covers to make it mint..

Re: 850 would not start after riding all previous day in rai

finally got round to checking and found that rubber grommet was missing. I silconed the hole. have not had a problem since/. hope thats all it was.
thanks Ian. see you at the next rally. Dereck

Re: 850 would not start after riding all previous day in rai

Hi,

please consider, that it is a common issue with Boyer ignition on Commandos that the wires break under the tie on the stator plate.
You can't see anything wrong, everything look perfect. But you got the symptoms you describe. I and a friend of mine had this
problems on our Commandos and we needed nearly a year to figure it out. We had periods where no problem occurred and
than misfiring, etc. started again. So keep it in mind, if the problems occur again.

Ralf

Re: 850 would not start after riding all previous day in rai

Notice it is the NZers with this problem

For 5 years as a student I lived in Wellington - and my 850 sat outside the whole time.

And every time it rained the damn thing wouldnt start.

I remember I siliconed up the ignition wires and cover and all that happened was condensation made it worse.

The issue was cured by storing it in a warm garage, buying a Toyota and only riding on sunny days.

Norton Commandos dont like New Zealand rain

Please let me know if you fix it because after 35 years that's the best solution I have found.