Commando let me down. First time.

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montelatici

montelatici

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For the first time in 35 years my Commando stopped and could not be restarted to get home. I had to hitch a ride home and drive back with my trailer to pick it up. It ain't easy for a somewhat paunchy 59 year old in leathers to get picked up hitch hiking. I had left my cellphone at home, something I never do.

I was accelerating in first and it died for a few seconds restarted for another few seconds then just stopped and couldn't be restarted. Definitely ignition related. The Boyer has been perfect for about 25 years but it could have gone, or my single Harley coild could have gone. Any other suggestions?
 
Check all connections first. Especially the leads that come from the Boyer through the engine housing. They're bad about chafing against the case and grounding out.

EDIT: Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Make sure you have fuel...
 
Was it wet out? I had a similar problem with same setup. Turned out the coil was arcing thru the boots, across the coil body to the primary connection post. Siliconing the inside of the coil boots and the nut on the coil (a little ugly) worked great. It happened during an intense thunderstorm that I was trying to outrun but didn't make it.

I'm 59 too and hitchhiking doesn't work like it did in the '70s. I got a ride home by a nice police officer who was a Harley rider.
 
No it wasn't wet, a nice cold sunny day. It had plenty of fuel. I am thinking Boyer although I am hoping coil as I have the two original coils that were working fine 25 or so years ago when I put the single "high performance" coil made for harleys for some strange reason at the same time I installed the Boyer. Maybe someone from the Norton Club suggested that particular coil. Do they still make Boyers?
 
montelatici said:
No it wasn't wet, a nice cold sunny day. It had plenty of fuel. I am thinking Boyer although I am hoping coil as I have the two original coils that were working fine 25 or so years ago when I put the single "high performance" coil made for harleys for some strange reason at the same time I installed the Boyer. Maybe someone from the Norton Club suggested that particular coil. Do they still make Boyers?
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You will find endless discusssions and opinions on ignition systems. Boyers are out. TriSpark and a few others are in.
 
Well, what happened to me once was the white lead to the big junction block under the tank was loose. Said block had a broken contact inside. You can check that, or before you pull the tank, see that you're hot going into your kill switch and still hot going out when it's closed. Just sayin'....
 
when I put the single "high performance" coil made for harleys

Why oh why? If you want to go faster than any Norton Commando will ever go, it is cheaper to buy a used 600cc Japanese sport bike

sorry but i couldn't help myself, Cj

p.s. glad you caught a ride, got home & then got your bike back
 
Turn power on after dark and get to wiggling, tapping and tugging and might fine the sparking smoke leak. Also leave a plug out on head while doing this with key on as each make and break should fire a Black box Boyer. Hardest to find is broken copping inside good insulation. Check the brake light path for sure, up into tail lens even as had that short to shut me down with that annoying run then not run a few seconds before dead as a door nail.
 
9 times out of 10 it's a loose wire somewhere! I had a wire come lose off the coils more times than I can count. Wire comes off ignition switch. My favorite is a wire break on the electronic ignition under the points cover.
 
cjandme said:
when I put the single "high performance" coil made for harleys

Why oh why? If you want to go faster than any Norton Commando will ever go, it is cheaper to buy a used 600cc Japanese sport bike

sorry but i couldn't help myself, Cj

p.s. glad you caught a ride, got home & then got your bike back
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After some thinking, I remember why I installed the Boyer and the coil. The bike (we're talking 25 years ago) ran badly. Everyone thought it was the ignition timing and/or spark. So, the solution was, after playing around with the pints and coils for months, to replace the points and the coils. This did not solve the problem. Finally, someone that knew something about Triumph motorcycle motors (Frank Diehl) told me the symptom was similar to one he had seen on a Triumph that had had the cam lobes worn down. Sure enough, we checked the pushrods and those on the left side (exhaust) were hardly lifting. So Frank rebuilt the motor.
 
You should be able to see voltage variations at the lead coil (the coil the black wire from the Boyer connects to--the negative terminal on the coil) as the engine is kicked over. The voltage should vary widely--say 2V DC to 10V DC as the magnets in the points cover make or break contact to fire the coils. If there's no variation in voltage, the points wiring may be grounded, the voltage to the Boyer may be too low, the Boyer stator or rotor may be bad, the system may not be grounded properly, the coil may be bad or the box may be dead. I've had Boyer boxes fail intermittently and completely, but it's worth while to check out the cheaper components first--good luck


Tim Kraakevik
kraakevik@voyager.net
Two Commandos
 
First breakdown! Crikey I could write a book on the number of times my old Commando broke down and wish I had as my mate and I have been in stitches so many times after a few beers. The bike was a minter as well, engine rebuilt by my old mate John Hudson, an acknowledged Norton ex-employee and expert. Three camshafts, electrical breakdowns, etc. One of the best was when I was in the fast lane of the motorway with pillion on the way to see Carl Fogarty hopefully beat Scott Russell at Donington - world superbike (he didn't..). 80mph running like a dream. Next minute oil all over my leg. The crankcase breather pipe came off, lost all the oil. Got to Donington though. Sometimes you get a Friday afternoon model. :D
 
FastFred said:
First breakdown! Crikey I could write a book on the number of times my old Commando broke down and wish I had as my mate and I have been in stitches so many times after a few beers. The bike was a minter as well, engine rebuilt by my old mate John Hudson, an acknowledged Norton ex-employee and expert. Three camshafts, electrical breakdowns, etc. One of the best was when I was in the fast lane of the motorway with pillion on the way to see Carl Fogarty hopefully beat Scott Russell at Donington - world superbike (he didn't..). 80mph running like a dream. Next minute oil all over my leg. The crankcase breather pipe came off, lost all the oil. Got to Donington though. Sometimes you get a Friday afternoon model. :D
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I didn't say it was my first breakdown, I said it was the first time that it didn't get me home! For example, my right side carburetor came off on the St. Gottard pass, but though I had lost the bolts, and few had English size bolts in those days, I was able to wire the carburetor to the cylinder and though it ran lean on that side, I was able to get to a Norton dealer in Milan.
 
The same thing happened to me. The bike coughed, quit, started and died for good. I pulled up just ten feet shy of a dead raccoon on the shoulder of the road. I sat there for a minute fighting rising panic, reached down and smacked the ignition switch with my gloved hand and kicked it. It started right up and ran all the way home.

My feeling is electronic ignitions tend to work or not work, same with coils. If the bike didn't just die I would look for a broken connection, bad switch, messed up kill switch or any number of other little nasty things Nortons do.
 
If you still have the factory kill switch wired in, that's the first thing I'd check. Mine has been bypassed for 30 years because it'd quit unexpectedly.

My '74 let me down only once in 36 years also. Silly detent spring in the gearbox broke and it got stuck in 4th gear. First time I used the towing feature of my AMA membership.
 
You can post your Boyer back to them and they will test it for you. From experience a quick & effiicent service.
 
Gordon C said:
You can post your Boyer back to them and they will test it for you. From experience a quick & effiicent service.
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Hopefully, it will be a loose wire problem and it won't be necessary, but if it comes to that it is good to know they provide that service.
 
Uh , oh. Getting plenty of spark. Tickled carbs to overflow and it didn't start either on e-start or kick. Pulled plugs, not wet at all. Hmmm, intake valves not opening? Pulling the tank tomorrow and will check. If the little half circle stops at the top of the valve stem come loose, there is usually a lot of racket, so I am puzzled.
 
Check the kill button for good contacts and continuity - you can put a meter on the the ignition _12 volt input and press/ release several times, see if you get a low voltage reading.
 
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