how to take apart spark plug boots?

[odie1]

Trying to figure out how to take the spark plug wires & boots apart so I can check for corrosion and such and rebuild them with new wires if needed.

I figured out the screw driver inside the cap to remove the end, spring, some ceramic looking thing and a small metal disc....

But didn't expect all that to come out so I didn't pay attention to the order of parts:bang head: will just take another one apart CAREFULLY to observe the correct assembly order.

anyway, the wire is still stuck in the plastic tube and not sure how to get the wire out...don't want to break anything. Any help???:confused2:

BTW, the coil ends are pretty green and I'm guessing may be the cause of the poor running and mis-firing. I clipped one of the ends about 1/4" and got some nice shinny copper.

 

[Rhoy Carter]

The wires screw into the spark plug caps and if you replace the wires get 7 mm wires, the 8 mm wires are really hard to put in the coils and spark plug caps.

 

[odie1]

so just grab the wire and plastic housing and twist, twist, twist? Does the plastic spark pplug cap just work like an electrician's wire nut?

 

[m-cman]

The cap has a little screw that screws into the wire. Easy to replace.

 

[odie1]

Like a "set screw" or something on the side of the cap to "bite" the wire to hold the cap on the end of the wire?

 

[m-cman]

No. It is like the way the coil has a point that you push into the wire except it is threaded and screws down into the wire.

 

[odie1]

hmmm, ok...i'll play with it some more tonight.

 

[RaWarrior]

Yea, it's just a tiny, pointy, threaded screw. Hold the wire and "unscrew" the cap out of it, after a few turns it should just fall off. The coils use a compression fitting rather than threads to hold the wire in place, once you get the wire out and look in there you'll see a needle that pokes into the center of the wire. The needle/wire connection usually corrodes over time, snipping off the very end of the wire to expose some "fresh" conductor can help.

Or switch to COPs, and never deal with it again. The kicker is you can get COPs for about the same price as a new set of wires/caps(I got four with the harness for $40), and they take about the same time to install. A member here makes adapter harnesses for them, so it would be plug-and-play and take probably 5 minutes to install. If you haven't noticed, the front two coils absolutely suck to get to.

 

[odie1]

Yeah, i noticed last night the front coils...

anyway, the bike is still hard to get to run. It was running OK but had notiable missing at highway speeds. The only thing I had done since was to remove the rear plug wires while doing a valve adjustment.

Now the bike won't start without lots of starter fluid and i gotta keep the throttle way open to keep it running because it's missing way bad. The front cylinders get nice and hot but the rears are noticable cooler...thus the miss-firing i would think.

Nothing else was touched. not the carbs, not the filters, nothing. Just valve shims and the R&R of the rear plug wires.

Perhaps I didn't get the wires seated fully into the coils??? It's a push-in and not a screw-in on the coil end of the wires?

 

[Cujo51]

Maybe you have them on the wrong cylinders ?

 

[odie1]

i don't think so...the plug wires dont cross over, do they? i'm pretty sure the coil on the left side went to the left plug and the other side is the same.

 

[[email protected]]

i don't think so...the plug wires dont cross over, do they? i'm pretty sure the coil on the left side went to the left plug and the other side is the same.

Actually, I believe the front ones DO cross over.

 

[marecki]

Actually, I believe the front ones DO cross over.

oh shit, you sure about that? That means I connected mine wrong... probably why the bike doesn't want to start now :worthy:

 

[Redbone]

Yes, the coils do cross, but on the front only. I made the same mistake when I was hooking up my COPs. Redbone really didn't like it when I did that! :damn angry:
I was thinking :th_signs60:, then did a :doh: and remembered the crossing front coil wires that I thought I had taken care of, but obviously failed to do.:bang head: I did a switcheroo and Redbone jumped to life in just a few revolutions of the starter motor!!:th_image003:

 

[Cujo51]

Yes the fronts do cross over , the rear do not

 

[marecki]

That's so stupid that they're crossed... bahhhh humbug! My bike is running again after I crossed the cables...

 

[RaWarrior]

Yeah, it's wacky. I made the same mistake when converting to COPs. It started, but ran like ass and was backfiring constantly. Switched the front connectors, fine again.

 

[odie1]

I will have to revisit this issue...lol.....i've been messing with my other 4 bikes so the Max has been sitting in the corner all this time since I can't get it to start...I totally forgot about the front coil wires crossing...I'll check it out this weekend.

is there a reason the wires cross on the front? Why did they just not build the bike with the coils on the same side as the plugs?

 

[odie1]

no, wires are right...turns out fuel flow & carb problems...so will stop here and move over to the carb area of the forum