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1984 Honda VT500C Shadow - miss-fire & hot start issue


AcesNEights

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Greetings folks

So I looked at a $1,000 bike today .....

and here is what I found .....

It fired right up when cold, choke worked fine, warmed and then lowered choke

seemed to idle fine

quick responsive throttle no issues, other than the odd miss-fire (the nice lady says she likes it that way, cause it's LOUDER) i'm in the corner of "want it louder? .... get after market pipes etc."

Letting the bike run on 3 out of 4 sparks is just insane, I believe.

after a few minutes I confirmed that all fuel was not being burned - slight smell of gas from exhaust

so after the bike was at idle and a few revs etc. 20 minutes +

Turned bike off ..... went to restart and guess what, just cranking but not firing

after 5 minutes of trying to start battery went to next to no charge - drained battery

Nice lady came out of her house and said "looks like you flooded it and killed my battery"

I said "no I think you have some type of issue here" which she replied "never has done that on me for the 3 years I've owned it" again from someone that thinks a miss-fire is a good way to keep the bike loud

This paste best describes what I think the problem is.

"The main significant weak point with these bikes is the ignition coils. After ~27 years of baking in the heat above the engine, many of them break down. This manifests as a miss-fire at wide open throttle above 5000 RPM, or especially as difficulty cranking when hot. OEM coils are still available from Honda or aftermarket coils are available from Dyna (which require a little work to fit). If your bike ever exhibits these symptoms, buy new coils (don't waste your money on used ones)."

so I think it needs ignition coils

I called local bike shop, they tell me $170 for 2 coils and 3-4 hours @ $80/hr to install

So about $400-$500 to fix

All safety stuff looks really good

lights - low and high work

signals - all 4 lights work

tires - lots of tread depth

brakes - front seems solid, rear needs a lot of pressure to get light to come on (adjustment I think)

fork seals - about 8 inches of travel and no build up or leaks etc

no oil leaks

no coolant leaks

kill switch works

safety for KS and centre stand work

panel lights work - neutral, turn signals etc.

could not drive it so speedo unknown, tach worked fine

So she is asking $1,000 - I know she paid $2,000 3 years ago

so the 2 questions I have ....

1. Does my diagnosis sound about right at this stage - coils that is ?

and if so ....

2. What should I offer her for the bike - obv. $1,000 is TOO MUCH

(I was thinking of offering her $650)

any advise and or help would be much appreciated

so confused right now :(

H E L P ! ! !

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hehe

title says it all :) 1984

cheers sir :)

thanks for vote :)

Your guys experience will def help me decide

thanks again

come on all you techies .... chime in :)

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update

I just sent her an offer of $400

she is on her way to dover so I don't expect a response till she gets back

the dreaded waiting game :)

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In case anyone is interested ....

here are a couple of pics of the bike, albeit before she drove the crap out of it for the past 3 years :)

4twc.jpg

ydvd.jpg

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