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Ignition stick coils

Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2018 5:58 am
by sykospain
Went shopping on it this morning and suddenly whilst pootling along the beach road, I had the dreaded "complete-cutout-dead-engine" effect. Which wobbles you as the motor immediately comes to rest.

Each time thereafter I simply restarted after a coupla presses of the button whilst coasting along; fortunately there was not too much tourist rubbernecker traffic yet, bimbling at 30 kph along the playa looking for somewhere to park, so no drama.

Last week when he did the throttle and injector balancing two-step, mechanic José pointed out that he had a suspicion of a stick coil on its way out with noticeable corrosion on it.

Anybody sourced a good-priced new stick anywhere ? I know they're an arm-and-a-leg.

AL in sweltering Andalucía. 26 degrees at noon today.

Re: Ignition stick coils

Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2018 11:38 am
by kirby
Ha!
I know a guy that has (met him once at a rally) been using Ford pickup truck sticks on his 1150..no details?

I have never had a failure and use a product called "Deoxit" anti corrosion stuff on mine every time I replace the plugs.
If you find a cheap(er) source for same I would be interested as having a pair in my parts bin would probably make sense.

If you damage the little connectors on those coils BMW will sell you a repair kit for well over $100 US each, so be careful.

Re: Ignition stick coils

Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2018 12:10 pm
by Kirya
I've fished a pair of used coils from ebay for cheap last fall. No luck for the new ones.

Re: Ignition stick coils

Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2018 9:10 pm
by sweatmark
Info re: car/truck coil packs as alternative to BMW stick coils:

http://advrider.com/index.php?threads/c ... re.713106/

Re: Ignition stick coils

Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2018 11:16 am
by riceburner
When you change em, cover them with high-temp silicon grease, prevents them getting affected too much by moisture and rotting. In fact, it's worth buying the newer, grey coloured, OE ones, they're FAR better than the older, black-coloured ones which rusted really badly. I never had an issue with the grey ones (which I covered with grease. ;) )

Re: Ignition stick coils

Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2018 7:29 am
by sykospain
Good advce - Currently I have two new Beru-brand ones on order at €120 each. Apparently they're sleeved in stainless steel nowadays and so maybe less prone to corrosion than the older black-coloured ones.
My faulty stick coil which already had some corrosion noticeable all along one side of its length, suddenly went south the other day and actually caused the motor to cut out on-road. Quite alarming, as the motor stopping mid-ride causes a gyroscopic wobble as the flywheel comes to rest, which could be embarrassing !

My trusted mechanic José said afterwards, ( translated from sparkling Andalucían )
"If ever there's a case of bad running or bad fuelling in one of these old boxer motors, it's got to be either - tappets that are out-of-adjustment, or throttle synchronism that's out-of true, or injector problems, or a faulty ignition coil ( bobina ). Otherwise it's a faulty pump or rotted tubing inside the tank. Nada más - nothing else.
He's prolly right.
AL in s.e. Spain

Re: Ignition stick coils

Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2018 8:58 am
by sweatmark
sykospain wrote:My trusted mechanic José said afterwards, ( translated from sparkling Andalucían )...
LOL

Re: Ignition stick coils

Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2018 4:19 pm
by CycleRob
I believe there is only one permanent solution, and savvy member sweatmark gave us the link to it. Replace the very vulnerable and unreliable stick coils with proven, ultra reliable, inexpensive automotive coils. They are very inexpensive if you buy a set of 8 for $134 + free shipping (enough to convert 4 OilHeads) at:
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Set-of-8-Ign ... /651786443
You'll also need about 5 feet of secondary suppression wires and connector fittings to make the custom lengths and a way to connect either the wires or plug into the stock BMW wire harness.
That modification puts the better quality coils out of the engine heat and steam generated by wheel splash on the cylinder head.

Re: Ignition stick coils

Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2018 9:04 am
by sykospain
Yes, Rob, like many others, before ordering the Beru coils, I laboriously read all fifteen pages of the discussion on the ADVRider forum on the subject of this Ford Coils conversion. Esmir ( celeb0001 ) formerly of clutch-friction-disk-spacer fame, is one of the proponents of the changeover, having exactly the same vintage Rockster as I have, and there's a few other guys on there, like sweatmark, who're devotees of the conversion.

Far be it for me ever to say that BMW's original design is to be recommended, because often those ideas were a balance of efficiency, durability and PRICE, but if the new version of the Beru coil is sleeved in s.s., surely it's easier, if much more expensive, to stay with the original concept of coil-in-tube-to-plug design ? Here's the Motorworks replacement :-

Image

The effect on my bike's iffy running and hesitant acceleration after installing new OEM-type coils was nothing short of spectacular. She now flies.

Re: Ignition stick coils

Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2018 2:40 am
by CycleRob
sykospain,
I've been thinking about the "quality" of the notorious BMW stick coils . . . maybe they are 98 percent perfect and the heat from an overheated stuck-in-summer-traffic-backup permanently damages the insulating coating on the copper wire windings and/or internal electronics circuitry, especially when you add in engine vibration!

On most every newer car/truck using those COP (CoilOverPlug) coils they are externally mounted outside the spark plug tunnel. That's why when adapted to our OilHeads those high performance, remotely mounted, battle tested, premium quality, inexpensive car coils are the best choice, no matter how stink'en red hot the motor gets.

Re: Ignition stick coils

Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2018 4:19 am
by sykospain
Fortunately my bike is a non-ABS, and if these new Beru coils pass away too soon, I could of course consider installing the alternative Ford 3.5 Ute coils remotely in the large empty space hidden beneath the fuel tank where the ABS would be - an area which my middle son Tim, leading the cop-shop vehicle maintenance department, describes as an ideal place for concealing Class A drugs...

One evening when Her Indoors wants to watch something boring like CountryFile, I'll grit my teeth and read all through that massive ADVRider thread once more, with a wet cloth on my forehead and a large Scotch'n'Ginger at my side.