Help in Agadir!!
 

Hi out there.

I am in Agadir and the bike is dead. The coil of my R100 G/S (1988) is totally gone. I came from Ouarzazate with only one cilyinder working. I asked the coil from Motorworks in UK, but I´d like to know if someone knows a mechanic in Agadir.

You can also write to miquelsilvestre (at) hotmail.com

Thanks.

viajes de invierno

Hi,
Have you contacted Pete at the Bikershome in Ouarzazate?
He's a great guy and will have plenty of ideas/contacts/solutions i'm sure.
I'm sure i can find his number somewhere if you want it

Sam

I was at Bikerhome yesterday; Peter was out in the desert. There was a good English guy, Nigel, who helped a lot. We tried fixing the coil with silicon but it didn´t work. A local guy is trying to find a coil. The one from UK is arriving in 3 days. I wish I didn´t burnt the engine on the way to Agadir. A hurricane blown and was really hard to ride with half engine.

Thanks for answering.

No worries. I hope you can sort it soon.
I was with Pete and Nigel about 3 weeks ago, both great guys. Has Nigel got his bike back together yet?
The weather has been rather 'interesting' hasn't it!! I got sunburnt, was in multiple sandstorms, had rain so hard i had to stop the car, had 2 major lightning storms......and that was only one week of the 5 i was out there!!!

Yes, Nigel has his Aprilia ready to leave. The weather was terrible all the way. Just two dishes: hard ran or hard wind. Now is better in Agadir, lightly windy but too much concrete over here. I´d rather going to the desert but my bike doesn´t want to go. If I can fix it I will post here all the info about the mechanics. Take care.

viajes de invierno

RandoRaid Maroc - Nous contacter

I´ve found Jean Brucy, a Paris Dakar racer. Helps a lot. Good guy to know in Agadir.

Hi there,
if your getting a new coil in 3 days you might as well just wait.
If you don't get a new one you could use any coil you can find.
Best would be one for a 2 cylinder engine.
Or you use 2 coils parallel.
The spark will be a bit stronger or weeker but that doesn't matter.
I drove home overland from Quetta, Pakistan, with a small orange coil from some japanese bike I found on the black market and it worked perfektly.
I was on a bike with the same engine.
good luck
Thomas

Thanks, Thomas. You are right. Here there are two coils. One is BMW, the other one is from Japan, both are two cilinders. The problem is they are trying to fleece the European guy asking more than 200 euros each. Tomorrow will arrive the coil from UK, much cheaper and probably will fit perfectly.

So your saying that your bike has two spark plugs for each cylinder? If that is the case, then you can use the one good coil to run both cylinders on one plug each, as this is how the BMW runs in stock form. Disconnect the bad coil, and run the leads from the good coil to your top spark plugs. You then need to retard your timing back to stock, which will be the mark on your flywheel.
Just to be clear, does your bike have one coil or two? Does it have 2 spark plugs or four? If you have only one coil, did you try changing the spark plug leads from one side to another to confirm your coil is only firing on one lead and not both? Just want to make sure the problem is in fact a coil.

Hi, Mr Ron. My English is not so good so there is a confusion about the number of coils. I meant there are two coils available in Town (but crazy expensive). My bike has only one coil for two spark plugs and one spark plug for each cylinder. I hope tomorrow will be sort out the solution for this problem. Wé'll see.

Okay then, i understand. BTW, you said the bike ran on one cylinder? If you change the spark plug leads around, will the bike run on the other cylinder? Just a simple test to confirm the coil is indeed the problem as i have found that most coils will either run both cylinders or no cylinders. Just check which cylinder is sparking by removing the spark plugs and grounding it to the cylinder, just lay the plug on the cylinder so that it is in good contact with the aluminum, then turn the bike over. After you find out what side is sparking, switch the spark plug leads at the coil, then try again. If the opposite side is sparking, then your problem is the coil. If the same side is still sparking after you switch the leads, then you have a different problem. If you have done all this already, please forgive me. I just find it odd that your bike runs on one cylinder if it has one coil, as usually with single coil ignition it won't run at all if the coil is damaged. Also, make sure you check the most obvious things, like a dead spark plug. You can check the spark plug leads for resistance. Stock leads should have no more than 5k, or 5000 ohms of resistance. I hope this helps, let us know how you make out.

Good test. I will try tomorrow morning. Now is raining in Agadir. I think the main problem was the hard rain I had all the way from Sevilla to Casablanca. Floods everywhere and water on and in me and on and in the bike. I will tell you what is going on. Thanks to all.

When the coil is dry it will probably work again.

If the BMW-coil you mentioned to is new (or good as new) the price is not bad.

The coil has arrived this morning. I put it with two new spark plugs. The bike is working again, we are now in Sidi Ifni. Hope everything goes Ok. Thanks to all.

I have to say that Motorworks - BMW Motorcycle Spares - home works very well, and the price for the (preowned) spare was really Ok.

I am in San Louis, Senegal. Tomorrow Dakar. I have checked how much charged Motorworks for everything: 31 euro. Good job and I did the rest.

I had some problems in Mauritania, I run out of petrol because there was no unleaded in the fill station of Total which is based 200 km north from Nouakchott. There is not good place to be. I put the bike on a truck and got away. Bad feeling there. Better take gas with you from Morocco in case you need to ride 700 km to the city.

Senegal is Ok and there is plenty of good beer.