BMW r1150 stick coils

WestWicklow1

Is there anyone around Wicklow, Kildare, Carlow, Dublin with a twin spark r1150 who would let me try their stick coils in my 2004 r1150r before I splash out on replacements?

two wheels good

If you buy one you don't need now you're sure to need it sometime in the future. If that's any consolation.

Does the engine run? Then it's easy enough to test them by disconnecting individual plug caps.
Start with the secondary caps. It should run with both disconnected i.e running on primary coil sticks only.

WestWicklow1

I temporarily swapped mine for two known good ones today but unfortunately they made no difference. Mine are working fine on the other bike so the search goes on to find the problem.

The problem is a hesitation from tickover, 950rpm to about 1150rpm which is a complete pain when blipping the throttle while changing down setting up for a bend or approaching a roundabout. At times it actually cuts out in those circumstances which completely unsettles the flow of things.

Here's a video...

Tell me, is it ok to pull the plug leads on the lower plugs and just let them hang without a spare plug attached and grounded and run the bike?

listermint

Wandering idle I've found is always down to one of two. Fueling issue or air issue. That can be fuel not getting in properly bad sensors or air intakes with cracks in the pipes or bad sensors.

Cracked pipes can be hairline and may not be obvious either.

two wheels good

Sounds like throttle imbalance and adjustment to me.
A faulty stick coil usually causes poor running across the rev range.

I'd take a look at the throttle bodies. Check the cables are seated and have a little play, not frayed. Pulleys moving freely, throttle stops clicking. Then balance.
(You know not to touch the throttle stop screws? The idle is set using the brass air screw.)

While you're there checking the Throttle Posn Sensor would be worth a look if you have a multimeter. But this isn't the cause.

Yes, leaving the coils unconnected is standard test routine. But briefly only, not when riding.

Hotblack Desiato

No excuse for any biker not having a multimeter, Lidl were doing a decent one the other week for all of twelve quid

Had a dodgy coil on a 4-cyl, idled fine but stuttered at 2-3000rpm, was fine above that, go figure - apparently common enough but you'd think that a coil would struggle most at high rpm.