HELP! stranded in Roseburg, Or !!

[sofadriver]

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Riding my new-to-me pristine '96 900 SS/SP back from Sacramento to Tacoma. (basically a M900 with a fairing)
Bike is awesome! Then the crappy CycleGear battery went bad (at least I think it was the batt). I don't know if I've got a charging problem or not. I replaced the battery but don't think it was fully charged so still had to jump it to get the bike going. Only batt I could find was at Napa auto parts. They were getting ready to close so the guy was nice enough to offer to take it home and trickle charge it overnight. While following him on the freeway i lost fire to my vert. cyl - WTF!!! If i was home I could get this handled but I'm still 400 miles away.
Any ideas on the charging problem? Anything to look for on the missfire? Think they could be related? was on the freeway cruising at 80 when it started to miss.

HELP (this is some shit! and I'm deep in it!)

[Howie]

Got a voltmeter?  If so, look for 13.5 - 14.5 volts at about 3K RPM across the battery.  Less or more and you have a charging problem.  Since your bike is carbed it is unlikely the misfire is related.  Start by removing the spark plugs to see if one is fouled.  Then check for spark on both cylinders.   Report back with the results.

[sofadriver]

Thanks. That batt is being tricklecharged overnite so I'll have to wait until the morning.
i'm more concerned about the miss. i checked the coill wires thinking i might have disturbed something but I don't see anything wrong. Getting too dark now. i've only got a few basic tools w/ me so no VOM


crap

[Howie]

If you do not have spark at the cylinder that is misfiring decent diagnosis without meters can be done on your bike without a meter.   Simply swap parts until the miss changes to the other cylinder.  You can do this with everything but the ignition pick ups.  If all else is good it is probably the pick ups.  This you would want to confirm with a meter.  A cheap $20ish meter will be fine.  The pick ups should read 100+5 ohms.  First I would try a new plug (plugs), cheap enough and it can't hurt.

An other option would be to post in the local board in your area for help.  I guess that would be "Northwest" under local club boards to your left.  Someone there may be able to help you or recommend a good shop.  When I was younger ego made me do all my mechanical work.  Now I do what works best at the moment.

[Dellikose]

When my vertical cylinder started missing it was because the plastic connectors were not seated completely. The vibration from riding wiggled them loose...hopefully it's that easy for you.

Good luck!

[JBubble]

Do you have a place to stay right now? You're too far away for us to get to today from Mt Hood, but maybe we can find someone closer to you. Like howie said, post up in our local board. I'd also try http://pnwriders.com/eugene-region/ or http://pnwriders.com/medford-region/. Pretty active local forums there that might be able to help you out.

[sofadriver]

Do you have a place to stay right now? You're too far away for us to get to today from Mt Hood, but maybe we can find someone closer to you. Like howie said, post up in our local board. I'd also try http://pnwriders.com/eugene-region/ or http://pnwriders.com/medford-region/. Pretty active local forums there that might be able to help you out.

thanks! I'm at a decent little motel with empathetic owners
new battery is getting a full charge at Napa since the battery rep says thats what's wrong.
Bike starts fine when being jumped so i'm sure that's the problem.
The miss is something different (put probably related somehow). I swapped ignition igniters and the prob switched from the vert cyl to the horizontal.  My buddy is going to grab the igniters out of his '95 SS and run them down on another bud's BMW 1200St. It's good to have friends!!

[koko64]

When you get home it sounds like time to buy an Igniteck module.
Glad you found the problem and have good mates.

[sofadriver]

When you get home it sounds like time to buy an Igniteck module.
Glad you found the problem and have good mates.

after all this it might be a while before i can afford to buy anything. There were only2 OEM igniters in the whole country. One in Florida and one in Mass. They are $279 each! Turned out that Seattle Ducati had a set of DP units for $199 ea but they have to be installed in pairs. I got them.