ok, my dad's bike is acting up (honda 1100 shadow). it will out of no where drop a cylinder so he'll stop for a couple minutes and when he restarts the bike the cylinder comes back online. then he'll ride some and it will drop out again, repeat process, ride again. miles between stops varies from 15 to full tanks. it had happened before and weather does not seem to cause it. pulled spark plugs and they look to be in good shape. after the bike drops a cylinder and is restarted you can smell the unused fuel coming from the exhaust so it doesn't appear to be a carb issue. anyone have a idea what it could be? he and i are guessing ignition/coil issue.
What year is the shadow? My boss says it is probably the spark unit. Depending on what year the shadow is, the spark unit may be part of the CDI. Let me know the year, and I'll get you a price.
2001 Shadow Spirit, right? CDI MSRP $379.95 WERA $259.95 Prices are plus 4.5% sales tax plus shipping.
I had intermitten sparking problem with my bike before, sound exactly like what happens to you, it would run then not run, then run then not run. turns out to be a faulty ignition coil... Easy way to check is to switch the coil from the bad cylinder to another cylinder(unplug it from the wire, don't mess up the firing order ) and see if the problem moves to the other cylinder. If it doesn't, then the CDI may be the cause
had someone bring one over for me to look at same prob it was a bare wire running from the spark sensor to the cdi.
