It seems to have been my pulse generators

[jnicks01]

Just throwing this out there for anyone who may be having a similar issue.  I had my annual Appalachia mountian trip.  Bike decided to crap out 1.5 miles from home.  God was I pissed.  But thank god it was right down the street. 

I spent a good weekend slowly going through the bike looking at hoses, bolts, etc.  Changed all the fluids, etc.  Took it for about an hour shake down ride and it was all good.  Except for a slight "studder" accelerating before turning in my driveway.  I didn't think anything of it.  (remember this)

Parking it for a good two weeks as i spent some time throwing on a new front tire, buffing / waxing / packing it up with my camping gear.

Day of trip.  I get a my new fun gear on and fire it up.  While warming up it I noticed a slight studder or two again as it was idling.  But I just assume its just getting warmed up or maybe a little water in the gas that settled.  Pulled away and as I get to about 4K revs, it misses.  Keep going.  About 4K again it misses and backfires.  About 4k again it starts to shut down like I wasn't getting fuel, backfires, and dies on the side of the road.  Get home, grab trailer, and hope I can figure out issue and head on my way.

1. Checked fuel flow.  All good.  Fuel to everything.
2. Rule out battery as it test good and even hooked it up to my truck battery to try and start.
3. My kill switch as been dismantled and cleaned. Not that.
4. Test for spark.  Nothing to all 6 plugs.
5. Grounds, fuses, solenoids, stand switch, tilt switch, coils, ICM all test good.
6. Test the pulse generators...abnormal.

MC Trip not happening.  So I jumped in my Tacoma, loaded up my overlanding gear and headed to Appalacia.  Needed a reset before tackling this job.  Plus I needed to wait for the part.

So I threw the pulses on this weekend.  Had spark and it fired right up with the little gas that was left in the carbs since the bike was in pieces.  They take 10 minutes to put on but take half the day removing stuff to get access.  I'm going to shake it down on a ride today, but once all back together, it fires up and idles like it should.  Even revs fine on the lift table.

Honda said these don't fail.  Well, it's a part and all parts can fail.

Hope this helps those with similar issues. 

[Avanti]

Am I right to assume that you pick up a set of used pulse generators.

[old2soon]

      88 G/W 1520 engine and less than 100 G on the clock. It DIED in my Brothers driveway in Il. after almost 600 miles from my place. Could NOT Ride her to Inzane 24 as it no run!  So We got back from Dubuque and started thrashing on the WHY of no run. The Honda Factory Manual test for the pulse generators kept showing Good BUT NO fire at the plugs!  W T H Over? Finally pulled pulse generator and the bench test sowed far different results-it no work! And like you've mentioned Honda say this part no fail! I also got news fer Honda it FAILED. And a Friend brought us one got it installed and all be GOOD Again!  And I'm with you jnicks01 Anything Will FAIL sooner or later! RIDE SAFE.

[jnicks01]

Am I right to assume that you pick up a set of used pulse generators.

You'd be correct.  (2) actually.  Just in case...

[jnicks01]

      88 G/W 1520 engine and less than 100 G on the clock. It DIED in my Brothers driveway in Il. after almost 600 miles from my place. Could NOT Ride her to Inzane 24 as it no run!  So We got back from Dubuque and started thrashing on the WHY of no run. The Honda Factory Manual test for the pulse generators kept showing Good BUT NO fire at the plugs!  W T H Over? Finally pulled pulse generator and the bench test sowed far different results-it no work! And like you've mentioned Honda say this part no fail! I also got news fer Honda it FAILED. And a Friend brought us one got it installed and all be GOOD Again!  And I'm with you jnicks01 Anything Will FAIL sooner or later! RIDE SAFE.

What I'm afraid of is that since Honda stopped producing this part that eventually the will become unavailable and there will be "bricked" bikes.  Probably 20 years from now, but still...  Part of the reason I purchased a couple.

[old2soon]

      88 G/W 1520 engine and less than 100 G on the clock. It DIED in my Brothers driveway in Il. after almost 600 miles from my place. Could NOT Ride her to Inzane 24 as it no run!  So We got back from Dubuque and started thrashing on the WHY of no run. The Honda Factory Manual test for the pulse generators kept showing Good BUT NO fire at the plugs!  W T H Over? Finally pulled pulse generator and the bench test sowed far different results-it no work! And like you've mentioned Honda say this part no fail! I also got news fer Honda it FAILED. And a Friend brought us one got it installed and all be GOOD Again!  And I'm with you jnicks01 Anything Will FAIL sooner or later! RIDE SAFE.

What I'm afraid of is that since Honda stopped producing this part that eventually the will become unavailable and there will be "bricked" bikes.  Probably 20 years from now, but still...  Part of the reason I purchased a couple.

     This 88 G/W through a fluke my Friend Josh and his Dad Terry found it was sold out from under them and the guy that bought it knows my Brother daprez and I eneded up with it. And you are most likely correctamundo on More pulse generator failures. Over this coming winter gonna give a Serious look at an 1800 G/W trike cuz mama Honda still making parts fer the 1800s. No where near unobtanium on some of the 1800 stuff. And Honda much like H/D rather NOT work on older M/Cs! Sides that 1520 with ONLY 2 carbs with my trailer well lackin some performance. RIDE SAFE.

[98valk]

      88 G/W 1520 engine and less than 100 G on the clock. It DIED in my Brothers driveway in Il. after almost 600 miles from my place. Could NOT Ride her to Inzane 24 as it no run!  So We got back from Dubuque and started thrashing on the WHY of no run. The Honda Factory Manual test for the pulse generators kept showing Good BUT NO fire at the plugs!  W T H Over? Finally pulled pulse generator and the bench test sowed far different results-it no work! And like you've mentioned Honda say this part no fail! I also got news fer Honda it FAILED. And a Friend brought us one got it installed and all be GOOD Again!  And I'm with you jnicks01 Anything Will FAIL sooner or later! RIDE SAFE.

What I'm afraid of is that since Honda stopped producing this part that eventually the will become unavailable and there will be "bricked" bikes.  Probably 20 years from now, but still...  Part of the reason I purchased a couple.

Honda actually used the pulse generator on other models, its the connecting harness which is different per models.

[Valker]

Honda actually used the pulse generator on other models, its the connecting harness which is different per models.

So, if this were to happen to one of my Valks, how would I go about ordering the correct pulse generator and rewiring it to fit the Valk?

[old2soon]

Honda actually used the pulse generator on other models, its the connecting harness which is different per models.

So, if this were to happen to one of my Valks, how would I go about ordering the correct pulse generator and rewiring it to fit the Valk?

      Funny you should ask-well NOT Really!  Looked up pulse generator on Partzilla for 99 I/S and 88 G/W. There IS a part # and one showed the manufacture as Toyo. BUT Big BUT NOT AVAILABLE! I'll put the numbers here I came up with. 99 Valkyrie I/S pulse generator 30300-MZO-003  88 G/W pulse generator 30300-MN5-003. And I'll add-HAPPY HUNTING for more unobtanium! RIDE SAFE.

[old2soon]

      Also looked up the G/W 1800 pulse generator. Those are in Fact available BUT look completely different from the ones used on the 1520. Make of that what you will. RIDE SAFE.

[98valk]

Honda actually used the pulse generator on other models, its the connecting harness which is different per models.

So, if this were to happen to one of my Valks, how would I go about ordering the correct pulse generator and rewiring it to fit the Valk?

would take some searching.  here is how Honda part #s work. so its easy to see the GW GL1500 number 30300-MN5-003 and Valkyrie number 30300-MZ0-003, whereas only the middle three digits are different since they indicate the model. the first set of numbers are the same indicating the main part is basically the same.
That is my understanding how their parts numbers system works.

https://motofaction.org/motorcycles/honda-cx-gl/honda-product-codes/
https://lilhonda.com/index.php?threads/how-to-read-honda-part-codes.4406/

here is an example

HONDA OEM   30300-MR1-003   1988-2003 SHADOW VLX600 GENERATOR PULSE
https://www.ebay.com/itm/204634490451?chn=ps&_trkparms=ispr%3D1&amdata=enc%3A1_qDrIOZBSRqI_merEpRh2w35&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-213727-13078-0&mkcid=2&itemid=204634490451&targetid=4580771614098651&device=c&mktype=&googleloc=&poi=&campaignid=603247547&mkgroupid=1234752552191001&rlsatarget=pla-4580771614098651&abcId=9316119&merchantid=51291&msclkid=fca138550f8f1c7273925ebf329c7c6a

[jnicks01]

Yeah, Da Prez mentioned that to me in another post.  I went hunting for the GW ones too, as mentioned above only to find the same result.  But there are many more available compared to the Valkyrie part number.  So all isn't hopeless, I guess....

Would / has Honda ever decided to start a reproduction based on need for an older machine?  I'm guessing "no" seeing it probably doesn't help their bottom line....

[da prez]

  98valk , I was somewhat in the neighborhood with the part numbers. I am not trying to take any credit from you. You CSI/ed it. The last two bikes I worked on had pulse generators fail. Old2soon's 88 and a friends 1800.  I will order and test the Shadow(?) pulse generators. Mother Honda says there is no replacement.  G O O D  W O R K.  Next time I go to Honda , I will ask them how they will fix a bike with bad generators. If they say non-repairable , I will low ball buy them

                                                          da prez

[98valk]

  98valk , I was somewhat in the neighborhood with the part numbers. I am not trying to take any credit from you. You CSI/ed it. The last two bikes I worked on had pulse generators fail. Old2soon's 88 and a friends 1800.  I will order and test the Shadow(?) pulse generators. Mother Honda says there is no replacement.  G O O D  W O R K.  Next time I go to Honda , I will ask them how they will fix a bike with bad generators. If they say non-repairable , I will low ball buy them

                                                          da prez

thanks   

I posted some sites about Honda part #s yrs ago, however those sites are no more.
I found out the GL1200 uses the same belt idle pulleys as the GL1500 engines. Picked up yrs ago a GL1200 set with 13k miles on ebay for $20. they are on my spare parts shelf.

[old2soon]

     Went to my local Honda dlr 2day and he ran some numbers for me. There Are pulse generators that Look Similar to what these 1520s need BUT as someone else pointed out the harness plug in differs somewhat. His Exact woprds were-crap shoot. The parts guy also came up with the same chit we did-no longer available!  On the other haand he Did find me a website which May or may Not have what we need as in pulse generators. cal tric is in California and while I could NOT find the Excat match on their website I attempted to call their phone# went straight to voice mail and the voice mail box is full!!  Should I remember- -I'll try the phone # later. RIDE SAFE.

[jnicks01]

So who's going to be the Guiney pig that starts buying up "similar" pulsars and splicing them into our connector?  I mean, it's just Blue, W/B, yellow, Y/W....

You might be rich once Ebay dries up!