juntjoo wrote:great news, my timing is OFF! that could mean an easy fix, *fingers crossed*
but what special tool do I need or special trick is there to get those Philips head screws off the timing plate? And how do you even get sideways leverage on it? I wish there were a wall next to this side of the bike. I tried wd40 and hit the heads of them with a hammer behind a small punch. There's gotta be an easier way. I think these screws are the last straw for me tonight. You beat me bike. but I'll see your ass in the morning!
jj, I don't think it is possible for coils to half fail so that one plug won't spark, you can get a coil that starts to fail but both plugs should spark the same. Even if it were possible for a coil to half fail, the chances of it happening to both coils at the same time would be impossible.
With regards to your timing, it may be out but the bike should still run, I had the same problem yesterday with mine. Like a fool, I trusted the scratch marks that the PO had put on the timing plate, so when I cleaned my spark advancer I replaced the timing plate in the same position as it came off. When I took my bike to the local MOT test station it was running on all four but felt under powered, a typical sign of incorrect timing. I went and bought a strobe light and connected it up, my timing plate was roughly 4mm in the wrong place but the bike started easily with the timing off by so much. The three screws holding the plate undid easily with a screwdriver, they weren't a problem at all but your PO may have used thread locker on them. Will an impact driver work on them?