It does work when it's done carefully. I tell new people to never screw up and try to hide it from me. Just come to me when you do it and we'll work it out. Hide it and I find it, you're gone. When I come back from a test and bring it in the garage and go for tools, the tech wants to know why. That's a good time to turn it into a low-key education in the details that I want. I always tell them when I like something and why I do. No hurt feelings, always progress. I did the same in Fla. Nobody likes an outsider coming in to run a place and I got more than a hint of animosity from the techs there. (# Honda keeps a data base of field techs and management people that is evaluated and updated. That's how I got the job) After a few weeks, a tech came in hungover and I sent him home. Before he left I asked for his work orders. He thought I was going to fire him. I just said Be here tomorrow. I took his orders and finished his jobs during that day and nobody ever questioned me again. The rule is "I was doing this before you were born. Don't f%k with the old guy" And. yes, not everything is golden. I have thief and a lazy SOB with us now. Takes time to deal with both of them. You said it, really hard to fire somebody with today's laws. The easiest reason is "incurring possible liability issues". FYI: we have never been sued. Now that takes work.
--- On Tue, 9/30/08, Kyle Munz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: From: Kyle Munz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [Nighthawk Lovers] Re: Coils? To: [email protected] Date: Tuesday, September 30, 2008, 12:28 AM Wish I had had that kind of ctrl. I could fire someone, but all they had to do was whine to the store mgr, who would go soft and keep them on. Kind of hard to enforce anything when you've got a worker that now knows they don't have to listen to a damn thing you say. After a while I gave up trying. Thats the main reason I moved on. The main reason i quit letting Toyota do my oil changes is the loose drain plugs. The 2nd one dumped all my engine oil 50+ miles away from home. I turned it off in time, but figured I was just being lazy and could leave the damn drain plug loose myself and safe a few $$. They could have used your system. -Kyle On Mon, Sep 29, 2008 at 11:14 PM, Dennis Hammerl <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: The whole shop. I run a tight ship as they say. We make money on warranty as well. That's something almost unheard of. To have survived since 1965 takes more than a little work. I sort of micro-manage things. Learned that from the boss's father who hired me from a Suzuki dealership. Honda had just come out with the CR line and he wanted a veteran two stroke wrench. His son took over years later and left me on my own to oversee the shop. The elder had been a mechanic for a Ford agency in the 30's on till 1959. A great guy, passed on in 1996. I never knew anybody with his people skills. All finished work must pass through my hands for approval. At first it looks a little authoritarian but in the end the guys learn that it's me who takes the hit if things don't go right. Additionally, they don't have to deal with customers. I'm always between them and the owner and the customer. Hey, it works. Oh yeah, you get used to the wailing of the damned here in hell. I was wondering if we should get red work uniforms ? --- On Mon, 9/29/08, Kyle Munz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: From: Kyle Munz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [Nighthawk Lovers] Re: Coils? To: [email protected] Date: Monday, September 29, 2008, 1:02 AM Is that your return rate less than 1% or your whole shops? At the computer store I was able to keep my personal rate below 1%, but never could convince the other knuckleheads that its easier just to take the time to fix it right hte first time. -Kyle On Sun, Sep 28, 2008 at 11:28 PM, Dennis Hammerl <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: No, I don't. The parts manager does. I have worked in the field since 1967 (Suzuki,Yamaha first) and have been service manager at our dealership- (or should I say pits of hell ?) since 1972. (three years out to live in Fla) I won't go into the finances of operating a dealership because at least 95% of the forum hates our guts. Sometimes it amuses me to read all the back alley fixes and shortcuts. I do give free advice. As if anybody cares. Sure, I'm a big OEM person. I have to keep the return rate below 3% ( I do, less than one) I really don't care what people use for replacement parts, it's their bike (and their butt). When I stumbled on to this forum I thought more riders would be interested in "improving the breed" instead of sustaining it on life support. Guess again. We have spoke about IT work (to others grumbling) and I do dabble in IT. I am first an engine builder and tuner. For the most part I man a desk now. At 64 I look forward to retirement. --- On Mon, 9/29/08, Kyle Munz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: From: Kyle Munz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [Nighthawk Lovers] Re: Coils? To: [email protected] Date: Monday, September 29, 2008, 12:03 AM Oh don't tell me you do the needless markups? You know, there's a reason my '03 taco is still ticking after 240K miles, because I use genuine toyota parts. But I hate the fact that I can get the parts for 30 to 25% of what i was originally quoted after pitting the two dealerships against eachother. I suspect the same is true for this Honda, and I've had success lowering parts by 60% already. Its possible, but its a hassle. I buy the best parts I can, I feel cheated by the rediculous markups at the parts counter. I know you gotta make a buck, but there's a guy at the toyota dealership that gives me a really decent price each time, I ask for him by name now, he gets all my commissions, more dealerships should get that message. -Kyle On Sun, Sep 28, 2008 at 10:56 PM, Dennis Hammerl <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Do you think anybody will notice my horns if I wear a baseball cap ? --- On Sun, 9/28/08, Kyle Munz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: From: Kyle Munz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [Nighthawk Lovers] Re: Coils? To: [email protected] Date: Sunday, September 28, 2008, 11:51 PM I knew you had feelings for me, but geez! I'm flattered :) -Kyle On Sun, Sep 28, 2008 at 10:26 PM, Dennis Hammerl <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: I love you too.. --- On Sun, 9/28/08, Kyle Munz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: From: Kyle Munz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [Nighthawk Lovers] Re: Coils? To: [email protected] Date: Sunday, September 28, 2008, 1:37 AM Don't worry, my contempt for satan, err, the dealership is directed mostly towards the 300% markup parts counter guys. The fact that they will come down drastically in price so easily when pitted against eachother shows that they're ridiculously marked up. Yeah, we had the tester hooked up to both leads. They ran fine at first, but after running for a while they started to fail. At different intervals ofcourse as one was in worse shape than the other. I too am hesistant to replace parts without making sure that's the part that is bad, I'm also hesitant to break down on a houston freeway during rushhour again. And then there's the ants... -Kyle -Ormiga! On Sun, Sep 28, 2008 at 12:20 AM, Dennis Hammerl <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: yeah, I have one of those testers. Did you check the plug cap resistance? They should be 5~10 meg each. If you examined the schematic for the bike you will see that the output side of the coils is actually a loop. In effect, one plug fires from the center electrode and the other from the ground strap. Both at the same time. One fires on an exhaust stroke while the other is on a compression stroke. With this in mind, if one plug wire is off, both cease to function since the loop is broken. Now when the tester is used by an amateur, it can show a bad component. I don't agree with the jump start theory but anything is possible. I don't recall ever replacing a coil set on one of those. The failure rate is below .3%. I have replaced pulse coils on a fair number of those bikes. Failure is due to heat. Check resistance of those cold and hot. All I'm trying to do is completely confirm failed component. If you are satisfied with the results as it stands now, replace with OEM. One of my guys has a CB650sc with over 38k on it and all original electrics. Now I'll duck while all you dealer haters respond. --- On Sat, 9/27/08, Kyle Munz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: From: Kyle Munz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [Nighthawk Lovers] Re: Coils? To: [email protected] Date: Saturday, September 27, 2008, 1:32 AM One was just out of specs, the other one had infinite resistance. I then took it to the local cycle shop that had a fancy ignition coil tester. Nifty adapter on the end kind of like a dummy sparkplug you could screw in and out to adjust the gap on the fly. One coil could just barely make a spark at less than 1/4 inch, the other could spark almost twice that. Both petered out after a few minutes, after they warmed up. I know the odds of both going bad are twice as unlikely, but one was definitely worse than the other. That explains why it felt like my bike was only running on 2 cyls before it crapped out completely the other day when it was hot. And after a few minutes cooling off it would run, but again like it was on half its cyls. Then after I let it set for 30 mins it cranked up and ran on all cyls, even if it was still missing occasionally. One of the only situations I can think of that would cause both coils to fail around the same time would be jump starting off of a running car. I'm afraid that if the previous owner tried that I may have more than just coil problems. This bike has had ever single electrical system knackered in some form or another. -Kyle -picked up "knackered" from watching TopGear ;) On Fri, Sep 26, 2008 at 11:04 PM, Dennis Hammerl <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: How did you determine that ? Do you know what the odds of both going bad at the same are ? Fall back and regroup. Fill me in. --- On Fri, 9/26/08, Kyle Munz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: From: Kyle Munz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [Nighthawk Lovers] Coils? To: [email protected] Date: Friday, September 26, 2008, 3:06 PM I finally got a chance to take a break from himmicane cleanup to look at my bike today. Turns out the coils are dead, or we don't know how to work a multimeter. I'm fairly confident in my multimeter skills so I'm going to go with dead coils. Anyone have any recommendations on aftermarkets or stick with OEM? -Kyle -83CB650SC --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Nighthawk Motorcycle Lovers!" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/nighthawk_lovers?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
