Pulse Generator

I thought I’d use the term Pulse Generator instead of the other commonly used “ignition pulse crankshaft position sensor”.

I started this Friday evening to get a start on the tear down.

The front upper and center cowling requires removal to perform this project. I didn’t have to remove the front fender, I drape a towel over it for some form of protection.

Once the front plastic pieces are removed you’ll see the regulators and purge valve located at the upper section as shown in the photo below. I have the non-ABS model and it is not necessary to go from above to access the Pulse Generator 2P connector. Everything will be done from the front of the engine.

The following instruction was taken from an online Goldwing forum. I did not create this procedure but I can say it is what I used to perform the part replacement.

Here are the instructions from Greg:

“If you have ABS, you’ll need to pull the tank and air box to get to the 2P connector.

If not, remove the upper center cowl, the single bolt and vacuum hose, to allow the canister’s purge control solenoid to fall. Then unplug the on each side. Wrap the coils in a towel and allow the coils to fall on the the back part of the front fender. That should then give you access to the boot the connector is in”.

Once the purge valve and regulator housing has been loosened and moved forward the Pulse Generator 2P is accessible for removal.

The 2P is bundled with a few others wrapped in a dust boot. You will need to slide the boot cover out of the way to unclip the mating connector.

To access the pulse generator, the timing cover will need to be taken off. This is done by removing the 12 cover screws. You do not need to remove the crankshaft center dust cap. The cap can stay in place during the entire process.

In my case the timing cover has probably never been taken off. It was difficult to remove by hand. I ended up having to use a large blade screw driver to pry the cover off.

As expected pieces of the original gasket remained in place. With a bit of elbow grease and soaking the cover inside my parts cleaner tub, I was able to remove all the pieces.

Using a part cleaner tub makes a the job much easier.

The engine housing also required gasket material removal. Since I’m not able to have the same luxury with the chemical tub application I used engine bay cleaner to soak the remain8g pieces. I take my time whenever I work on projects for the first time.

Case cleaned up and ready for the new part.

The pulse generator will be prewired to a 2P connector. I went ahead and bolted the part down and positioning the wires through the slotted opening. Once that is complete you can lay the gasket onto the timing cover using the 2 dowels for gasket alignment.

The installation procedure is essentially doing everything in reverse order. After buttoning the timing cover back in place and securing the regulators and purge valve I did a test start. It fired right up.

After installing the remaining pieces I gave the sled a wash. All ready for the next ride!

Ignition crankshaft position sensor

I thought this was a good place to use as a storage reminder for the replacement project later this weekend.

I ordered the recommended sealant, actually it’s “YamaBond 4” instead of the recommended HondaBond 4. I couldn’t get the Honda brand in time for to work on the bike this weekend. It’s scheduled to arrive by tomorrow.

The diagram is showing only 2 locations requiring the sealant. This is a dust gasket and not designed for fluid.

The actual Pulse Generator part is shown attached to the rear side of the timing cover.

Motorcycle table lift

Picked up another hardware piece needed to secure a sled down. The adjustable base platform stabilizes the bike from the middle. This is used with the front straps.

The base jack is also used when the rear tire needs to be removed. At some point I will do a cutout on the rear side of the platform for a “drop down” access section.

I’ll be removing the cafe bike and loading up the Goldwing. The ignition crankshaft position center seems to be getting wonky and needs a new part installed.

Stepping up

I’ve been wanting a nice motorcycle table lift and when I saw one at a local yard sale at a good price I knew I had to go for it.

This is not a cheap harbor freight type of lift, it’s manufactured by a well known company that has been in the business for many years.

The 1982 Honda 450 CM had the honors of being the first bike on the lift.

One modification I plan on doing is the rear of the table top there’s no drop down access door. This feature is useful when removing a tire from bikes that have a fairing or fender bags blocking the way.

Ignition crankshaft position sensor

Parts for the ignition crankshaft sensor replacement. The official name of this part is the Pulse Generator. That will be the name used by Honda when ordering the part.

In order to get to the crankshaft position sensor the front lower cowl will need to be removed. A new gasket will be necessary.

So why am I replacing this part? From the research I’ve done the issues I have been having are related to the pulse generator. The symptoms are intermittent starting issues. The starter motor will crank like normal but the bike will not fire up. It keeps on turning over.

Some guys are saying a weak battery will do this and that’s a possibility since the battery I have is probably the original. I do keep the battery on a maintainer when not in use. So this is a slim possibility.

I will change out the part first to see if the intermittent problem completely goes away.

Note * I rode all last week without the starting issue so this is not an easy problem to troubleshoot.