94 cali 1100i problem

[pete1100i]

Hi all,i own a 94 cali 1100i that is being problematic.have had issues with it not starting,no priming of pump and wont kick over.that seems to be cured with new relays.now the problem is it breaks down,misses.it initially felt like it was on a rev limiter with no backfiring.now it backfires as well.i have found that the left cylinder is not firing all the time.i pulled the plug lead and plugged in a spare spark plug and grounded it on the engine block .when i turned the ignition on it started sparking without hitting the starter button.i have never encountered this before.any ideas as to what is causing this would be greatly appreciated.

[Tkelly]

Sounds like a throttle position sensor.

[jrt]

I had issues with my cam position sensor (there might be two on a '94).  But my problem was that the bike just outright died.  Then it ran...then it died for good.  Replacing the sensor was very easy, very cheap, but took 3 weeks to get the part from Latvia.

[Kiwi_Roy]

Looking at the schematic nothing sort of jumps out at me. The two coils are fed from the same source.
Measure the resistance of each plug cap to chassis, they should read the same on both sides, about 8-9K Ohms
If one side is open perhaps it will indicate a bad high tension lead, i remember my 98 EV (similar ignition system) started missing on one cylinder and thats what it was, it had the nasty carbon core lead and it had burnt back about 1/2 inch.
https://www.thisoldtractor.com/guzzi007/schematics/1996_California_1100i.gif
Take the crank position sensor (47) and rotation sensor (48) out and make sure there is no iron filings attached to the face of the sensor, don't change any spacers under the sensors.
Heres a document that describes the electronic ignition for that era you might see something in there.    http://www.dpguzzi.com/efiman.pdf

[Dharma Bum]

Betting on the cam position sensor.

[pete1100i]

thanks for the suggestions so far.
i removed the crank sensor when i replaced the relays and it did have some metal shavings on it.
i tried to remove the cam sensor today but could not undo the bottom allen head screw.not sure how i will get it out as there is not a lot of room to work and the head and my allen key are a bit chewed up now. 
is there a website for the sensors from latvia?

[Wayne Orwig]

I would start by using deoxit on the relay and fuse connectors, and replacing the relays yet again.
It sounds like a poor relay contact that is scrambling the ECU brain. I had almost the exact thing happen to my 1994 carburated Cali 1100. A poor relay contact caused the spark to be random. That backfired against the starter, destroying a starter before I found it.

[fotoguzzi]

I would start by using deoxit on the relay and fuse connectors, and replacing the relays yet again.
It sounds like a poor relay contact that is scrambling the ECU brain. I had almost the exact thing happen to my 1994 carburated Cali 1100. The poor relay contact cause the spark to be random, and backfired against the starter, destroying a started before I found it.

what he said. Also the crank sensor is the one that accumulates swarf and you've cleaned that. The cam sensor runs in oil bath so probably not your problem.

[Kiwi_Roy]

---------.i pulled the plug lead and plugged in a spare spark plug and grounded it on the engine block .when i turned the ignition on it started sparking without hitting the starter button.i have never encountered this before.any ideas as to what is causing this would be greatly appreciated.

That sounds like an intermittent contact, possibly just a dirty ignition switch, it shouldn't spark if its not turning over. You could try bypassing the switch with a jumper lead.
Something else that might masker it spark would be broken wires where they are constantly bending around the headstock.

Have you measured from the plug caps to chassis yet, 10 seconds of your time.
Does the tachometer still work? any strange behaviour there

[pete1100i]

Hi Roy,I haven't measured the resistance of the plug caps as yet.i will need to google how to do that.to me electrical stuff is witchcraft .i have sprayed the ignition with contact cleaner previously when i had starting problems but that turned out to be relays.the plug connection for the cam sensor looked a bit dirty so gave that a good dose of contact cleaner.i haven't been able to recreate the initial no running on left cyl or the spark plug firing on left cyl just by turning the ignition to the on position but without pressing the starter switch.
when it started breaking down initially i had replaced the relay for starting.since then i have replaced all relays with ones i bought from pyro dans .the bike starts fine now at least.

[Kiwi_Roy]

PM sent.
This document is a good one to have for that old Guzzi, it describes the early fuel injection system very well.
http://www.dpguzzi.com/efiman.pdf

[pete1100i]

plug caps tested ok,(thanks for the walk through on how to do that Roy)

will look into where i can get deoxit and try that on the connections

[Kiwi_Roy]

I would start by using deoxit on the relay and fuse connectors, and replacing the relays yet again.
It sounds like a poor relay contact that is scrambling the ECU brain. I had almost the exact thing happen to my 1994 carburated Cali 1100. A poor relay contact caused the spark to be random. That backfired against the starter, destroying a starter before I found it.

On that note you could try connecting s small lamp  to the output of each of the ECU relays, if you have an intermittent contact the lamp will flicker, also your bike will have the old European type fuses, make sure the ends are clean and the spring clips and spade connectors are tight.
https://www.thisoldtractor.com/guzzi007/schematics/1996_California_1100i.gif
One lamp on the blue wire from relay (27) to the coils.
One lamp on the red wire to the ECU, I think its terminal 20, the lamps should stay on rock steady.
The source of any flickering could also be further back in the wiring e.g. the stand relay (41) but the lamp at the end of the line might make it easier to pin down.
I dont have any experience with the ignition modules (52) & (54) but you can try swapping those and the associated coil from one side to the other to see if the miss follows.
Good Luck