Hello!

Just did a valve adjustment yesterday and also replaced the plugs. Took it out for a ride this morning and it was running great for the first 10 miles or so. All of a sudden, it started sputtering and would die at traffic lights. Got it home and pulled the tank and the coils, while doing so, I nudged the wire for the #2 cylinder and it popped right out of the boot. Should this happen? Can I just shove it back in and hope it works? Can I just go to an auto parts store and buy new wires? IIRC, on murph's site, it said something about 5ohm resistor caps. Once I get the new wires, would I just plug the ends into the coils, and that's that?

I'm stuck at my parents' house (house sitting) and was supposed to go home today. Any help would be greatly appreciated! PM me also if you can call me about this, and I'll call right back.

One other note is that the bike had NGK DR8EA plugs in it before and I put in D8EA plugs on this go around. The Clymer manual was a bit confusing with these as it listed both but for different years. Would this have anything to do with it?

the plugs are fine.

the boot actually needs to be screwed on to the wire.
the pin inside that conducts is actually threaded, and about 1/2" long.
Hold the wire and the boot with rags to get a firm grip, insert the wire, and while pressing in firmly screw the end on (clockwise) and the pin will screw into the core of the wire. It will go almost a half inch before bottoming out.
This is common mistake when folks replace wires.
Before doing this though, you may want to trim the end of the wire to remove any burned or corroded core, so when doing this, make sure the end of the wire is clean and squarly cut off, you should see a clean conductor core in the middle. Also note the wires, if replaced, MUST be of the stranded copper core wire type (like Accell copper core), and the insulation should be the 7mm size. Carbon core or "soft" core "resistor" wires will not work (for more than 10 minutes).

also note that if you decide to replace the wires (again, I personally suggest the generic automotive wire kits from Accell, the yellow silicone TINNED STRANDEDED COPPER WIRE CORE with 7mm diameter insulation) that when doing the coil end, you need to retain the ferrule and the threaded "wire nut" from the oem assembly. Simply slide the nut and the ferrule back onto the new wire before inserting it into the coil, note that the coil only has a sharp "needle" in that end, and requires you to shove the squarely cut wire end into the coil far enough to bottom it out, and cause the pin to be fully inserted up thru the core of the wire before screwing the nut and ferrule into position, this crimps and holds that end assembled.

I want to add another suggestion, especially if the fuel tank has not been off this bike in a long time, bear me out on this please...
if this tank has been pulled off twice, and stirred up, it is likely that any water that has accumulated in the tank over time, due to normal circumstance, will be now mixed with the fuel. I suggest highly that you pick up a bottle of Heet or IsoHeet from the autoparts store a.s.a.p., and dump it into the tank, and ride a while. This will bind up any moisture with the fuel, and allow it to be burned up instead of clogging up the low speed circuits of the carbs...take it from me, this occurs very frequently when people remove and replace the tank.

Aha! MOB, I owe you one man! Was tinkering out in the garage while waiting for a response and did exactly that. I never realised that the caps screwed on...and I've changed the plugs on this bike a few times. I also was pulling on the top of the boot to remove the wires, so that may have helped to dislodge it from the boot itself. Just got back from another test ride, and all seems well. Will borrow a few socket wrenches from my dad for the trip home just in case!

Accel wires are quite good. I've had those in all of my cars. The difference here is, the coils are of a different sort than a car. Good to know for future!

you may still want to trim about 1/2 - 3/4" off the plug end of the wires, to get back into clean copper for contact, the core tends to errode/burn up in the insulation when they are not connected good, and the damage is kind of invisible. Trimming and installing is best practice. i have seen 5 mpg mileage increases by doing this procedure alone on some Conni's.... worth the effort.

a set of Accell wires for a big block car engine will produce about 5 sets of Concours wires....so share them with your pals.
The ends of the Accell wires are simply cut off, this allows them to be used in the manner the bike requires.
Good show, glad you are on the road, now go dump some IsoHeet in the tank to prevent the moisture/water problems that inevitably will surface   save yourself the grief.

Another thing to watch for since you just completed a valve adjust -- if the well seals don't, you can end up with oil rising in the wells. I've seen it in my past where the plug caps being pushed off the plugs was a first indication that I had a problem.

If your in the mood and/or markit for one of the most popular upgrades for the Concours...... Follow da linky http://www.zggtr.org/index.php?topic=61.0 and gives me a shout.   

If your in the mood and/or markit for one of the most popular upgrades for the Concours...... Follow da linky http://www.zggtr.org/index.php?topic=61.0 and gives me a shout.   

Looks good! What do the leads connect to? Do the ground wires need to be run differently? Does the kit include instructions for hooking them up? What sort of power/mileage increase can one expect?

Looks good! What do the leads connect to? Do the ground wires need to be run differently? Does the kit include instructions for hooking them up? What sort of power/mileage increase can one expect?

My kit requires absolutely no cutting or splicing of any wires; it is truly "plug & play" and includes instructions to which the entire install should take one hour or less..... I make no promise as to any power or mileage increase although just about everyone who has installed my kit has seen some improvement in easier starts, stronger idle, crisper acceleration, smoother running; in fact SISF swore that on install his bike had less vibration which was attributed to overall improvement in ignition. One thing I can promise you is that your issue of poor connection at the wire ends it will return as that is the weak point of high tension/voltage wires is that the point of contact does not last; with my COP kit all of those potential weak points are gone.

The stick coil mod is highly recommended and not hard to do.
If you do not want to go down that route - the trim the end of the wires as previously posted.

If your in the mood and/or markit for one of the most popular upgrades for the Concours...... Follow da linky http://www.zggtr.org/index.php?topic=61.0 and gives me a shout.   

+1

After my last valve adjust, I was taking things apart to put in my stick coils.  My #2 boot fell right off the wire, same as yours.

Easiest mod you can make.  Also added the Snarf reed valve covers and took out all that plumbing as well.

+1

After my last valve adjust, I was taking things apart to put in my stick coils.  My #2 boot fell right off the wire, same as yours.

Easiest mod you can make.  Also added the Snarf reed valve covers and took out all that plumbing as well.

i just want to make a statement, and before I do I will say The stick coil kit Tony is providing is top quality, and it does offer some advantages, reduces clutter, and will provide a hotter spark.

with that said, if you are in question whetehr your coils are going bad, you really should do the examination on the wires, and even remove the caps and do a pre-emptive trim on the wires and re-install, before going nuts.
The repair costs nothing, and the OEM coils in normal condition offer everything you need to operate the engine correctly. I believe a lot of the "coil issues" people have had are directly tracable to those wires and caps being compromised, so, as I said, it doesn't cost you anything to fix that first. If you still have issues, then by all means jump on the new coil bandwagon.

A quickie check on the stock coil setup:

The resistance from plug cap 1 to 4 (or 2 to 3) should be around 22 K Ohms. As I found out, infinite is too high.

All well and true MOB all well and true indeed..... Dat be why I rarely tout my wares in these threads....

Cleaned up connections (shortened wires) can solve many an issue; but once your to the point of needing to replace boots as well as wires then by all means give me a shout.

Closely examine the OEM plug caps where the wires screw on because I had one that the screw part broke off very easily.

Next, you can disassemble the OEM brass part of the cap.  Using a flat blade screwdriver unscrew the tip that snaps onto the spark plug.

Under that tip is a spring and a resistor.  When I took mine apart, some of the resistors showed corrosion on the ends and I had a broken spring or two.

I installed the Stic Coils, very easy to do.