2012 k1600 with 100,000 US Miles: What a long freaking day. Here is what i learned from coil troubleshooting: noticed there is some potential misinformation regarding the K1600 firing order on the GS911 readout. The k1600 cylinders are (from left to right sitting on the bike facing forward) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. The coil firing order is 1, 5, 3, 6, 2, 4 . here is the issue. The GS911 Coil to Cylinder translation is not so clear. I am not sure if this firing order is the same for all k1600 but mine goes as follows:
Cylinder #1 coil fires 1
Cylinder #2 coil fires 5
Cylinder #3 coil fires 3
Cylinder #4 coil fires 6 GS911 reads "coil #4 is the 6th in firing order"
Cylinder #5 coil fires 2
Cylinder #6 coil fires 4 GS911 reads "coil #6 is the 4th in firing order"
Sooooo dozens of hours later my misfire was a combination of a bad Lamda #1 sensor that would not heat up and a bad cylinder #4 coil and Bad Cylinder #5 Coil. (Keep in mind I replaced all the coils and plugs Jan 2022 so go a bad batch) I did figure out how to replace coils without completely removing the radiator and only doing a partial drain. I removed the radiator hose located on the drivers left side and drained the hose into a bucket followed by removing the two clips on the top radiator support bracket. About 3 cups coolant came out. keep in mind if you have not replaced plugs or coils in 40-50,000 miles you would need to completely drain the radiator and pressure wash the dirt and rocks from the bottom fins. They get packed in the radiator fins
Testing before full assembly: I was able to run the K1600 without the radiator attached for 5-7 minutes. (Thank GS Jim for the tip) Just keep an eye on your temps! One has to put a latex glove over the hoses so the water pump will not blast coolant everywhere. So, with the radiator off, coolant hoses covered and taped up, GS911 attached I would run the bike with the coils disconnected just to verify the coil at fault. Pretty slick. Keep in mind, if one coil goes bad it can send erroneous faults to the other coils. Must throw off the timing a bit to come in as a coil.
fault. I first replaced the #5 cylinder coil and ran it and found the # 4 cylinder coil. Turned out the one I thought was bad..The # 6 cylinder was ok.
word of advice: Dont trust the GS911 read out 100% when troubleshooting coils. Run some tests. The GS911 will absolutely inform an owner there is a coil issue but you will need to do what I did and dig a bit deeper while things are torn apart. I recommend pulling the coil wire in question and run the bike. Make sure it is the coil that is bad per the GS911. Then run the bike again and check for more coil issues.
