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hi people. i just bought my first street bike- 79kz1000 mkII. ran fine for about a week. started it yesterday morning. it ran for about 10 seconds and quit, won't start back. believe it is the ic ignitor box. anyone have a spare for sale? nashville area. thanks for reading-

are you sure its the igniter?

It cranks and does not start? Is there no spark? Did you check connections between the electronic pick up/IC module/coils?

I thought i had the same problem on my MKII, but it turned out that i'm just bad at wiring and soldering your wires is a good idea.

If it is the igniter, you could try this:
www.geocities.com/loudgpz/GPZgmHEImod.html

I'm think the early gpz550 igniter is compatible with the early KZ1000 pickups, but I'm not positive.

So It should work on a 78 KZ1000 A2 also?

wagonmaster69 wrote:

So It should work on a 78 KZ1000 A2 also?

I thought the 78 was points. Kawasaki shows points for the 78 1000 A2. But someone may have put electronic on it.

The pickup units (59026-1012) with mechanical advance are the ones that work. The HEI mod won't work on the electronic advance models.

OK now I know. And knowing is is is aww sh:pinch:t what ever now I know. Thanks loudhvx.

Speaking of ignitors, I have an 88 EX500 and I started testing the ignitor based on the service manual. Instead of 400k Ohms, I'm getting 1.6 meg. Since I'm new at this should I take the service manual as the last word on this? BTW the symptoms are hard starting (only once in a while - accompanied by a backfire) and have lost all power with the tach going crazy on more then one occasion. Other times runs like a charm. Thx.

Make sure it's the igniter. I had the same symptoms, ran good stopped mid ride, engine turned power to everything but no spark. I began trying to backtrack went to either igniter or coil. Pulled coil went to Auto-electric specialist had them bench test the coil. They told me to start shopping for a coil. Coils aren't as expensive and will go out more often than an igniter per a mechanic at the dealership (he also recommended that I purchase any coil in the 2-3 ohms range and jerry-rig it in because that is what they used to do years ago). I don't think he was trying to sell me parts. If you are not sure how to test the coil and igniter look through the other posts, or someone will provide a link to the post.

o my gosh. thanks bunches for all the good advise/tips.


anyone know if a points set up from kz550 or something like that will work? ( by the way, i'm no mechanic, just the info digger!! ) so many good suggestions/tips here. not like all the tuner forum bull... i'm used to.

btw. what happened was i started it one evening last week after riding it a few times. it ran/idled fine, just quit, no fire. nada! i'll get him to read what you said and we'll try from there. that ignitor is high priced for a new one!!!

Last time I checked, Kawsaki wanted $500 for an igniter. You could get an aftermarket one for just over $100. The one I built costs around $40.

Do you have any information on AfterMarket or how to build one for an 88 EX500? Thx.