TOPIC:

CptEDIV wrote:

Could the battery be putting out 12volts, but not be any good? Last time the bike sat for awhile I had to replace the battery, it tried to turn over and I had lights and all but wouldn't start till I put in a new one.

Could the battery be putting out 12volts, but not be any good? Am thinking the short answer is "Yes."

Would remove battery from bike (to see better*) and fill to proper fluid levels with distilled water. Charge overnight (one amp charger is best, but two amps charging is okay). Do the little floating balls test to check specific gravity. If passes, should be okay, but may also have the battery load tested.

Would assure a good solid ground connection where the negative battery cable attaches to the engine or frame. And of course assure both battery cables are clean and tightly affixed to the battery terminals.

Am wondering if spark plug wires are old, hard, cracked and worn out, so as to be leaking voltage, and that being damp is just making matters worse.

Good Luck!

* Often difficult to see the exact fluid levels between the lines shown on the battery. It sometimes helps to hold a flashlight behind the battery while filling.

Why bother trying to diagnose an ignition problem if you haven't a clue as to what type ignition it is? Ed, you were asked about your ignition once so I won't ask again. Plus you have been here long enough to know it is a real good idea to list your bike year/model in your signature. Help us out with some info if you need some help getting the bike running.

Under the left plastic cover, there is a small box with cooling fins and four wires coming out of the right side. It says Ignitor but I didn't see IC before it. There wasn't a pigtail or any connector, the wires just go right into the side but all looked clean and in good condition. Sorry about the signature I had one before the forum changed but never thought to add it again, thanks for reminding me.
If I'm getting voltage at the coils (from power to ground) while the key is in the on position, bike not running, wouldn't this indicate its getting power when it shouldn't? By that I mean shouldn't the coils only get voltage when the points open and the run button is being pressed or while already running?
The points were a little rough looking, there is a small crack in the right engine cover that could have leaked some whater. The points and condensors are roughly 5 months old. When I first found that there was no spark, I pulled the points cover off and holding the start button there was only a small spark jumping the left side points, none from the right. Now I don't see any spark from that either side.. Sorry to make this difficult I'll try to give as much information as I can.
A friend told me, why not just take it to a bike shop? I guess I could but so far I've done all the work myself and would like to learn as much about it so I don't have to rely on anyone else. Plus its fun to do!
Thanks a ton.
Ed

OK... You don't have points/condensors AND an IGNITER aka IC Igniter. The points/condendor IS the ignition (with the coils). The Igniter box uses a plate down at the crankshaft with two pickups. There is a magnet on the end of the crank shaft which spins when the crank spins and the pick ups trigger when the magnet passes. They send a signal to the IGNITER box which in turn causes the coils to fire.

You have no spark but do have voltage at your coils as checked with the key on and the bike not running. This means your problem is with either the coils, the igniter box or the pickup coils or a break in the wiring. Easiest thing to do is to check the wiring. There are leads coming off the pickup coils that plug into a connector with the igniter box on the other side. Open this connector, clean with electronic spray cleaner and coat the insides of the terminal with dielectric grease. Coming out of the igniter will be some more wires. Open this connector. On the wiring side part of this connector is a red wire. Turn the ignition key ON and check for DC Voltage the same way you did with the coils. The red wire carries power to the igniter. If there is voltage, clean both sides of the connector with spray electronic cleaner and coat with dielectric grease and recheck to see if you are getting spark. If not, go on.

If you got no spark, you may have bad ignition coils. It isn't likely but it may have occurred. Check the primary and secondary resistance for the coils which indicates whether the coils are shorted. To check the primary, put your multimeter in OHMS with the bike NOT running and touch the lead where the black or green wire attach to the coil and the power wire (probably yellow/red, red or pink). Use a scale to display less than 10 Ohms. You should get about 3 or 4 Ohms. Then pull the plug wires and put your probes on the metal contacts in the plug caps and put your meter on OHMS scale in a scale where you can read 10,000 to 20,000 Ohms (10K - 20K Ohms). Check to see what the resistance is. You should get somewhere in that range and both coils should be about the same value. If you get the proper primary/secondary resistance, the coils are most likely not the culprits.

Last, if you are down to the IC Igniter box or pick up coils, a factory shop manual will have the tests which indicate the health of these components.