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aquaholic wrote: Hello, I'm rebuilding a 1982 Kawasaki KZ1000J1 and am having starting issues. Will your above diagram work for my bike ? Also when you say "just tap the pick-up coils, what are you referring to ? Tap with what lol. Thanks for your help. My New Years resolution is to hear this engine at least POP. Carbs rebuilt, engine rebuilt valves set but spark seems weak and I don't seem to be getting fuel to the cylinders although the levels are good and floats are working well. I'm more mechanical than electrical but can read a meter. The shop manual calls for a "Kawasaki Electrotester" lol but I'm sure there is a more modern way to test things and this is a budget build. Bike last ran great in 1997 lol. Thanks again and Happy Holidays. Jon, Little River SC

Sorry it`s not much help I can give you, but tapping with some metal will work as I see it.

aquaholic wrote: Hello, I'm rebuilding a 1982 Kawasaki KZ1000J1 and am having starting issues. Will your above diagram work for my bike ? Also when you say "just tap the pick-up coils, what are you referring to ? Tap with what lol. Thanks for your help. My New Years resolution is to hear this engine at least POP. Carbs rebuilt, engine rebuilt valves set but spark seems weak and I don't seem to be getting fuel to the cylinders although the levels are good and floats are working well. I'm more mechanical than electrical but can read a meter. The shop manual calls for a "Kawasaki Electrotester" lol but I'm sure there is a more modern way to test things and this is a budget build. Bike last ran great in 1997 lol. Thanks again and Happy Holidays. Jon, Little River SC

The place to tap is the little pole piece at the center of the pickup coil. That is the part that the rotor passes as it rotates. You would tap it with a steel screwdriver. This simulates the rotor rotating past the pickup coil.

Thank you. I'll give it a try. Is there some way to meter the coils and if so what poles do I check and what readings should I be looking for ? Anyone in the Myrtle Beach area that wants to give some free on-site advice is welcome. Happy Holidays to all.

aquaholic, there is a Kawasaki factory service manual on the KZR home page. It shows how to check the coils n stuff & what the readings should be. click the KZR logo at the top. you have to be logged-in to download the pdf.

FSM for the 1000J >>> Kawasaki KZ1000-1100 81-thru-83.

Thank you Martin, I do have the FSM but the testing using the "KAWASAKI ELECTROTESTER" Is where I'm running into issues since I don't have one and can't find one lol. I was just wondering if there was a more up to date way to test the coil resistance or just test the coils without any expensive tooling. I do have spark but it seems weak to me. Thanks again for everyone's help. Keep the ideas coming lol. Happy Holidays to all, jon

I have been rattling my brain trying to figure out how to test what I believe is a weak spark issue. The advice given by all of you has been fantastic. I was just about ready to remove the ignition components and do the bench test using the diagram in a previous post. The Kawasaki Electrotester tool was throwing me for a loop and I was trying to think of a way to actually measure the spark without removing everything from the bike when the light came on lol. I have an adjustable spark tester that should save me a ton of time and help narrow down what. if any, parts are suspect. They do sell them on Amazon also for less than $10. Just a thought and we'll see what happens after the holidays. Thanks again and Happy Holidays. jon

I suspect it's the pilots clogged. It takes a guitar string or strand from a wire brush to clear them. Are the plugs wet?
Steve

By aquaholic: Thank you Martin, I do have the FSM but the testing using the "KAWASAKI ELECTROTESTER" Is where I'm running into issues ....

My mistake then. I wasn't thinking of a spark tester. Just the ohm tests etc. You could test the coils cold & hot. A simple check is to ride the bike at highway speeds if possible, then stop & feel the coils. press hard with your fingers. they should be warm, not hot. My bike had a high speed miss & the coils were pretty hot, so I installed green Dyna 3.0 ohm coils on my 650. Before then, I solved an intermittent firing problem by redoing the spark plug wire connections which become poor from oxidation over time. Two other times battery problems caused poor running --- low electrolyte one time & a bad battery on another occasion. I had a defective petcock diaphragm another time --- the bike started running terrible that day.

Thanks for the reply and advice. No the plugs are not wet. I have used bread ties (with the paper/plastic stripped off lol) and they have been sitting a year or so since my rebuild and before installing and putting fuel to them.
On another note, I have the box checked to be notified of replies to my topics but don't get any. I will go double check my profile but let me know what you think may be happening. Thank you again, jon

Thanks Martin, I would love to test the ohms but have no idea what they are supposed to read and from what posts. I haven't tried the spark tester yet and due to previous plans it looks like I'm not going to get back to this until February. I also need to test the wires and caps as they are original. I have no idea what or even if there is supposed to be any resistance there either. As I mentioned, this is a low budget build so I don't want to start throwing parts at it. That's where this website and everyone's help is much appreciated. Thanks you all again. jon