Send help. All new electrical still no spark.

[Guest]

I'll give a little backstory. I am new to riding and found a motorcycle that was an 85 gs700e. Guy said all it needs is a new battery and carbs cleaned. I bought the bike for only $300. At first it didn't look too bad. I got home and put a new battery to see if she would turn over. Of course it did not.
I started troubleshooting and found out there was no spark to the plugs. I thought since the plug seems good and I am not getting power to the coils it must be the ecu, so I bought a "new" one. Didn't work. I installed a new a.c. generator and signal generator. Still no spark. I then got a new wiring harness and installed that. No spark.

I replaced everything besides coils and that is not what the issue is. And there is still no spark. Please help. Any help counts,
Thanks

[Rijko]

welcome.

Hoe did you determine the coils are not the problem ?

[Rijko]

here's a quick igniter/signal generator/coil test

85 GS700e uses the same igniter as the GS850G, test procedure on p414/415
of this manual http://zeus.mtsac.edu/~cliff/storage...nual_HiRes.pdf

[tom203]

Let's back up to here...

"I got home and put a new battery to see if she would turn over. Of course it did not." Do you mean it would not crank over??

You do not need a functioning ignition system (or charging system) to get engine to turn over. All you need is a decent battery and an understanding of how the various switches in starter circuit work.

[Rijko]

start at the beginning, good point Tom.
I assumed that it did crank over since OP moved on to spark issue.

[mmattockx]

Let's back up to here...

I agree. OP is far too vague to have a clue what is going on here. He needs to start with hooking a battery up and checking where he has power in the harness and then move on through the switches, starter solenoid, starter, etc. The only way this will get sorted is to start at one end and work through to the other.


Mark

[Lindauer]

It cranks over and everything. I have spare coils that were sitting around and those do not produce spark either. Newer wiring harness. Not sure what else is wrong

[Lindauer]

I can explain a little more I guess. The bike will crank just fine it is not the starter. I am getting a new voltage meter to check and see if power is going to coils ( the last multimeter has seen better days) I know it is not an issue with the coils themselves because I had some sitting around that I hooked up and those did not produce a spark. When I replaced the old wiring harness because it looked like garbage. I hooked up everything and still no spark. Unless the parts I bought are bad I am not sure what else it could be.

[Lindauer]

Also what would help if someone could provide me a better looking wiring diagram than this one I found online. Capture.jpg

[Rijko]

I am getting a new voltage meter to check and see if power is going to coils ( the last multimeter has seen better days)

Checking for 12 volt is good, but does not tell you about the condition of the coils - just that you're feeding them (hopefully) 12v.
Follow the checklist and measure primary and secondary resistance.

Quick and dirty way of testing here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0WdphKGm7Q

I know it is not an issue with the coils themselves because I had some sitting around that I hooked up and those did not produce a spark.

The coils you had sitting around may be bad, the only proper way to draw a conclusion is to prove the coils are good (or bad). 4 coils going bad is not likely, so hopefully it's a 12v problem.

Unless the parts I bought are bad I am not sure what else it could be.

I have been there, testing coils with a bad spark plug and wondering what could be wrong when all my measurements said everything was fine :-/

Just keep up the good work, we'll find some sparks

[tom203]

Until you find a better diagram try this one - ignition layout should be similar to the gs700. Colors make it readable. Be patient, cuz it loads funny (at least on my ipad)

https://1drv.ms/i/s!AmsMn98ttnAjilyNmYQ4h1pxplW7

ignitors are always suspect, ebay used ones are a crapshoot.

[Lindauer]

Tested the coils and they didn't spark. Tried the pair that came off working bike and those didn't spark. I did feel them charge up though. I gave up and hated seeing the pos in my garage. I took the bike to a professional near me, said he has to look over what I did to it. Also said the bad wiring harness could have fried the cdi box I had. Hopefully it didn't because those are expensive. Will keep updated on what the problem was, thanks for the help and support.