Electrical problems, arrrgh!

[bakalorz]

Ok, here is today's update:

Bypassed the ignition/kill switches by running a lead directly from the battery to the orange wire on each coil. Additionally, I ran leads from each point to its respective coil, essentially bypassing the wires that run from the points to the coils that snakes around the frame. No consistent spark. There were two separate times that I got spark from one of the plugs (#4), but it was not very consistent and once I let off the starter button, it would not fire again. I tried all the different plugs and was not able to get any spark out of any of them. This was in the garage with all the lights off, so it was pitch black. I was able to see some spark from the points but it was weak spark and it didn't seem very consistent. Tested the condensers via the resistance method and they both checked out just fine. The battery was pretty worn out from all the starter spinning after a bit, so we temporarily added jumper cables from a car battery (not a running car) to the bike's battery and even though the starter would spin quickly again, no go on the spark.

I guess at this point I would have to say both coils are shot. I don't know how both would die simultaneously.

I saw that you got everything resolved further down, but one thing jumped out at me when I read the stuff in your original post.

When you got the bike running with the main fuse blown, it was running on the stator/regulator without the battery.
The battery does a bunch of things on the bike, and one of them is stabilizing the voltage. So it is probable that while you were running without the battery, the bikes voltage was swinging widely up and down ... way over 12 volts at times.

My guess is that this could have blown the ignition module (assuming your bike is like mine and has a transistorised ignition).
That would explain why both coils (and a new coil) would not spark.

My OEM manual for a 650 has a fairly simple test for ignition modules. If you are curious enough to want to check your old ignition just to see, I'll dig it up and post it.

One more thing to throw into the mix is that I have an extra coil that we swapped in place of one of my bike's and it failed to show any spark as well. I don't know the status of this coil though, as it was a used piece that I have had in a box for a few years.

I wish there was something that would just shout out to me "order dyna coils!" and I would go ahead and do so. Normally I would have just bought Dyna Coils and a Dyna S ignition and done this right, but with my wedding a month from tomorrow, I want to be pretty dang sure that what I buy will fix it.

[dtkid]

Hey Pasture:

Is your machine now running good since you bought the Dyna gear? I somehow got mixed up in the middle/end of the thread.

I hope your motorin'. The weather today is excellent (Southeast KY mountains just across the VA state line).

I think it is supposed to drop back into the 30's tonight.

Did you already get married?

[pasteurized]

Thanks for the posts guys!

dtkid- Just had the right hand controls apart due to replacing throttle cables and I noticed how cramped and twisted the wires are. At some point I think I will probably replace the wiring in there and route it a bit better. Good call to have a look at though.

I did have the bike out on Saturday, but it is snowing like crazy right now and we are slated to get around 6 inches by tomorrow morning. Probably won't be out anytime soon with it again. I have a bunch of new parts that arrived via FedEx today (stainless brake lines, etc) that I get to put on this weekend. Should be fun! And yea, got married in May of last year. Haven't been too active on the board since then but definitely still enjoying the GS!


bakalorz - Your post is VERY interesting. I'll bet you hit it right on the nose. The symptoms didn't make a lot of sense, and after testing all the wiring (and it passing with flying colors) I just went ahead and bit the bullet to upgrade to the dyna stuff + new battery, which I was already considering doing anyway. I'll bet you nailed it though. Thanks for your insight!!