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Brokedown this morning. No spark...HELP!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Billyboy
  • Start date Start date
B

Billyboy

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So I'm cruising into town this morning and the GS1000 is missing and lacking power, then it dies. Nice. It turns over great but won't fire.To add personal insult, I have very squidwardly brought NO tools!
So I push it 500M up a hill and coast down to the only gas station around. Borrow a spark plug wrench and discover that there is no spark at all.

Point to add to my confusion:
Last night I was tinkering on it, pulled the points cover and discovered an unconnected wire. It was a little weird, since it was running ok and nothing changed after I connected it.

So my bike is sitting at the truck stop all by itself and I'm here at work worrying about it. (My inlaws brought me my car.) After work I need to trailer it home and start scratching my head over it.

Could it be the coil? What else could have crapped out. Maybe a loose wire somewhere?
Crap, I'm sure learning alot about bikes!
 
Billy Ricks said:
Did you verify where that wire was supposed to go?
Click to expand...

Yeah, I checked it on my parts bike. So assuming it was correct on the parts bike, and I have no reason to think otherwise, the wire went to the right spot.

I've got lots of extras on the parts bike. It's fairly complete except what I've taken so far, so if its a coil or other part I can probably try the spares.
 
Billyboy said:
Yeah, I checked it on my parts bike. So assuming it was correct on the parts bike, and I have no reason to think otherwise, the wire went to the right spot.

I've got lots of extras on the parts bike. It's fairly complete except what I've taken so far, so if its a coil or other part I can probably try the spares.
Click to expand...
Most likely either a bad condensor or coil. Occasionally the points can slip and close their gap. Did you check for fire on either of the two center cylinders?
 
Billy Ricks said:
Most likely either a bad condensor or coil. Occasionally the points can slip and close their gap. Did you check for fire on either of the two center cylinders?
Click to expand...

No, I checked #4.

What does a condensor look like? What happens if the condensor is toast? Would a crapout of the coil or condensor cause it to do what it did?
 
Billyboy said:
No, I checked #4.

What does a condensor look like? What happens if the condensor is toast? Would a crapout of the coil or condensor cause it to do what it did?
Click to expand...
Either one could cause the bike to die since you lose two cylinders if one lets go. The condensors are located under the points cover. They are about 1 1/2" long and about 1/2" in diameter with a single wire coming out of it that connects to the points. The wire you hooked up most likely came from it. The condensor would be part #8 in the link.
http://www.bikebandit.com/partsbandit/showschematic~dept_id~1002278.asp
Try checking for spark on 2 or 3 so you can see if it's isolated to the two outside cylinders.
 
But even if it's just the outside two, shouldn't it at least fire on 1 and 4?
 
The wire I hooked up came in through the bottom and hooked up to the right point. At least thats how it was on the parts bike. The lower condensor seemed to not be as wired up as the upper.
 
If you don't have spark on 4 then you shouldn't have it on 1 either. 2 & 3 share the same ignition components. If you have no spark on any cylinders you may have another problem altogether. It looks to me like you have multiple fuses in looking at the Bike Bandit schematic. Check the ignition fuse and make sure it's making good contact.
 
Billy Ricks said:
If you don't have spark on 4 then you shouldn't have it on 1 either. 2 & 3 share the same ignition components. If you have no spark on any cylinders you may have another problem altogether. It looks to me like you have multiple fuses in looking at the Bike Bandit schematic. Check the ignition fuse and make sure it's making good contact.
Click to expand...


Forgive my ignorance Billy, I sure appreciate the help. Is the ignition fuse different from the old glass tube fuses? They are all ok and making good connection.

On the left side is an aluminum finned gizmo, and a black electrical box about an inch cubed. What are those?
 
Billyboy said:
Forgive my ignorance Billy, I sure appreciate the help. Is the ignition fuse different from the old glass tube fuses? They are all ok and making good connection.

On the left side is an aluminum finned gizmo, and a black electrical box about an inch cubed. What are those?
Click to expand...
Should be the regualtor and rectifier. I believe your bike didn't have the R/R as a single unit. Since you have points there is no ignitor. The fuses on your bike are the glass type from what I can tell on Bike Bandit. If the ignition fuse is good and making sound contact then your problem is somewhere between the points, condensor, or coils.
 
Last edited:
Thanks Billy.
What I'm afraid of is it's just some random wire that's come loose or grounded out. I'll have a bugger finding it .
 
Billyboy said:
Thanks Billy.
What I'm afraid of is it's just some random wire that's come loose or grounded out. I'll have a bugger finding it .
Click to expand...
The first thing to do is check for spark on 2 or 3. At least you'll know then if it's isolated to the ignition or perhaps a loose wire or short somewhere else. If it were a short you should be blowing fuses though.
 
I checked #2. No spark.

Started to have a look around strongly suspecting the wire I connected was a mistake. Compared again to parts bike and realized there was some monkey rigging done to the main wires from the harness to the points. Replaced with the wires from the parts bike. Hit starter and SUCCESS!!! \\:D/

I'm a learning spong!
 
Billyboy said:
I checked #2. No spark.

Started to have a look around strongly suspecting the wire I connected was a mistake. Compared again to parts bike and realized there was some monkey rigging done to the main wires from the harness to the points. Replaced with the wires from the parts bike. Hit starter and SUCCESS!!! \\:D/

I'm a learning spong!
Click to expand...
Good job. I had a feeling the wire you hooked up had everything to do with the problem. Just too much of a coincidence.
 
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