• Required reading for all forum users!!!

    Welcome!
    Register to access the full functionality of the GSResources forum. Until you register and activate your account you will not have full forum access, nor will you be able to post or reply to messages.

    A note to new registrants...
    All new forum registrations must be activated via email before you have full access to the forum.

    A Special Note about Email accounts!
    DO NOT SIGN UP USING hotmail, outlook, gmx, sbcglobal, att, bellsouth or email.com. They delete our forum signup emails.

    A note to old forum members...
    I receive numerous requests from people who can no longer log in because their accounts were deleted. As mentioned in the forum FAQ, user accounts are deleted if you haven't logged in for the past 6 months. If you can't log in, then create a new forum account. If you don't get an error message, then check your email account for an activation message. If you get a message stating that the email address is already in use, then your account still exists so follow the instructions in the forum FAQ for resetting your password.

    Have you forgotten your password or have a new email address? Then read the forum FAQ for details on how to reset it.

    Any email requests for "can't log in anymore" problems or "lost my password" problems will be deleted. Read the forum FAQ and follow the instructions there - that's what we have one for...

  • Returning Visitors

    If you are a returning visitor who never received your confirmation email, then odds are your email provider is blockinig emails from our server. The only thing that can be done to get around this is you will have to try creating another forum account using an email address from another domain.

    If you are a returning visitor to the forum and can't log in using your old forum name and password but used to be able to then chances are your account is deleted. Purges of the databases are done regularly. You will have to create a new forum account and you should be all set.

Sporadic Igniter??

  • Thread starter Thread starter bjrpkr
  • Start date Start date
B

bjrpkr

Guest
Last fall my 1979 GS850G starting losing power for several minutes at a time. I believe I've finally tracked it down to the igniter for 1, 4 cylinders. I see this now when starting it cold. These cylinders won't fire at all. After bike warms for a few minutes. They'll start firing. Occasionally, they'll quit firing when running. I've checked connections, they appear good. I put in after market electronic ignition a few years ago. I have igniters off of a 650. Would these work to test if I have a bad one? many thanks, Mark
 
Switch coils from 2-3 onto 1-4, hopefully the plug wires are long enough. See if the problem moves to those cylinders.
 
bjrpkr said:
.....I put in after market electronic ignition a few years ago. I have igniters off of a 650. Would these work to test if I have a bad one? many thanks, Mark
Click to expand...
What kind of aftermarket ignition? The 650 ignitor was designed to work with its own special signal generators-might not like someone elses.
 
I've seen one of the pickups for a Dyna ignition fail when it got warm.

We took the ignition cover off the bike and on a cool day it would run great as long as you wanted (plenty of cooling air). If we put the cover back on, it would fail within five minutes. The owner called Dyna and they replaced the bad part.


If it's a Dyna ignition (or most others) there's no separate "igniter" -- everything is contained in the pickup coils. On a '79 850G, you could temporarily convert back to points if you have a known good set.

In order to try an ignition from another model, you'll need the whole thing -- pickup coils and plate as well as the igniter. Some models also have a plate instead of the mechanical advancer.


But step back a moment -- you don't need to do all that. There are only two components here. You either have a bad coil or a bad pickup/ignition (assuming you have a Dyna or something similar).

Swap the coils and you'll soon know which -- if the problem moves to the 2-3 cylinders, it's a bad coil. If it stays with 1-4, then it's a bad ignition part.

Naturally, a bad or intermittent connection anywhere in the system can masquerade as a bad part.
 
Thanks Mr. Turk. I tried this and weirdly, the bike wouldn't fire at all. I have coils off other bikes but assume ones from a 650 won't work on an 850? I tried one, it appeared to work, but weakly. I'm going to try some of the troubleshooting techniques on here for test coil or signal generator. The electronic ignition is only a few years old so I wouldn't suspect it. But who knows? thanks for your reply...Mark
 
I've also seen a few Dyna S go bad.
If you use an igniter you will need the signal generator, advance and crank trigger also for an 850. The 650 igniter will work with all the matching components.
 
Thanks again to all you great commenters. I appreciate you taking the time to look. Nothing like a good trouble shooting lesson. I'll dig some instructions off of this forum and see what the issue is. I DO have the Dyna. It has been flawless. I do suspect the coil because I pulled the wires apart slightly while running and there is juice going to igniter. I'll still do a thorough ohm check.
Mark
 
I've had one green 3.0 ohm coil go bad and one Dyna-S go bad. The Dyna-S was brand new, the 1-4 trigger was faulty. They took care of me, great customer service.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top