Weak spark

[Guest]

Ok. I also went and got a spark plug tester.
Coil 1 has no spark, coil 2 has weak spark.

In the wiring diagram, which is the ignition coil? The blue box with coiling lines in it? How do I tell which is positive and negative?

What "harness" are you talking about? All the wires that are bound together that run around the frame? The cluster of wires in the headlamp? Remember, you're talking to a person with autism who has never owned nor worked on a motorcycle before. You have to explain in detail.

And looking at that hurts my eyes. Some colors pop out, others seem to recede. It's literally causing me pain.

 

[Guest]

The issue is that spark is getting to coil 1, but doesn't seem to go through it to the spark plug. I tried connecting the loose wires with spade connectors, but I still got no spark. Back when they were bullet connectors, they got some spark, intermittently. Coil 2 still uses bullet connectors, and gets spark.

 

[Guest]

Are you sure the spark plug has a solid ground to the motor? I apologize for the first link I provided for the factory manuals, that one seems to be dead : (http://members.dslextreme.com/users/bikecliff/). Use the center column for your factory manual, and they contain wiring diagrams that are not in color. They also have a wire color code key for the wire colors that you can match to your bike. I would suspect the spade crimps to be bad then. Remember I said electronic ignitions will not work properly below a certain threshold. The positive battery terminal should be connected to the Orange/White wire connected to the coils. That wire should split to feed each coil +12 volts. It goes through the ignition switch and through the kill switch, then to the coils. Those are two places where it is common to have a voltage drop. The contacts in those switches get covered with a green patina with age and use that needs to be cleaned and brightened up so voltage doesn't have to fight to get through to the contacts.

 

[Guest]

I laid the spark plug directly on the block, even held it against it. Still nothing. I bought some bullet connectors, I'm going to try them tomorrow. The wiring was exposed, and exposed wiring acts like an open circuit.

I cracked open the kill switch and blew some electric contact cleaner on it. I saw no green patina, though. Perhaps the ignition? I checked the orange/white wire and the white wire with a multimeter, and it was reading 11.46 volts, and would drop to 9.30 or so while cranking.

So is the white/orange wire positive, or is the solid white wire positive?

 

[tom203]

" I checked the orange/white wire and the white wire with a multimeter, "

check from orange/white wire to good ground, like battery negative....not the white wire.

in the wiring diagram, the ignition coils are at top of layout with4 spark plug figures shown running out of them.

 

[Guest]

I bought some bullet connectors, I'm going to try them tomorrow. The wiring was exposed, and exposed wiring acts like an open circuit.

The crimp tool you use is just as important as the connector you use. Double action crimpers of the proper type are very important. Exposed wiring is just that, exposed and subject to shorts, nothing else. It does not act as an open circuit unless it is not joined together and opened. It is not insulated, that would be correct. The orange/white wire is the positive wire for the coils.

 

[Guest]

Orange/white to battery negative reads 12.33.

What sort of "jumper" would I use?
Coil 1 still gets power flowing (0.04 while cranking)

 

[Guest]

Is that the voltage present at the coils through the switches? That is outstanding if it is. What is the voltage from orange/white to the motor case near the starter motor. Do you see where I am going with this?

 

[tom203]

What is voltage at this same point when cranking?

 

[Guest]

When I turn the ignition to On, and touch the probes to the power and trigger contacts on the coil, it reads over 20 volts. Setting the multimeter to 200 has it read 07.3.

 

[Guest]

What is voltage at this same point when cranking?

Hard to tell, it jumps around. Let me see if I can attach a video

 

[Guest]

Don't worry about measuring anything through the coil you have 12.33 volts there and nothing happens until the circuit is interrupted. The collapsing field is what generates the spark. Use any wire that is capable of handling 12 volts. A half a piece of lamp cord would work. You will see there is a smooth edge on the side of the cord and a ribbed side indicating hot and neutral. My last question might be important so it would be good to answer that before trying to do the test.

 

[Guest]

You wouldn't believe the problem... the coils I got, one set of them had the stuff inside the cap installed backwards.

EDIT: Maybe not that easy. I got cylinder 1 to spark, but 4 wouldn't. Now 1 won't. I replaced the caps for 1 and 4 with NGK caps I got for a previous ignition coil. Still no spark, but the copper screw inside one of the caps that came with the new coils broke.

When I put the probes in the caps, I now see 1.28 with the new caps on when cranking.

 

[Guest]

What is your question?

 

[Guest]

What is the voltage when measuring from the coils to the motor case near the starter motor.

 

[Guest]

From where on the coils?

From the orange/white wire to the casing, it jumps around, topping out at about 6.47 while On, then goes back down.

Does it matter how much copper wire is in the bullet connector? It reaches to the end of the bullet terminal. Should I crimp the terminal and connector on the wire strands, or the wire casing?

 

[Guest]

On the wire strands. If you crimp it to the insulation (casing) you will not have a connection. Some bullet connectors (wing type) crimp into the wire strands and clamp around the insulation for extra support, but it takes a special crimper like they used at the factory. First you measured 12.33 volts. If you measured from where you made that reading, to the motor case and got 6.47 volts on the same meter scale it means you have a very bad main ground from the battery to the motor case which is where the starter motor gets it's ground. That would explain your voltage drop when you crank the bike. It also makes the starter pull a lot more current, not good.

 

[Guest]

It seems to jump around a lot, and not really stay consistent.

So how would I fix that?

 

[Guest]

You are probably not getting a good contact with your meter probes. Your DC scale should be about twice the voltage you are reading or as close as possible. look for where the main ground from the battery is bolted to the motor case and clean that area for a good contact and read the orange/white wire where you got 12.33 volts. If contact is good it should give a steady reading. Wouldn't hurt to clean the probes also.

 

[Guest]

I hooked up Coil 2's bullet connectors (which were the original ones that came on the coils) to the wires that go from the harness to Coil 1. No spark.

It may be the connection between them. Coil 1 doesn't have the original bullet connectors anymore, neither does the wiring harness. They don't seem to like anything except the original bullet connectors. Modern bullet connectors, spade connectors, nothing seems to work.