Elec. guru help with Igniter.

I did the KZ1000 Elec. Ign. upgrade to my Points 650 recently.
On my first test ride, cylinders 2&3 cut out 5 minutes into my ride. They kicked back in shortly after. The next day, I rode for an hour with almost no trouble, just one small instant where I thought I was losing firing on some cylinders.
Today, hoping to go for a ride, she only fired on 1&4. I pulled the gas tank and plugs and tested for spark. 1&4 are firing, but not 2&3. I swapped the Green and Black leads to the coils, and this made 2&3 fire but not 1&4 now. So coils are OK.

I started doing some troubleshooting on the rest of the ignition system.
In my manual, there is a "Ignition System Wiring Check". Step 5, has; With the Ign switch ON, set a voltmeter to 10V DC. Connect the + lead to the black,blue,red or yellow wire. Connect the - lead to ground. The voltmeter should read 0.5-1.0 volts. On both the red and yellow, I get no reading.

Another test; IC Igniter Resistance Test, with the 2 IC igniter connections disconnected, at pickup coil 4-pin connector, I get a propper reading at the blue, black and yellow pins, but nothing at the red pin.

I assuming that my IC Igniter has a fault.
The pickup coils tested fine.

Anyone have a spare IC Igniter they can part with?

I did a search through the archives, and found Lou's GM HEI Igniter Substitute . Has anyone tried this? And Lou, has there been any updates to this, and should I be able to utilze this on the KZ1000 system? Seems I can.

I still have the rough HEI prototype in my bike. It's working fine after a few thousand miles. Actually it seems better than the stock ignitor. The HEI modules have a better input filter and better output characteristics. The stock ignitor sometimes gets false triggers that cause an occasional misefire at idle, nothing major, you'd probably never notice it until you directly compare it with one that doesn't misfire.

Your next step is to swap the pickup wires to determine if the loss is in the ignitor or the pickups. It's very important to swap the right wires here. Swap yellow with black. And swap red with blue. (Use jumpers so you don't lose the orientation of the connector. In other words don't actually take the wires out of the connectors.) See if this changes where the spark is. If the spark moves to the other coil, then it is the pickup (or it's wiring) that is bad. If the spark stays on the same coil, then it's the ignitor.

The black and blue pickup wires are for one pickup, and red and yellow are for another. Just ohm out the pairs. They should be around 450 ohms. Wiggle the wires and the pickups to see if you ever lose continuity on the pickups. (Obviously the pickup connector needs to be disconnected from the ignitor.)

In your case, it will be the red and yellow wire that are suspect (if it's not the ignitor). They control #2 and #3 cylinders. If you lose continuity determine if its a wire or the pickup itself. Check any point where the wiring is bent. Look for bumps in the insulation and wiggle them while the ohm meter is connected. If the ohm meter moves, pull on the wire to see if you can stretch the bump. This indicates the wire may be broken inside the insulation. When the wire breaks internally and the insulation is in tact, it creates a small bump in the wire. If the wires look fine, with no bumps, and no losses in continuity, it's most likely the pickup itself. To be sure you need to get two really small, sharp pins. Sewing needles are too think. The pins that come on new dress shirts work good. Insert them into the wire insulation right where the wires go into the pickups. One for red, and one for yellow. Then connect the ohm meter to the pins. If you have no continuity, the pickup is bad. Luckily pickups are cheap.

I wouldn't be surprised if someone sold this to you because it was having problems.

rstnick,
I'm looking at my 750 Haynes manual and in addition to the system wiring check you mentioned above there is a table with a bunch of resistance readings you can look for at your ignitor. If you dont have this and want a copy send me a PM with your email address and I can scan and send.

A few years back I suspected my ignitor - glad it was'nt as these things are expensive new. I did all the tests and the resistance readings worked out fine. Problem ended up being somewhere else. Corroded connection I think.
I saved loudhvx's post and instructions for the home made ignitor last year as thats the route I would probably take if mine ever gave out.
Best of luck
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Woodstock ON Canada
1980 kz750E1, 4->1, K&N pods

Thanks JR, I have the table in my Clymers manual.

I tried this resistance test, and got no reading at all from the red wire, where as the black, blue and yellow read fine. This is why I'm suspecting the Igniter. I may just try to open up the Igniter to see what I find inside. If it's shot I may as well give it a look see.

I re-read your original post. I missed it the first time, but you are saying the pickups ohm-out fine (450-ish), but where the pickups connect to the ignitor, the ignitor ohm readings are incorrect. Then it does sound like the ignitor or the red wire going to the ignitor.