1979 MKii No workie...

"Is there another way to test for good spark without the timing light?"

Yes, a very quick way. Take the 2 plug wires from the suspect coil, (assuming you have 2 wires on the coil) and install a sparkplug in each wire. Then connect the threaded body portion of the 2 spark plugs together with a jumper wire. Make sure the plugs are not too close to the open plug holes in the cylinder head as gasoline vapors will ignite, and crank the engine over. Look for spark jumping across both spark plug gaps.

I will check for airflow as well.

As for the 28 pumpers, I had george remove the zux pump off the second carb so they are just 28s with no extra pump.

As for the spark, a dark garage should be easy enough to see a spark.

Whole evening dedicated to it tonight.

I will try to post some pics as well.

Thanks again.
Jason

To check for spark, I've always just pulled all the plugs out, attach them to their caps and lay them on the engine. Turn the engine over with the key and kill switch ON, and watch for a spark on each.
Never had any vapors ignite this way.

You can also buy a spark tester that fits between the installed spark plug and spark plug cap. When you turn it over, a light will come on in the tester, showing you have a good ignition circuit. Only thing is it doesn't show you is if the spark plug itself is OK.

So...no spark on 1,2 and 4

What do I check first? Not sure where to start.

Jason

Do you have a multimeter? It's very easy to check resistance readings on the coils (input and output) and the pick up coils as well. At one time or another, I've had a bad pick up coil, bad spark plug caps, bad spark plug wires, and a bad coil. Could also be your IC igniter. If you have a manual there are some really good trouble shooting/testing sections on the ignition. Is it a stock ignition with stock coils and wires? I'd much rather find a "no spark" issue than deal with those carbs anyway!:laugh:

On second thought, I don't think it's repairable. You should probably sell the bike as soon as possible. Oh, I happen to live in Ohio so I'd be glad to come take it off your hands... :laugh:

Alright, so here is what I have found so far.

It appears there are no leaks in the system, as far as air goes.

I checked the coils and according to the secondary winding they are right within specs.

However, I cannot get any resistance to show up on the IC Igniter shown below in the first pic.

I also thought I would include some other pics of the bike in case you guys spot anything suspicious.

thanks.

Is there anything else to check before I just buy a new igniter and go to town.









Let me know what you think. I am going to be working on the bike tomorrow morning as well if there are things to be done.

Thanks again.

Does the orange wire go to ground? That wire and connection is not factory for sure.

Did you check the pick up coil resistance? I had one go bad recently.

Your timing plate was definitely modified to make it adjustable. I don't think that
would cause a no spark condition though, just rough running if it's out of time.

Also, check the primary resistance on the coils and check for +12V at the coil.

The IC igniter requires at least 6 measurements to check out - some from the 4 pin
that goes to the pick up coils and some from the other end that goes to the dyna coils.

"No spark" is a cut and dry issue, so we have to figure out what the problem is with
that first, and then take it from there.

How do I measure the primary resistance on the coils?

I am not sure where to attach my multimeter leads.

I will go check the orange wire right now.

Thanks.

I checked the orange wire and it gets jumped into a black with yellow stripe wire that appears to go to a ground screw right above the kick start toward the center of the bike. It is also connected to what I believe is the starter relay.

Earlier today I also gapped a brand new spark plug and held it to the block while I cranked it over and found/saw no spark.

Jason

OK, the black with yellow stripe is the ground. You should be OK with that.

Now, to check the primary resistance, you basically need to measure resistance between the 2 screw terminals on the coil. On one coil you would measure between the pink and black wires and on the other coil the pink and green wires. Make sure your key is off and make sure all of the coil wires are unplugged so you are only measuring between the terminals. After you check the primary resistance (should be 3 ohms with those dyna coils), turn your key on and make sure you are getting full battery voltage at the pink wire for each coil. This is enabled by the key and the run switch on the handlebar, so make sure everything is "on". The pink basically supplies the power and the black and green trigger the coil to spark. By the way, you shouldn't have an inline resistor with those Dyna coils. I don't see one, but if you have one it will be inline with the red and pink wires going to the coil. Make sure it has been removed.

I would quickly check the pick up coils too. On your 4-pin connector, measure resistance between the black and blue, then yellow and red. Should be 360-540 ohms. This is the area where points would be, but are now electromagnetic pick ups.

Okay here are the results of what I checked so far this morning...

First, I checked the primary resistance of the coils and got 3.4 ohms for each.

I then turned on the key to check voltage and saw that while the battery had 11V I was only seeing 9V at the coils. I looked and looked for an inline resistor but found none. I did notice that they terminate on some box just above the horn mounted to the frame. I am not sure what that box is.

I check the resistance on the pick-up coils.
Black to Blue - 426ohms
Yellow to Red - 427 ohms

I checked igniter side of the plug and got nothing...is that correct?

Jason