coil issues

the bike is an 80 kz650. i had it running about a week ago and as i waited for parts it sat until this morning when i tried to fire it up again and it was a no go. i checked the power to and from the coils and something really weird is happening. the left coil which fires 1 and 4 has a black wire from the points connected to it. the problem is that when i turn the ignition, the coil gets power to the wire coming from the battery and the wire that connects to the black points wire also has power until i connect it to the black points wire. when i connect it, the wire sparks a little and loses power. i checked the points wire all the way through and it looks fine with no cracks or anything. but as soon as i connect it to the coil, that coil loses power. i have no idea what's happening.

where the points closed on 1 & 4 when you did this?

The coil may have an internal short.To check this, disconnect the wiring to the coil, and with either a digital or analog multimeter check the input side(where the smaller push on wires go)or primary winding of the coil. Mine read 3.0-3.1 ohms with my digital meter set on ohms and the selector set on 200.

Coils can fail from overheating and age. Where they are located under the tank is not good for cooling as this area traps heat and can cause the coils to crack letting in moisture shorting out the coil.

no, the points where open when i checked it.

when i checked the ohms it came between .8 and 1.0, does that mean the condenser is bad?

okay check it again. there are two sets of points. set one of the points open and the other closed. check both coils the way you did, one coil will show current flow. then set the points so the other set is open and check the coils again. the best way to check condensers is with a meter that reads in micro-farads. it's possible the condensers are bad but your motor was running a short time ago and it's not likely that both condensers went bad at the same time. did you do anything else to the bike between running and now? is your battery at full charge? are the plugs fouled?

oh yeah i forgot...duh.. put your ohm meter so one lead is on the body and the other is on the wire lead with it disconnected from the points and not touching anything but the test lead. if the meter shows any reading the condenser has a dead short. i don't work very often with points anymore.

cool, thanks hog. i'll check em just like you said in the morning, thanks again

so i didn't get accurate readings from the points. so i replaced the condenser and the points. after doing this it still has a short but only with the left side or black wire. i've switched everything around including the coils and wires but that black wire still sparks every time i try to connect it. i don't know what to do anymore, the frustration is building.

nevermind, it looks like i'm just dumb and had the points on that side set way to close so they never got a chance to open. sorry everyone but thanks for the help.

Each coil has a primary winding and a secondary winding.

Each coil has two primary terminals (one at each end of the primary winding).

A wire supplies battery voltage to one coil primary terminal.

The other coil primary terminal has a wire to the points spring.

While the points are closed, the coil primary winding is grounded and building its charge.

When the points open, the coil primary winding is supposed to lose its ground, whereby the coil fires through its secondary winding (plug wires).

If the fiber washers (see pic below) fail to insulate the points spring from grounding, the coil primary winding just stays grounded regardless of points opening, whereby the coil primary winding never loses its ground and therefore doesn't fire.

Good Luck!

[Click on image for larger view]

Patton wrote:

Each coil has a primary winding and a secondary winding.

Each coil has two primary terminals (one at each end of the primary winding).

A wire supplies battery voltage to one coil primary terminal.

The other coil primary terminal has a wire to the points spring.

While the points are closed, the coil primary winding is grounded and building its charge.

When the points open, the coil primary winding is supposed to lose its ground, whereby the coil fires through its secondary winding (plug wires).

If the fiber washers (see pic below) fail to insulate the points spring from grounding, the coil primary winding just stays grounded regardless of points opening, whereby the coil primary winding never loses its ground and therefore doesn't fire.

Good Luck!

[Click on image for larger view]

good posting! but his bike was running then quit. he never said if he did any work in between nor did he state the condition of his plugs or battery voltage. so this is still an open question. also the metal end of the condenser wire can not make contact with the point plate.

just what i like to see nice easy fixes why were they closed up did the screws back off or just wrong adjustment. it usally is something goofy so don't panic.