One side of coil bad?

How are you all? Have a question.. Is it possible for one side of a coil to go bad? Its my #4 cylinder, have the bike running, but it running like shit. The exhaust for 1,2,3 get hot as hell, #4 wasnt even getting warm. Changed the plugs and wires, now it seems to be getting warm, but the bike runs like a bad flashlight, goes on but flickers when it does until you find the sweet spot in the switch then it gets full power.. Make sense? Bike is a 82 kz550a3, what should i be looking for, and if im getting spark in #4 and it still doesnt get hot, is that cause for running a compression test and having a bad cylinder? Thanks for your help..

If #1 is firing it's not the coil. The secondary spark that comes out of #1 goes back in #4.

Is the #4 plug fouled?

KZCSI

its a brand new plug, literally, bought it new with the wires, but its so hard to start it might have fouled it.. Something i will check again..

"..until you find the sweet spot in the switch then it gets full power.. Make sense?" Sure does! Sounds like that cylinder won't fire till the carb opens enough to run on the main jet

I'd suspect a blocked low speed jet.

Bill

Have you checked the input voltage to the coils? It should be the same as battery voltage. Is the battery in good shape? Fluid levels correct?Fully charged?Been load tested lately? All related electrical conections clean and tight?

kzcsi, carbs were just rebuilt..Doesnt matter if i hold it at 1/4 throttle, 1/2 or full open, it "skips" like it wants to catch but doesnt..

Mfolks, brand new battery, keep it on a tender, but my stator/alternator not working. Was told I can run it at full loss, but will eventually kill the battery. If I can just get thru the testing stage.. You said something about a load test? It seems to idle and run fine if its just sitting there, but under the load is where i have the problem..

Fully charge the battery,take it to the bike shop and have it load tested. The tech.will put a resistive load across the posts and will be able to tell if it has the capacity to run the bike's systems.

will do, thanks..

Umm,, do you have fuel in the bowl of the #4 carb... If you swapped the #3 and #4 carb bodies by mistake during the rebuild you won't have a gas passage to #4. The bodies look idendical, best to mark em for reference. Happened to me, I went through the plug thing and all that before I figured it out.

As for the coil you can switch the front and back leads as the coil fires 2 times in the cycle.

Make sure your HT leads are well seated in the coil outposts.

I clean the connector on the end of each wire, coat it in a smear of vaseline, then plug it in, tight. Pull the black rubber caps down the wire and over the coil outposts the cinch a small ziptie round the rubber cap "under" the little "lip" on the outpost. Keeps the caps firmly on the posts and any moisture out. Works for me.

Does that make any sense?

BH

Does make sense, just went thru that process.. #4 was the problem before i changed the plugs and wires, #4 still the problem.

If not already done, would perform compression test on #1 and assure valve clarances are correct.

Also assure correct floatbowl fuel level via clear tube test.

Would remove plug and observe spark quality.

Good Luck!