fun with coils

I got a 79 SR. A year ago I finished restoring and going thru this entire bike(including a thorough carb cleaning). It ran excellent for a year. Then about a month ago, when I started it, cyl 2 and 3 were not firing.

I pulled the plug, and it had spark. Since both 2,3 weren't firing, I assumed the coil. Although I had spark, there was a huge crack down the length of the coil, so I bought 2 new emgo coils, and now I got nothing. I have spark on all cyl, but it won't run. I can smell gas on the plugs, so I know the carbs aren't plugged.

I'm quite certain I have the right wires from the condensers going to the coils, but I haven't tried flipping them.

I checked the timing with the multimeter method (I don't have a timing light.) Maybe I need to borrow a timing light to double check it.

Am I on the right track, any suggestions?

I'm not a regular on this site, but I could sure use some help on this - THANKS

Are you sure that you 1) did not switch the coil wires, so you might be firing 180* off, or 2) you got the right coils. There are 2.2 Ohm coils and there are 3.0 Ohm coils. Make sure that you have the right ones. In 79 they should be 3 Ohm coils. It sounds like your spark is very week, if you have one.

Agreed Otakar.

Take a spare plug and gap it wide (3/4cm).
Re-connect the plug wire to it, and hold the plug against the engine.
Use starter to turn engine over, and watch the spark.
maybe have a friend help.
The spark should be bright and blue consistantly, with a snapping sound each time.

Yellow = fairly weak.

Good luck.


nice avatar BTW! :laugh:

I called the allstars at the Kawasaki dealership, and they said they don't know if they are 2.2 or 3 Ohm, And I checked and there is no marking on the box or the coil itself. I'll try to get a spark with a large gap tonite. I'll replace caps and plugs while I'm at it.

bison wrote:

I'm quite certain I have the right wires from the condensers going to the coils, but I haven't tried flipping them.

That's what I would try first.

otakar wrote:

Are you sure that you 1) did not switch the coil wires, so you might be firing 180* off, or 2) you got the right coils. There are 2.2 Ohm coils and there are 3.0 Ohm coils. Make sure that you have the right ones. In 79 they should be 3 Ohm coils. It sounds like your spark is very week, if you have one.

Z1 sells OEM type replacement coils which are 4 Ohms which will work fine for your bike unless you race for a living and spend a lot of time at redline. The coils cost $36 each (new) which is a steal.

I looked up the Emgo coils and they are OEM equipment, 4 Ohm for all the older Kaws. You might have them hooked up 180* off than. If the bike ran at all before than it should run now with these coils. You can also try to unplug the Ballast resistor and see what happens. That would raise the voltage going into the coils and in turn make the spark stronger.

Has anyone everheard of points shorting out?

Ok, I tried switching the wires (didn't work)
I checked my spark, I have a nice blue spark that can gap over a half a centimeter on all cyl.

Check this out, sometimes when I measure resistance when my points are open, I get zero resistance. On my multimeter I have my ground touching the engine (it's making a good conection) and my other lead wire I touch what I call the back of the points, The best way I can describe it would be the metal part on the point that is closest to the crankshaft.

What the hell, shouldn't this resistance be really high if the points are open. I spent a good couple hours sitting on my cold garage messing around with this thing, and I'm pretty certain I have a good multimeter, and I'm making good connections with the leads.

Has anyone everheard of points shorting out?

Did you check your condenser? Is it good? If you have not done so in the last 10,000mi, I would do a complete tuneup and change the points and the condensers.

Make sure the connections from the wires (condensers & harness) have the cork washer between the forks of the wire and the center mounting bracket.
If the wire connection touches the center then they will ground out.

Are you referring to the orange washers? I'm pretty sure my orange washers are plastic. I will give it a look over afterwork, thanks for the input.

I changed the Points and Condensers about 2,000 miles ago, but this is acting pretty erratically, it sure behaves like a short.

Yes, you've got the idea.
I thought they were cork.
Been a while since I looked at a points set up as I've been using a kawi electronic ignition for a few years now.
Either way you can see the metal base plate piece between the two corks/orange plastic pieces. Don't let the connections touch the metal center piece.