Spark dies, then mysteriously returns. ICM prob?

otakar wrote:

If one coil goes bad the engine will still run on two cylinders. If it is a poor fuel supply the engine will not dye suddenly. It will let you know before it dyes. The problem here is electrical and it is at or before the module. This is why everything dyes suddenly. Personally I would suspect the module.

+1 for sure, you'll know if its fuel by the hesitation.
Electrical it just goes bam! Gone, then quick bam! its back full power :blink:

Screw all the testing time :laugh: how old is your ignition?
Just get the Dyna S and new Coils and be done with'er.

Little easier said then done sometimes... $$$ :huh:

Possible cause might be in right hand handlebar switch gear or in wiring from switch gear that feeds battery positive to the dual connector where each coil draws battery positive.

Such as intermittent failure caused by hidden internal fray in the wire which terminates in double connector feeding battery positive to both coils.

Or intermittent switch failure in the right hand handlebar switch gear where battery positive is fed to such wire.

Good Fortune!

Well there is one other thing that may be occurring....

Intermittent either through thermal break downs of course is bad contacts of the +12Vdc feeds to the coils... Hit a bump in the road it goes bad?

Go for a ride, get her nice and warmed up... If it dies out, wait till you have to to get her started again then head on home. With the rear tire raised, cooling fan on the motor, start her up again...

Have a DVM/volt meter on hand grounded and ready to measure...

When it dies, measure the coil voltage? >= +12Vdc Yes/No...

Possibly faulty kill switch!.... See Image...


OMR

EDIT: Patton beat me to it! Yup..... Bastard!... :laugh:

If it acts the same with given shut down intervals it will be the igniter. If the engine restarts immediately after she dies and than runs again for an indeterminate amount of time before it dies again than I would suspect connections and short circuits. If you have to let it cool down before she starts up again i would suspect an electronic component. In your case that leaves the igniter. They go bad very seldom and are not hard to find on eBay. I bought a spare for $19 for my GPz1100. Because your bike has 1.5 Ohm coils, you have a ballast resistor in your system. If the resistor went bad it would have allowed your coils to cook your ignition. I would get new 2.2 Ohm coils (preferably aftermarket) and get rid of the resistor. at this point I would replace the module. Either get a used one on eBay or build one from "loudhvx" schematics. Check the Ballast resistor, it should measure between 1.5-1.9 Ohms. If it measures any different than you have found your cause.

Well, all of these tests sound great. But my multimeter seems to have gone missing.

PLUS, i already ordered all the new parts. Dyna S ignition, new coils, and new 12 volt rectifier/regulator.

ALSO, i put on a new(ish) ICM and the problem is solved. I drove from San Antonio to Houston and back (450 miles) without a single failure. Well, one failure, but that's because i forgot about putting gas in the tank.

So, thats in the garbage. But now the bike is back on the road, strong as ever. Thanks for all the help guys.

I like the Factory Kawasaki IC system. I like it better than the Dyna system. If you have already ordered the Dina you may have thrown away your money, especially now that you found that the spare unit works. On my multiple bikes I have both and have found the Kawasaki unit to give me better power and better fuel efficiency than the Dina. The Dyna is a fine replacement for bikes that still have points. The Kawasaki system is a 2.2 Ohm system while the Dyna is a 3 Ohm system. They require different coils. I use the Kawasaki IC unit with Dynatech 2.2 Ohm coils (they are Gray unlike the 3 Ohm which are blue) and I love the setup on my GPz1150.

I was just getting back on the forum to post that question.

I'm going to give it a serious endurance run this weekend. Then make my decision.

My Kz1000 quits firing on #1 and #4 cylinders after several minutes of high speed running. Been doing this for a while. Let it sit and it comes back, sort of.
I replaced the spark plugs, installed new plug caps and wires onto the coils, (for all cylinders) and for a while thought I had it fixed but then it did it again. So I figured "Coil!" Since #1 and #4 both come of the same coil and I replaced the coil. Been doing ok till today!
I called my old mechanic in Calif. He maintained my first Kz1000 for almost twenty years and he mentioned that it probably was not the Inition Igniter Box cause if that went bad, there would be no spark anywhere, (happened to me once). So he figures it's a bad pulser that quits when it gets hot. He suggested that next time it happens, remove the cover so it will get more air and run cooler. If it works, then thats most likely the problem.

Thanx for all the testing advice on this thread. It all gives me a direction to work in.

MajDSaster wrote:

My Kz1000 quits firing on #1 and #4 cylinders after several minutes of high speed running. Been doing this for a while. Let it sit and it comes back, sort of.
I replaced the spark plugs, installed new plug caps and wires onto the coils, (for all cylinders) and for a while thought I had it fixed but then it did it again. So I figured "Coil!" Since #1 and #4 both come of the same coil and I replaced the coil. Been doing ok till today!
I called my old mechanic in Calif. He maintained my first Kz1000 for almost twenty years and he mentioned that it probably was not the Inition Igniter Box cause if that went bad, there would be no spark anywhere, (happened to me once). So he figures it's a bad pulser that quits when it gets hot. He suggested that next time it happens, remove the cover so it will get more air and run cooler. If it works, then thats most likely the problem.

Thanx for all the testing advice on this thread. It all gives me a direction to work in.

If you suspect a pickup, you can swap them electrically. It will require moving the wires around inside the connector at the igniter.

From the pickups plate there are 4 wires. Black, blue, red, and yellow. Swap the black with yellow, and red with blue, at the connector going to the igniter box.

Then you pull the ignition rotor and flip it 180 degrees.

The bike will run as normal, but now, if one pickup is bad, the 2,3 coil will stop firing.

Ohm Checking Pickup(Pulsing) Coils

The pickup coils on the Kawasaki’s with the factory supplied electronic ignition can sometimes fail or become intermittent due to heat and vibration.

1.Trace back from where the pick up coils are mounted,(under a right side CD sized cover) locate and disconnect a small 4 pin connector. Using a multi-meter set on OHMS and range of X 100 check between the BLUE and BLACK wires(#1 and #4 sparkplug wires) for between 360- 540 OHMS.

2.For #2 and #3 sparkplugs the wire colors will be YELLOW and RED, again 360-540 OHMS.

3.If the pickup coils are suspect of failing due to heat, they can be stressed using a hair dryer without the need of the engine running.

4.A replacement set of pickup coils might be obtained from a dealer who serviced the police Kawasaki’s.

5. If replacement pickup coils are not available, your next choice would be to order a Dyna “S” electronic ignition system from www.z1enterprises.com It replaces the IC igniter with a smaller module located where the mechanical ignition advancer was mounted.

6.Check the small 4 pin connector that the pickup coils connect to for corrosion/loose pins too.

Maybe the ignition switch is going bad.

[Sorry if already suggested by someone else.]

Good Fortune!

All good and helpfull advice.
Thanx Loudhvx, Mfolks and Patton!

I've got an analog test meter sitting here and am printing out the test instructions. I'll go down and see what kind of readings I get.

I also like the suggestion of switching them around to see if the problem moved to the 2nd and 3rd cylinders. I don't know why I didn't think of the!

The ignition switch seems to be ok. At least it has never given any trouble, but it may bear checking, depending on the results of the other tests.

Thanx again guys!