Ignition coils question

hello i have a 1980 kz440. I am getting really weak spark and it will not start. i checked all the wires with multimeter and conncections were all good. It is getting gas. The points are sparking also. It just will not start for nothing. It ran great about too weeks ago but it had really good spark then. I checked the coils and they are within specs I am stumped! It has to be the coils so what i wanted to know was if i could just buy 12v automotive coils like my buddy did for his honda 350. He did mention that he had two sets of points though so i was wondering if anyone could help Thanks!!!!

Does your bike have electronic ignition or the standard points? To see what you've got,remove the cover over the point area.

Have you looked at this website too?

www.armbell.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=17...cbefe27&mforum=kz400

it has standard points

Have you checked the primary and secondary windings with a multimeter? The primary connections are where the smaller wires go. To check the secondary windings, the sparkplug cables/leads will have to be removed to access the spike inside the ignition coil.

I'd say the primary side will read 2.8-3.0 OHMS, the secondary side, somewhere between 10.4 and 15.6 K (Thousand) OHMS.

Also see if the sparkplug caps are any good.They can fail reducing the spark energies.

Car coils would be a waste.The dwell is too long for them on the KZ so they will just be wasting energy as heat. In order to not melt the points, you would have to put in some big ballast resistors which would also waste energy as heat.

Just get a 3 to 4 ohm dual-plug coil. It would be the easiest and most efficient solution. 3-ohm would give hotter spark, but will shorten the life of the points a bit. 4-ohm would be like stock.

Are you sure it's not a low-voltage problem at the coil?

would these work? www.debrix.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=32-0126-VT im not sure what you mean with the low voltage..

@ Z1... www.z1enterprises.com/catalog.aspx?pid=KZ440-B1-1980-IG0

Unknown which exact model A/B or what the resistance values are in your bike... but here's an image of what is available @ ~ $70....

OMR

Fully charge the battery and then use a multimeter, checking the input(primary) side of the ignition coil.

It should be the same as battery voltage. If lower(like 8 volts or so)you may have a resistance problem (dirty electrical contacts or connectors).

clutch85 wrote:

would these work? www.debrix.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=32-0126-VT im not sure what you mean with the low voltage..

That coil would probably work, but I'd rather see a 4-ohm coil to go with the KZ's 180-degree dwell. Plus that coil looks kinda cheap.

One fo the coils listed by OldManRock would probably be better. If you will stick with points, then try the 5-ohm Dyna. If you think you will go to electronic ignition at some point, then go with the 3-ohm. Dyna or Accel coils would be at the top of the list for reliability. Z1 also sells 4-ohm Emgo coils which are just like the stock coils, but some have concerns about the quality on those.

Mfolks describes how to check for the low voltage at the coil.

clutch85 wrote:

hello i have a 1980 kz440. I am getting really weak spark and it will not start. i checked all the wires with multimeter and conncections were all good. It is getting gas. The points are sparking also. It just will not start for nothing. It ran great about too weeks ago but it had really good spark then. I checked the coils and they are within specs I am stumped! It has to be the coils so what i wanted to know was if i could just buy 12v automotive coils like my buddy did for his honda 350. He did mention that he had two sets of points though so i was wondering if anyone could help Thanks!!!!

Z1 Enterprises sells the OEM replacement four Ohm coils for $36. I am running one on my 750.

thanks for all the replies! helps out a ton, think i will go will the oem z1 coils for 36 bucks since im on a real tight budget

what's the output on the z-1 coils?