Ignition stumble on 82 KZ1100 D1

Jetting is the last thing you would mess with. The first thing is verifying the motor's condition (compression test and check valve lash). Then you check ignition. Then make sure carbs are all functioning properly. Then mess with jetting last.

You can stress the ignition coils with a hair dryer to see if the ohm rating changes.

Remove the input wiring and sparkplug wires, and using a multimeter, check to see if the output(sparkplug ports) and the primary(small wires) change when heated.

Ignition Coil Primary And Secondary Wiring

Ignition coils on the 80’s Kz1000,Kz1100’s and Gpz1100’s are wired the same, that is as you sit on the bike, the LEFT ignition coil primary(small wires) are two wires, RED and BLACK. The secondary (or sparkplug wires) go to #1 and #4 sparkplugs.

The cylinders are numbered left to right as you sit on the seat; #1,#2,#3, and #4.

For the RIGHT ignition coil, the primary wires, again are two wires, RED and GREEN, with the secondary going to #2 and #3.

The RED wire gets it’s voltage from the run/stop switch on the right handlebar switch pod.

The BLACK and GREEN wires connect to the IC Igniter(if the bike has the Kawasaki supplied electronic ignition) it actually gives the coils their grounds to fire the sparkplugs.

Primary(small wires) side of the coils will read between 1.8 to 3.0 ohms.

Secondary(sparkplug wire ports)side of the coil will read between 10.4K to 15.6K ohms.
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Keep in mind that the smaller 4’s (650 & 750) may have the wiring reversed, that is the RIGHT coil primary will be two wires, RED and BLACK with the secondary(sparkplugs) going to #1 and #4.

The LEFT coils primary wiring would be again two wires, RED and GREEN, with the secondary(sparkplugs) going to #2 and #3.

These engines have what is known as a “Wasted Spark” that is, a sparkplug will fire during an exhaust stroke. It does no damage and many other motorcycle engines have this design.

Hi, this one is to MFolks- I am not very expert (yet) with the D.M.M., how exactly would I set it up to test primary and secondary coil wires?

If measuring resistances(OHMS), set the multimeter selector switch on OHMS(the symbol of a horseshoe,or Omega)usually at the bottom of the meter.

On the meter I've got,I have a choice of 20M,2M,200K,20K,2K,and 200 plus a Diode test.

M is millions.
K is thousands.

For an accurate reading, disconnect all wires and sparkplug cables/leads from the ignition coils.

Put one RED test probe on the quick disconnect tab on the ignition coil and the BLACK test probe on the other tab.

Since to coils are probaly no more than 3 ohms on the primary side(small wires), you can set the meter on the 200 range.

When testing the secondary side(where the sparkplug wires/leads go) set the meter to the 20K range.

Again, put the probes in the two ports.(one in each).

A caution!! never measure voltage when the meter is set to test OHMS. When measuring resistances, the meter is using an internal battery and external voltages can ruin the meter quickly!!

If the ignition coils test good after being heated with a hair dryer, I'd start looking for possible corrosion in the right handle bar switch pod's run/stop switch or a ignition switch needing replacement.(they do wear out from age and vibration).

Found a posting about OHM testing:





Need Help With Ohmmeter Settings
I have always struggled with this, can someone clear it up?

On my meter for measuring ohms, it reads 200, 2K, 20K, 200K, and 2M.

When I read my shop manuals I get instructed to set the meter at R x 1; is that equal to 200 on my meter?

Is R x K equal to 2K?

What is R x 10, and R x 100?


loudhvx

Re:Need help with ohm meter settings.
It all depends on what the maximum resistance you expect to see. 200 means it will register anything from 0 to 200 ohms. 20K means it will register anything from 0 to 20,000 ohms. So why use the smaller scales? Precision. The smaller scale will tell within a 10th of an ohm (or at least it will try). The 20K scale will only get you within the nearest 10 or 100 or 1000 ohms, or whatever the display limitations are for your particular meter.

If the manual says R x 1 then it is probably trying to measure less than 10 ohms so you would use your 200 scale (if it's the smallest scale on your particular meter).

In the analog days, the scale had fixed numbers drawn on it. In order to read different magnitudes, you had to multiply the scale reading by a multiplier (10 or 100 or K (1000) or 10K (10,000) in order to get the actual reading. The scale switches were labeled accordingly "R x 10" or "R x K" etc. R x K means multiply the scale reading by 1000.

Things are different with the scale selector on digital meters. The scales on digital meters just tell you what the maximum is that it will register. It is not a multiplier, with one exception. On many digital meters, the convention is that if there is a K in the scale selector, then the display reading should be multiplied by 1000. Otherwise the reading is in single ohms.

If you select "200" and the display shows "25.5", the resistance is 25.5 ohms. If you are on the "20K" scale, and the display shows "25.5" then the reading is 25,500 ohms.

So how to know what scale? You need to know what to expect. You always want the smallest scale that will work. If the manual says the coil will be about 4 ohms, use the smallest scale that can measure 4 ohms. In your case that is probably the "200" scale. If the manual says the secondary side of the coil measures 14K or 14,000 ohms, you will need the 20K scale and multiply the display by 1000 to get the reading.
bountyhunter

Re:Need help with ohm meter settings.
That's basically it: the old "multiplier" days were because an analog meter has only one scale, so changing ranges meant multiplying what you read by some factor of 10 to get a different range of measurement. Digital meters with LCD displays can have "K" or "M" letters light up and also have moving decimal points to take away the need for multiplying a single meter reading to get different ranges.
OKC_Kent

Thank you guys, you answered a question I've wondered about for a long time. I wish I asked years ago.

A correction on the switch settings on the multimeters: M is not Millions but ten thousands.

So the corect terminology is:

K= thousands
M= ten thousands

Also if using a digital multimeter and the readings are erratic, try using a analog(the kind with multiple scales and a pointer or "Needle").Some of the "Not high quality" meters are sensitive to magnetic fields like the kind in the alternator rotor.

When using an analog meter, you'll have to zero the needle when switching scales/ranges in the ohm's setting. To do this, touch both red and black probes metal end together while turning the adjustment knob to zero the needle.

If this is not done, the readings will be off by quite a bit.

Digital meters do not require any zeroing when changing scales.

MFolks wrote:

A correction on the switch settings on the multimeters: M is not Millions but ten thousands.

So the corect terminology is:

K= thousands
M= ten thousands

K is kilo which is thousands.
M is mega which is millions, as you said before.

If it's a digital meter, and it's a 2M scale, you multiply the readout by 1 million. If it's analog, and it's the x1M scale, you multiply by 1 million, same as in the digital.
If it's in an auto-ranging digital, and there is a M displayed, you multiply by a million, though, that is rare. Usually millions will be displayed as thousands in the K range (a thousand times 1K is 1M).

My apologies for the embarrassingly long delay in updating post. As you can imagine a lot has happened. Seams like a lot of little things have gotten the bike running almost perfect. Ended up with NEW coils off Ebay (turns out people sell the ones for smaller fours a lot cheaper, just throw away the short wires) and kept cleaning connections. Adjusted valve clearance twice a year for three years running now, and at lest one was out each time. I also got a used wiring harness off Ebay for an 1100-A1 and stripped out most of the ground system wires to replace most of mine. Now the horn works and the bike runs much better. Still has a slight miss across the board, so have my eye out for a new complete harness. There is still one odd thing. When I turn on a turn signal the lights do not come on instantly, but blink correctly after they light for the first time. New flasher also. Huh. Lastly, I discovered what was causing the low R.P.M. clunking noise when I replaced the starter clutch that started to not engage a few times recently. The screws that attach the gear to the back of the flywheel never had thread locker applied by the last guy to play with it and they were stripped and loose. Fortunately they had no clearance to pop out completely.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to help me.

If you've got the original ignition switch, think about replacing it, as they wear out from vibration and the off-on-off cycles.

I did pull the switch, quite a job, and cleaned and checked. Not too bad to start with, seems to be in working order. All solder joints secure and all copper contacts looked good.

Thanks.