No Spark!!!!

I'm working on a bobber build of my 1981kz750 ltd E. Tonight I was making sure that my ignition system is wired right and I have now spark at all in any cylinder. My volt meter is showing a strong 12.36 on both sides of the ignition coils. I put all the wires together right and checked twice how do I test if my CDI is shot? I will post pictures tomorrow.

Where she is right now.

It's easier to check the other things in order to rule out the igniter (which is not CDI, it's transistorized igniter).

Ohm out the pickup wires at the igniter. That's the four skinny wires. Red to yellow should read somewhere around 450 ohms. Black to blue should read about the same. There should be no continuity from any of the four wires to ground, and none from black to red or yellow, also none from blue to red or yellow.

The green wire at the igniter should ohm out as the green wire on the #2,3 coil. The black wire on the igniter should ohm out as the black wire on the #1,4 coil.

The last two wires are red/yellow and black/yellow. Red/yellow gets 12v when the ignition is on, and black yellow is ground.

If the wires are confirmed good, and the pickups are good, the black and green wires at the coils will briefly ground through the igniter when the ingine is cranked over. Also, just tapping the center point on the pickups with a screwdriver should produce a spark at the plugs when the ignition is on.

I got this information out of my factory shop manual on my 1982 GPz100 B2 model, but it should apply to your ignition too:

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 2K, 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. Checking with Kawasaki.com website has determined that the Pick up(pulsing) coils are available . The pulsing coil # is 59026-1133 and replaces the older # 1002, 1012 which were used from the MKII motors until the 2005 P24.

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

Thank you for the info. I tested my pick up coils there both at 422 black and blue and red and yellow. Im not sure how to test the green and black and the red yellow is 12.24 the battery is getting charged tonight. Any and all info is appreciated. Im also not shure how to make the coil spark i hae not been able to get any spark out of the coil.

On a side note what would be the best after market cdi? looking at eh dyna 2000 any info would help thank you again.

PS i have nothing from the original harness on. Im trying to have only a head and tail light and a marine on/off/start switch.

All the wires Im using are from the oem harness.

Mike Brown wrote:

Thank you for the info. I tested my pick up coils there both at 422 black and blue and red and yellow. Im not sure how to test the green and black and the red yellow is 12.24 the battery is getting charged tonight. Any and all info is appreciated. Im also not shure how to make the coil spark i hae not been able to get any spark out of the coil.

On a side note what would be the best after market cdi? looking at eh dyna 2000 any info would help thank you again.

The only available CDI for these bikes, that I know of, are the MSD ignitions. But if your motor is stock, that may be overkill.

The bike originally came with a transistorized Kettering type ignition with 2.3 ohm coils. That is not CDI. Dyna makes the Dyna S which is a common aftermarket ignition for these bikes, but it will require new 3.0 ohm coils.

I should have mentioned, when you ohmed out the pickups, the connector to the igniter should have been disconnected. (I assume this is how you did it since that is the easiest way.)

Since the pickups are good, then the only other part of the ignition you need is the igniter. You can actually make one pretty cheaply.
home.comcast.net/~loudgpz/GPZweb/Ignition/GPZgmHEImod.html

This will work with the original 2.3 ohm coils, if they are still working.

If the coils are bad, you will need new ones regardless of what ignition you purchase, but you will have to decide which ignition you will use in order to know what coils to get.

The Dyna S is very inexpensive, and Dyna is an excellent company to deal with, but the original Kawasaki ignition (with or without the HEI igniter substitute) is more sophisticated and is more efficient with its power useage. And if the pickups are good, the HEI substitute will be cheaper. (Plus it's cool to say you built your own igniter. )

I had to fix the link in the last post.

Since you are doing a "bare bones" setup, it may beasier to explain the ignition testing using a wiring diagram.

There is a thread called "bare-bones for Mattylight" which has a bunch of diagrams in it for bare bones wiring.
kzrider.com/index.php?option=com_kunena&...ew&catid=4&id=172746

see if there is something in it you can use. If not, I can draw one up later when I get a chance. I'm off to work now.

Thank you once again for all the info. I have not been able to find a way to test the coils if you could let me know that i would have a much better idea if they worked or not. you are being amazingly helpful thank you so much again.

Mike Brown wrote:

...way to test the coils....

A Kawasaki electrotester may be used to determine whether coil will produce spark strength to specs.

Where the electrotester isn't available, ohm testing may be performed using an ohmmeter.

Free standing ignition coil primary winding may be tested for 2.3 ohms. See image below.

Free standing ignition coil secondary winding resistance may be measured from end of one spark plug wire to end of other spark plug wire, and should be relatively much higher than the primary (such as 20,000~30,000 ohms).

Refer to ignition coil resistance specs in FSM for model at hand.

If secondary resistance through plug wires is measured through the spark plug caps (without removing the caps), the resistance may be even higher due to resistors inside the caps.

Some caps have resistors, and some caps don't have resistors.

Ohm testing free standing ignition coil's primary and secondary resistance can sometimes reveal an obvious short inside the coil. But might fail to indicate a potential insulation breakdown under high voltage.

Good Fortune!