No spark at the POINTS??

^^^bwaaa haa haaa...thats a classic
Nice avi bro
dam caps lock

i have to have it on for work...so i forget all the time

my Apologies gang

yall have been a super help...

update again!!!
found a few problems and fixed some....

so i somehow turned the key to park and hit the start button...BAM...it turns over...WTF???

the lights go out but there is power at the points and up to the coil leads(yellow and blue that go into the coil)...nothing after the coil at the plug end leads...

so i assume that the ignition was changed to something that didnt match up right???

so i cracked out the connector and pulled the wires out and matched them up with the colors on the harness side....there is 2 whites and an extra green i think...so i got it now to be correct i think...
i have lights on and started button working and power from points to the coil now when the key is in ignition setting...but no power at pulgs...so no spark there...what the best test for coil...manual says dealer tool is best but can use meter..i tried the meter test and got nothing like it says...

any ways to test??

prolly just replace it....

when i had the meter in the plug caps there was no volt reading when start was pushed and held for a few seconds...but when let go there was a reading of a few volts?? normal or not??

thanks for all this advice...i could not of gotten here so fast without it!!

I think either u still have a short somewhere or ur coils are bad or BOTH, BUT more often that not coils go bad one at a time not both at the same time, check wiring from points to coils

will check points to coil again...

i did have power from the points wire blue...and the ignition yellow with that both go into the coil....and i only have 1 coil for a twin....correct..?

bgmrc wrote:

will check points to coil again...

i did have power from the points wire blue...and the ignition yellow with that both go into the coil....and i only have 1 coil for a twin....correct..?

sorry too many beers last nite, yep one coil for twin, so we may have a winner, looks like a new coil for u, may I recommend Z1 enterprises for parts, great service lowest price for these bikes

Don't know which test instrument you're using, DVOM, test light? Any way if you have the DVOM, test the resistance of both primary side, where the yellow and blue wires go, and the secondary side. Also put either your test light or DVOM in between the to wires, yellow and blue, like taking place of your coil. Coil is disconnected, test instrument is across circuit, crank motor with key on. If a test light was used it should flash as points open and close, or if DVOM, you should get a change in voltage, easier to see with a analog meter/ needle style. If this checks out, then get the new coil, but also would recommend a points and condenser set.

Measuring coil resistance. This is a generic picture, your specs may be different.

yea its always a good idea to have a extra set on hand regardless, I thought he check the condenser already but I may be wrong, I remember somebody mentioning it

Whoa... wait. Don't buy a coil just yet!

Watch this video first:

...a very simple way to test your coils out of the system, and eliminate them from the equation.

Same thing can be done in the bike, by grounding the sparkplugs against the head/case, and with the ignition on (12+Volts at the coil), pull the trigger/ground wire off the ignition coil. When you do it should cause the plugs to spark. Reconnect, then remove wire again, the plugs should spark.

Heat the coil with a hairdryer, and gap the plugs very large and see if a spark will jump very far- immitating running conditions under compression.

This just mimics what the pickups do - basically just dropping the power to the coil input intermittantly, causing the power left in the coil to jump through the plugs back to ground.

Best of luck.

I think he already did that

Not exactly. Spark power cannot be verified by a meter correctly. You need an oscilliscope for that.

Since he asked best way to check... figured this is best as it takes coil out of the system and test on bench. Its worked in our shop for years, many, many motorcyles, atvs, dirtbikes, tractors, skidoos :laugh: skidoos...

Starting from basics here though:

When you say I have power at coil... WHAT amount of power??? How many volts is very important. 9V at coils wont do nothing for you

BGMRC, what is the voltage of the battery being used for this testing? Is it somewhat newer?
For testing a coil it can be a little low and still work thats fine, but when trying to start a bike with lights and everything, it must be a good battery with 12+ volts after standing several hours after any charge.

A fully charged battery will measure 12.6 - 12.8 volts as each cell is 2.1 - 2.13ish volts X 6 cells = 12volt batt.
A battery loses its ability to deliver current (amps) quickly, at just small amounts of voltage loss.

A battery that measures 11.5 or so volts after sitting after a charge (several hours till stable), is basically a dead battery that can barely deliver power.

The battery being used to start the bike makes a huge difference. For testing/starting purposes, feel free to use a huge 12Volt car battery. It is a much larger well of power, and will not cause any issues for testing/starting purposes.

If the coil is very old as I believe you said... I think... then replacement of the coil and a new points/condenser set (as previously recommended)is probly the best route anyways, for peace of mind.

+1 on that, I usually can tell by color of the spark, but bench testing is ALWAYS better, ditto on the battery charge as well, had fits on my other bike with charging and am up on that one,
one thing I've figured out over the years, alot of time its not just one problem when u start working though a PO bike, there's usually more than one contributor to the same problem

stonemaster wrote:

+1 on that, I usually can tell by color of the spark, but bench testing is ALWAYS better, ditto on the battery charge as well, had fits on my other bike with charging and am up on that one,
one thing I've figured out over the years, alot of time its not just one problem when u start working though a PO bike, there's usually more than one contributor to the same problem

You say usually, like you don't mean EVERY DAMN TIME!

:laugh: