Coils reading 0 ohms

I wanted to swap my coils to check if my rich condition on 1&4 was an electrical issue. I pulled the coils and detached all wires and made a check with the ohm meter. From the small wire terminals on both my calibrated ohm meter jumped to 0 ohms. The secondaries were about 21k. I thought my meter may have been on the fritz so I checked resistance on the 5 ohm caps and got an accurate reading of 4.6-5 ohms.........?

I have been riding for a few weeks and working out bugs. I am not sure how much the 0 resistance should impact engine performance but it idled and seemed to run fine. Then again this is a fairly new bike to me and I may not know Any better?

Original ignition coils? I wrote this for the bigger 4's, but the smaller ones are toward the bottom of the testing procedure:

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(your primary wiring may be different).

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. These ports are wired together, so it makes no difference which is used, as long as the correct coil to sparkplug configuration is followed.

The sparkplug caps should read 5K OHMS, any higher, or a reading of infinity means new caps should be ordered.

To stress the ignition coils, take a hair dryer, heat the coils and see if the ohm readings change from cold to hot . If they do, it’s time to buy new coils.

---

Keep in mind, the wiring is reversed for the 550’s 650‘s and 750‘s, 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.

These are the green dyna coils. Also is running a dyna s ignitiOn system. Would I notice a change in operation? Does this mean the resistor caPs are suPplying the needed impedance @ 5 ohms?

Apologies my 10 dollar sperry sp-5a meter reads everything at x1k. Guess I will have to spring for something more fancy.

Am thinking that zero ohms measured between the primary terminals on an ignition coil would indicate a break in the primary winding, or in the red/yellow lead to the primary winding.

If the original type ignition coils are fitted with primary leads permanently built into the coil (usually a red/yellow wire and a black or green wire), it's possible (as known from personal experience) that the red/yellow wire core may be frayed or broken inside, thereby disallowing conductivity, while the exterior cover on the wire appears just fine.

While measuring the ohms, try wiggling and manipulating the red/yellow wire to see whether there's intermittent continuity inside.



Good Fortune!

Green Dyna coil should measure 3 ohms between the primary terminal screws.

Good Fortune!

Understood........the lightbulb went off and I realized I probably am not gonna get a 3 ohm reading on a X1K analog meter.

If you live in the U.S., Radio Shack,Sears,Home Depot & Lowes have a selection of multimeters.

I've got a Ideal model #61-360 purchased about 9 years ago, It's all I need for trouble shooting. Be aware that some of the inexpensive meters are affected by magnetic fields generated by the alternator when the engine is running and can give strange readings.