1979 KZ1000-C2 no spark Dyna III ignition system

Hello All,

I recently acquired this great KZ! It has been sitting for some years now, I don't know how many but MANY. The motor turned over fine with the kick start. I put a new battery in and the motor turned right over with the start switch. I checked compression and it was good across all 4 cylinders (I dont have the piece of paper handy I wrote the numbers on).

My problem is I am getting no spark. So this what I found:

I have a DYNA III ignition module with sensor plate, DYDC1-1 Green 3ohm Dyna Coils, and a Dyna RPM limiter.

All grounds seem good and clean.

I have power to the coils on their top tabs, and power to the module. Dyna's instructions say to ground the module wires (female ends and not the red wire) that go to the sensor plate and I should get a spark at the plugs...I do not. With all wires connected correctly and the bike turning over I get a pulsing light on my test light at the bottom tabs of the coils. The left coil will actually keep my test light lit but very dim, but still pulses brighter when the start button is pressed and motor turns over.

I am really thinking it is the coils. I haven't ohmed them out...I forgot how. Any opinions? Anyone have some known good coils (w/wires and boots) I can test with before I buy new ones? I put a spark tester in the plug wire itself and still no spark.

I tried to take a plug wire off the coil and it ripped from the brass crimped end, the brass crimped end stayed in the coil. Were the wires made to the coils?

Thanks for your time and replies, if I can get spark it will really get me rolling to a nice restore.

fasterlapdunn wrote: Hello All,

I recently acquired this great KZ! It has been sitting for some years now, I don't know how many but MANY. The motor turned over fine with the kick start. I put a new battery in and the motor turned right over with the start switch. I checked compression and it was good across all 4 cylinders (I dont have the piece of paper handy I wrote the numbers on).

My problem is I am getting no spark. So this what I found:

I have a DYNA III ignition module with sensor plate, DYDC1-1 Green 3ohm Dyna Coils, and a Dyna RPM limiter.

All grounds seem good and clean.

I have power to the coils on their top tabs, and power to the module. Dyna's instructions say to ground the module wires (female ends and not the red wire) that go to the sensor plate and I should get a spark at the plugs...I do not. With all wires connected correctly and the bike turning over I get a pulsing light on my test light at the bottom tabs of the coils. The left coil will actually keep my test light lit but very dim, but still pulses brighter when the start button is pressed and motor turns over.

I am really thinking it is the coils. I haven't ohmed them out...I forgot how. Any opinions? Anyone have some known good coils (w/wires and boots) I can test with before I buy new ones? I put a spark tester in the plug wire itself and still no spark.

I tried to take a plug wire off the coil and it ripped from the brass crimped end, the brass crimped end stayed in the coil. Were the wires made to the coils?

Thanks for your time and replies, if I can get spark it will really get me rolling to a nice restore.

The direct way to test a coil:

Connect 12V to the pos side of the coil (probably red or orange or yellow wire) and take the neg wire (blue or green or something like that) and tap it on ground while your buddy carefully holds the spark plug against the head fins (HV plug wire attached to plug). It should spark at least some.

No disrespect to Dyna ignitions, but I sure seem to see a lot of posts where they are blown up. Maybe their design does not protect the internal drivers (that sink current through the coils) well? If so, a flaky coil will blow the ignition up. So, if the coils are bad, they might have taken out the ignition too.

Thanks Bounty, I did what you said and no sparky. So I am 99.9% sure the coils are bad. I really don't want to drop $130 on the Dyna coils over at Z1 enterprises. I really hope the ignition module is not crap either but I dont see how you test that. There is a great Dyna 2000 kit for $400...ouch! Hmmmmmm....

fasterlapdunn wrote: Thanks Bounty, I did what you said and no sparky. So I am 99.9% sure the coils are bad. I really don't want to drop $130 on the Dyna coils over at Z1 enterprises. I really hope the ignition module is not crap either but I dont see how you test that. There is a great Dyna 2000 kit for $400...ouch! Hmmmmmm....

Z1 sells replacement EMGO coils for $36 each which will work with electtronic ignitions. They are 4 Ohm coils which is a shade higher impedance than the 3 Ohm Dynas, but they will work.

fasterlapdunn wrote: ... no sparky. So I am 99.9% sure the coils are bad. I really don't want to drop $130....

Should be able to have the coils tested at a Kawasaki dealership that has in its shop a coil testing tool known as a three-point tester (or electrotester).

The tool measures whether or not a coil will produce at least a 7mm (.28") spark.

One issue with a coil having permanently built-in high-tension (spark plug) wires, is that the wires themselves get old, hard and cracked, and start leaking voltage, even though the coil itself may remain perfectly good.

So there's a good coil, but crappy wires causing poor spark at the plug tips.
And it seems difficult or impossible to simply install new wires.

A plug wire "splicer" might be a feasible solution.

Available at Z1E, the splicer may be used to connect a new wire.
The old wire is cut from the coil, leaving a stub long enough to attach the splicer between it and the new wire.

Click here > www.z1enterprises.com/detail.aspx?ID=1890

Good Fortune!

If needed ---







Good Fortune!

I went to autozone and got a new set of universal 8mm wires and new plugs. I still have no spark. To recap, the coils ohm out to 3 ohms, they are properly secured to the frame, I have 12vdc to the top tab, and when I ground/unground the bottom tab I still get no spark. I am thinking of getting the universal coils from Z1 (the $36 ones). I'm thinking with new coils properly secured to the frame, new wires, new plugs, 12v to the top tab and and then grounding the bottom tab I will have spark. Hope I don't sound out of my league too much...thanks for the help.

If I do get spark then I will hook up the rest of thr ignition and see what happens...I hope the module is good (fingers crossed)