2/3 Coil only fires half the time!!! RESOLVED :)

steell wrote: Your bike left the factory with electronic ignition, not points, and the stock Kawasaki ignition is much better than the Dyna S.

I have only pulled the ignition cover off once to replace the oil pressure sensor. I didn't pay much attention to the ignition parts, but that's definitely good to know!

The spark plug wires are certainly part of the issue, if not the whole issue. They were literally pulling apart in pieces while I was attempting to swap them out, not to mention the nice green corrosion build up on the coil ends, AND the #4 seemed to be missing a piece in the plug end to make that nice tight fit (strange)....I think I will get that nice red set from Z1

clutch wrote: The spark plug wires are certainly part of the issue, if not the whole issue. They were literally pulling apart in pieces while I was attempting to swap them out, not to mention the nice green corrosion build up on the coil ends, AND the #4 seemed to be missing a piece in the plug end to make that nice tight fit (strange)....I think I will get that nice red set from Z1

Yes, Id say that could be a contributing factor :laugh: Good choice for the new stuff.

Good luck.

Just out of sheer curiosity...since the wires come needing to be cut, does it make more sense to have all four the same length, so that they all experience the same resistance due to the length of wire? Would that make a more even spark across all four cylinders, or is that negligible because the wires are short to begin with?

Ok...before I place my order, do I need anything other than the wires and the crimping tool? Do I need resistor caps for the '82 kz750 E? And also, should I get the standard copper core wire or the suppression core?

Thanks in advance

Nice !

Sounds as if you have found your issue's very probable cause!!

As for plug wire length differences, I wonder if the difference in intensity is even measurable. Obviously there would be a difference, but my guess is that the difference made would not even be equal to variance in a normally operating system.

Ok...before I place my order, do I need anything other than the wires and the crimping tool? Do I need resistor caps for the '82 kz750 E? And also, should I get the standard copper core wire or the suppression core?

Thanks in advance

I saw there was a good thread recently that explained pretty well for choices of plug wire. With the crimping tool it all depends which kit you buy...

New diagnosis!

Ok. So I replaced the coils and the plug wires. I rode it to work one day and it still seemed to have the same problem. I noticed the tach was jumping around alot (digital with elec pick up wire on 2/3 coil), so I was thinking it was because I am NOT running suppression wires or resistor boots or plugs. Today, I checked float levels thinking that might be the problem, and fired her up. Tach reads about 600-700 rpm when it's idling like it should. I went for a ride, and while watching the tach, realized that it seems to be only picking up half the rpms. At 50 mph, tach normally reads 4k rpm, today its at 2k rpm. So, I'm thinking that my 2/3 coil is only firing 1/2 the time. What do you guys think...am I right? What would make it do that?

Thanks in advance!

~Clutch

edit: new spark plugs too, just to eliminate that thought...

Can you move the tach wiring to the other coil? This will be one way to see what's going on.

Checked the suspicious coil with an ohm meter? The primary side should be 3 ohms or less, and then heat it up with a hair dryer to see if it changes the ohm's. Secondary side might be 10.4 K to 15.6K ohms (10,400 to 15,600 ohms).

MFolks wrote: Can you move the tach wiring to the other coil? This will be one way to see what's going on.

Checked the suspicious coil with an ohm meter? The primary side should be 3 ohms or less, and then heat it up with a hair dryer to see if it changes the ohm's. Secondary side might be 10.4 K to 15.6K ohms (10,400 to 15,600 ohms).

I will try this in the morning, but seeing as these are brand new dyna coils, I'm thinking the problem is elsewhere. The problem remained the same when I changed the coils out, but now it seems as if that coils only fire once every 2 cycles, originally it was intermittent (as if something was going bad, and now it is). With the idle running 600-700 rpm where it used to be 1200-1300 rpm, that tells me the coil is firing only half the time. This happens whether the bike is cold, hot, or anywhere in between now. My bike has the stock electronic ignition module, not points, so could this be failing on me? Maybe it's a bad connection or wire somewhere? What else should I check?

It might be the pick up or pulsing coils going out:

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. The 550’s,650’s & 750’s may be backwards to the Z1’s,Kz900’s,Kz1000’s & Kz1100’s.

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.