1980 z1r starter button smokes ignitor ground.

i pulled my 1980 z1r today to go for a ride.
i rode it yesterday,just down the road and back.
probably started it three or four times in the process of getting it in and out of the shop and through two gates.

today i hit the starter button and it just goes wonk,wonk.
i just removed it from the battery tender.
i figured the battery was dead,it is three or four years old.(although i use a tender religously.)
so i go get a new battery from tractor supply fill it with acid let it sit,charge it up for four hours.check the voltage it is 13.5,install it and hit the button and wonk,wonk.it turns over very slowly,and there is a little wisp of smoke comes up from under my right side cover.so i pull the tank and side covers off and hit the button again and watch for where the smoke comes from :pinch: .
it is the black w/ yellow stripe ground wire that comes from my ignitor and goes over and plugs into a two into one ground lead that goes down and is bolted on the cases just below the upper rear mount on the right side,and up into the harness.it did not get hot on the harness side of the plug.but it smoked the housing off the wire going to the ignitor but the potting material in the back of the ignitor doesn't look melted,wtf.

is the ignitor junk?
could the ignitor going bad cause a short inside that smoked the wire?
what are my choices to replace the ignitor?

any help is greatly appreciated,tia.

leon

If the ignitor is bad, look at "Loudhvx's" replacement using off the shelf GM electronic parts.I suspect a bad ground wire from the battery Negative(-) terminal to the engine mounting bolt, also check the other Black with Yellow stripe wires(the ground circuits) for bad crimps or broken wires.

Almost anything is possible with electronic part failures, maybe you're lucky it happened near home and not out on the road.....

thanks for the reply mike.
does lous replacement work on factory electronic ignitions?

so,because the wire got smoked on my ignitor does that mean the ignitor is now bad?
it was kinda wierd because when i pulled the wire from the connector it went into(which was a single wire coming out of my harness with one of these ends that you can plug two wires into)the wire on the other side of the connector wasn't hot.
the ignitor plugs into one of the ports and then there is another wire coming out going to the case ground,it wasn't hot either :huh: .

anybody know if i can get rid of the reserve lighting device?
that thing is taking up some room and has a bundle of wires going in :whistle: .

leon

Definitely check you battery cable, the negative is suspect. The ground for the starter high amperage is loose or has high resistance. Try getting the battery cables either cleaned up at both ends or replace them. It sounds as though your ignitor may have been damaged by this, as it would have had to much current going through it on the ground wire.
The starter should spin when jumping the two battery cable posts on you solenoid with a tool like a socket extension.

i will check that stuff out motorhead.

thanks for the reply.

leon

I believe Lou's ignitor replacement only works for bike's with the mechanical ignition advancers. It's a suitable replacement for the pricey Kawasaki unit.

thanks for the reply mike.

leon

i got a minute to look at my z1r last night.

it has the mechanical advance.

so that means i can use lou's replacement .

but, how did the power get sent into the ignitor to search for the ground and smoke the wire,when i hit the starter button?

does that mean that i probably have the + red wire that goes to my starter button trying to ground out and sending power back through the ground?

my tangled mind and bundles of wiring get's confusing :lol: .

leon

Definitely need to find out why the bike is sending native-American signals before doing anything else. Then determine igniter condition. If the ground wire is melted, then it may be tough to get it working. The HEI substitute should work fine.

And yes, you can get rid of the lighting unit to free up some space.

I look up the diagram and work out the details later (unless someone else beats me to it).

Do you have photos of the area in question? Maybe something will pop out as a cause for the short.

When a battery positive terminal hits the frame, the main symptom is melted ground wires. That's because there are no fuses on the ground side.

thanks for the input lou.
i will take some photos and post up.

there is a 1980 d3 (z1r) wiring diagram in the file base.

it is a pdf or i would post the pic here.

leon

dang this one isn't even big enough to see .

leon

Leon, that diagram looks completely different to the one in my manual for the 1980 Z1-R. After we talked today, I didn't realize it was the ground to the ignitor that fizzled on you until I read this thread.
I'm with the others that stated it is a ground issue. The ignitor ground plugs directly into the the bl/y right off the battery, like you stated. From there to the starter relay and lighting circuits.
Check all the grounds and the starter relay for any loose connections.
It's been so long since I looked at my Z1-R wiring, that I can't remember where the blk/y connects to the frame. It should be near the coils, unless I'm badly mistaken.
A bad/loose frame ground is going to send battery current into the secondary ground wires like how you described when there is a high current draw from the starter motor.
Like loud said, there's no fuses on the ground side of the harness.
A fused ignitor ground might be something to look at.