Burning out coils left and right!!!

THE STORY

So I burned my stock coils. maybe not such a bad thing, they were old and decrepit. I thought I fixed the cause.

Put new emgos on and do new points and condensers as well. I ride the getocycle around for awhile...a very short while...

One coil blows and I get another one.

While I ride with an old good one on it runs fine. I get the new one on and promptly blow my other new one.

So I put the old one on again with the newly sent emgo and it screams again.

I thought the condensers had been grounding out against the points spring when I put the cover on because it seemed a little tight. I pulled it off and went for about a 40 mi ride last night and all seemed well!

today I head out for some ciggs and .5 miles away it dies and wont start. I dont have it at my house now but the carbs were getting gas. and it cut out on two cylinders then totally died and wouldnt start.

The Questions

Can shorting between the condensors and points cause a coil to burn up?

If this was fixed what else would cause this problem??

Get a voltmeter and check what the system voltage is when the engine is revved up to maybe 3k. Should be 14V, if higher than 14.5V, that's what kills coils.

A bad condenser should not kill a coil, will wear points out quick.

If you short the case of the condenser to the points, it should not run at all since the coil's negative lead would be permanently grounded.

Coils with points should have a Ballast Resistor to drop the voltage across the coils and so then points. So if you measure your battery voltage, then the voltage at the coils, you should be lower, probably a good 2v maybe 3 depending on the resistor in the circuit.

There is probably a wiring diagram for your bike in "File Base" at the top right corner of the KZR page. It should show the resistor, but not the Ohm value. The service manual will tell the Ohm value.

i think my regulator is fried, now that i think about it my headlight was burnt out and so was my taillight. I rewired it all together with the feed from the generator through the reg rec going straight to power everything else. Has to be it! right?

Thanks bounty hunter! I was thinking though I have inline fuses en route to all my lights and coils, why wouldnt it pop? amps wouldnt increase with voltage?

I have a 79 and redid all the wiring. Ill have to check for a resistor in my manual and see what comes up.

The alternator output may be as high as 50 volts, blowing out light bulbs,inition coils, and other elecytival devices.

Motor Head wrote: Coils with points should have a Ballast Resistor to drop the voltage across the coils and so then points. So if you measure your battery voltage, then the voltage at the coils, you should be lower, probably a good 2v maybe 3 depending on the resistor in the circuit.

Nope, not on 79 Kawi's. They use a 12V coil.

munkybrain2010 wrote: Thanks bounty hunter! I was thinking though I have inline fuses en route to all my lights and coils, why wouldnt it pop? amps wouldnt increase with voltage?

Yes, but the heat probably killed them first. Coils run super hot to begin with.

Right on I put a reg rec from a kz750 and it works perfect. After burning all the crudd off the two spark plugs that werent firing my bike purrs like a kitten, an ugly kitten but still!

Now its time to make it look pretty