TOPIC:

Roughly 15k-23k measuring between the two plug wires on a single coil.
Roughly 2-5 ohms measured between the two small terminals on each coil.

If you can't get a reading between the two plug wires then your splices are probably not working.

I prefer the analog meters with swinging needle, instead of the digital meters with numbers jumping all over the place.

Another option would be having the coils tested at a Kaw dealership.



Good Fortune!

What does your meter say when you hold the two leads apart (not touching anything)?
What does your meter say when you touch the leads together?
When you say that you aren't getting any readings do you mean the display just goes blank?
That would be an indication that there is voltage on the wires, is everything disconnected? You cannot measure resistance on a circuit that has any voltage on it.
The meter introduces its own voltage (and resultant current) into the circuit and that is how it measures the resistance in that circuit. Any voltage on that circuit from a different source, be it a capacitor discharging, or the circuitry in a ignition system will cause the meter to blank its display or sometime cause the numbers to blink, depending on who made the meter.


Ohmmeters are fairly simple but the digital ones can be a pain because of their internal circuitry. An auto-ranging one will interact with the circuit you are measuring and cause erratic readings. When you mentioned you would only get a brief reading when you switched from one range to another, you were giving the circuit a chance to discharge and the meter would momentarily work but then when the component in the circuit charged up it would be seen as another voltage source by the meter and it would react as you describe. An autoranging meter causes the above scenario every time it switches from one range to another but it does it over and over and you will see the numbers blink on and off and every time they will be different because of the timing between the metering circuits and the display circuits.
Older, analog meters would peg the needle either to zero or full scale or would pop the fuse if you tried to measure resistance with a voltage present.
Verify the coils are completely disconnected from everything and follow the instructions in the link I sent before and you should get some usable readings.

DiamondSkyBlue1000 wrote: ...You cannot measure resistance on a circuit that has any voltage on it....

Yes -- and the ignition switch should be in OFF position, where there's no voltage from the bike's battery being received at the coil.

Likely won't be an issue with stock coils where the battery positive wire (usually red or red/yellow) is disconnected to gain access for the meter probe. And the other primary wire (usually black or green) is also disconnected to gain access for the other meter probe.



The 2.3 is just for illustration, as the correct ohm number should be within range as shown in the factory service manual, perhaps something like 3.2~4.8Ω. The symbol Ω means ohm.

Good Fortune!

Thanks, man! A picture is worth a thousand words, and I think I came close to that today...

A picture is worth a thousand words. Apparently I forgot to unhook a little wire or two.

I think that I have found my problem. I was still not getting any readings at the plug caps. I unscrewed one end of the splicer and tested from the splicer on both coils and got readings. Below is what the readings were. Are these in spec.?

Left Coil
Primary 1.9 ohms
Secondary (at splice) 15,100 ohms

Right Coil
Primary 1.7 ohms
Secondary (at splice) 15,800 ohms

Now my question is.....why am I not getting anything past the splicer? These are new wires.

badrhino wrote: ... not getting anything past the splicer? These are new wires.

Are new wires solid core or suppression (graphite?) style?

Lacking hands-on experience with the splicers, am guessing they are intended for solid core both in and out of the splicer.

Good Fortune!

Patton once again thanks.

They are suppresion wires and are not solid core so guessing graphite. I ordered these wires along with the splicers from Z1E so I figured they were supposed to work with these wires.

I put the wires back on the splicer and am getting reading but they sound really high, especially on the left coil.

L (79,000)
R (24,500)

What do I need to do get solid core wires?

Why would they sell these types of wires packaged as they did if you can't splice into them. They came as two wires and you had to cut them in half to make the four.

My manual says you should see about 1.5 Ohms from small post to small post (these would be the primary posts) and about 13,500 Ohms between the two spark plug wires (these would be the secondary posts). You should also measure these places one at a time using the red lead while the black lead is on the coil core which is the piece that mounts the coil to the bike's frame. Those readings should be infinite Ohms.

Any more input on these suppression core wires? Has anyone else used the splicers with these wires? Should I call Z1E and ask them?

Personally I wouldn't put any money into those splicers and old coils. As far as suppression wires, on stock coils, make sure you don't have a resistor cap as well, it will really lower the spark voltage.
the Emgo coils are pretty reasonable to buy and are a good stock replacement.