One Coil Fires?

And if the input voltage seems low to the ignition coils, do this:

Cleaning Motorcycle Electrics

1. Get some of the De-Oxit electrical contact cleaner and figure on spending a good day going from the front of the bike to the back. It’s a plastic safe cleaner/preservative. www.deoxit.com is their website. It can be purchased at most Radio Shack Stores or any electronic supply places. Or use any plastic safe electrical contact cleaner(NOT WD-40 !).

2. On the older Kawasaki's, a majority of electrical connectors are inside the headlight housing requiring removal of the headlight, then the fun begins.

3. Do one set of electrical connectors at a time to avoid mixing up what connects to where. Usually disconnecting, spraying with De-Oxit and reconnecting is about all you'll need.

4. However, when encountering the green crud of corrosion, a brass wire brush may be needed on the pins you can reach. Some 400-600 grit wet and dry sandpaper strips rolled into a tube should reach the male and female pins in the more difficult to clean connectors.

5. Smoker’s pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and wooden toothpicks work as cleaning aids.

6. Really small electrical connectors may require the use of a welders tip cleaning tool assortment.

7. Most pins in the connectors are coated with a thin plating of tin, and others may be nothing more than copper or brass.

8. If moisture is added, the resulting corrosion lowers the voltage/current being carried causing dim lights, slow engine cranking, slow turn signal responce and lower input voltage to the ignition coils resulting in weak spark.

9. The left and right handlebar switch pods will need attention too as they have circuit functions like turn, horn, run/stop, and start. The older Kawasaki’s have reports of the soldered connections crumbling, if your bike has this problem, just ask, as I’ve got a repair procedure for this.

10. Usually a spritz or two with actuation of the switch is about all needed for these switches unless corrosion is detected and then careful disassembly is required.

11. The ignition switch may or may be not sealed to allow spraying the internal contacts. I urge caution if attempting to open this up as springs, and ball bearings may fly out never to be seen again!

12. If your bike has the older style glass tubed fuses, I suggest replacing them as vibration can cause internal failure. AGX is the type used, and most auto parts stores can get them for you, along with boating supply stores.

13. Clean the fuse holder clips, looking for signs of overheating(discolored insulation, signs of melting). I use metal polish on a cotton swab, followed by spraying another clean swab with the De-Oxit and then rubbing the inside of the fuse clip.

14. All battery cables must be clean and tight for maximum current transfer. Check the cables going from the Negative(-) battery terminal/post to the engine mounting bolt

15. Also the one going from the Positive(+) terminal to the starter solenoid and from there to the starter motor.

16. If any battery cable feels ”Crunchy” when flexed, replace it as possible corrosion is inside the insulation. Inspect all heavy duty battery cables and the smaller wire terminations(Bullet Connectors), for failed crimps, and those used in the electrical connectors, as they can fail over time.

17. Each "Bullet Connector" will have to be sprayed to ensure good connectivity, especially the ones going to the energizing coil of the starter solenoid.

18. The alternator output “Bullet Connectors” are usually behind the engine sprocket cover and will need inspecting and cleaning too.

20. The turn signal light sockets will benefit from a spritz from the contact cleaner along with the tail light/brake light socket.

21. Some brake light switches can be sprayed on the actuating rod, with the spray running down inside to the electrical contacts, others may be sealed requiring replacement if the switch is intermittent in operation.

22. Some people put the Di-Electric Grease on cleaned terminations/connectors, I don’t, as I’ve read/heard it can cause problems when it gets hot, actually insulating the connections, so the choice is yours to use or not.

I think I've covered about all of the electrical systems on the bike.........

“I spent a weekend going through every electrical connection and switch on the bike with a little scotchbrite pad and DeOxit - what a difference! Everything was brighter, gauge backlights, indicator lights, turn signals, I was getting a nicer spark, it fired up quicker, etc. Well worth my time. WELL worth it! “

From a forum member at www.kzrider.com

Testing the pick up
From the manual for the GZP 750 / 4

Patton wrote: It could help to know which pair of cylinders isn't firing.

Good Fortune!

One and four are not firing...

Patton wrote: If not already done, would also verify continuity of wiring into and out of the connector between the igniter and coils, and continuity of wiring into and out of the connector between the pick-up and the igniter.

Good Fortune!

Edited to include both connectors.

Spark plug side done... pick up side next.

In addition to simply being a wiring issue, it can be the igniter or the pickups. Luckily, you basically have two of everything, so you can trouble-shoot just be swapping things around.

1 and 4 are not sparking. They are triggered by the pickup with black and blue wires.

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If you swap the green coil wire to the 1-4 coil, and black coil wire to 2-3 coil, and the problem stays on 1 and 4, then the 1-4 coil is suspect.

If the problem moves to 2-3, then either the pickup coil with the black and blue wires is suspect, or the igniter is suspect. Check the ohms on the black/blue wires to the pickup.

If it ohms out ok, return everything back to normal.

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If you can swap the red pickup wire with the blue pickup wire, and the yellow pickup wire with the black pickup wire, you can test to see if the problem is in the igniter.

If the problem moves to the 2-3 coil, then the black/blue pickup is bad. If it stays on 1-4, the igniter is bad.

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Of course, it can also be any of the associated wiring. And of course, the bike won't run with these wires swapped, it's only to check for spark. If the pickups are bad, you can swap just the actual pickup that is bad (in case someone else has a bad set where one is still working). You can even replace a 1-4 pickup with a 2-3 pickup. Just the wires will have to be routed differently. If the igniter is bad, you can make one for not much money.

If the wires on the pick up coils are bare where they go into the "black boxes" will that effect the the spark? Attached is a picture where the wires are bare. (area circled in red.) I borrowed the picture.

If the wires on both pick up(pulsing coils) are bare, and the conductors(the copper wires) are touching, then it's possible to short them out, with no output going to the IC Igniter = no spark or erratic spark.

I've seen them with bare wire and still working. It's not too uncommon.

Had that issue with my kz 750 h1 1980 some of the wires broke in side the igniter box which i fix with a solder gun.

Inside the igniter box not the pick up coil boxes?

Yes a year ago I had a lot of problems with my coils sometimes it would fire and other times the spark was weak and I tested my pick up box they was fine.


Well I figure I had nothing to lose so I spent a few hours take the rubber off the back box igniter box that I seen on here done by a guy that had the same as me and found some wire as broke and solder joints.



I fix them and worked fine and picked up some liquid rubber and filled the back up and let it sit for a day

Mmm... I will have to take a looksee inside the box. Thanks.