no spark when warm

after five minutes neither coil is delivering a spark. It just dies. I put a spare plug in a spark plug wire from each coil, and when cranked - no spark. This is an electronic ignition bike.
Recently replaced solenoid and cleaned the contacts on the fuse bank. About one hundred fifty miles after this repair the tachometer has become wild, most often reading several thousand rpms too high.

I'd test the pickup or "Pulsing Coils"(not the ones under the tank, as thoses are the ignition coils). The pickup coils are behind a CD sized, right engine cover. Here's how to test them:

Ohm Checking Pickup(Pulsing) Coils

The pickup(Pulsing) 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,(BEHIND A RIGHT SIDE, CD SIZED ENGINE 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.

8. The mechanical ignition advancer needs periodic service too, it's in the area of the pickup coils, mounted on the end of the crankshaft. Some light lubrication on the weight pivots and the moving shaft are about all it needs. A dab of Moly grease or 3-in-one oil will work for this.

OldSchoolZ wrote:
From my experience in shops, the pickup coils either quit working when the motor is good and hot and with ohm meter tested right after it quits, the ohms show bad, then while it cooling down, you'll see the ohms come back and it runs on that pickup again until it gets hot. OR they don’t work at all.

P.S. remove sparkplug caps if they unscrew from wire and ohm them out where wire goes in to where the plug connects. Often an old cap builds high resistance and will only fire at high rpm. Your caps resistances should be similar to each other(5000 ohms). If you get one not showing continuity, that’s most likely your problem. And sometimes you need to trim wire back and inch or so to get good wire to screw back into. (if wires are not too short to do so) That’s just something to check that is problematic with hot running air cooled motors. They will eventually cook the caps and the resistor inside the cap goes bad.

i hope you didnt try and give it a high amp jump like off a charger or a car

thanks for the prompt replies and suggestions. I have'nt jumped the bike. The pickup coil test looks elaborate but I'll try to get the symptoms to repeat then do the check. I'll have to manufacture something to get a contact up in the sparkplug caps - my multimeter probes are short.

I took 1500 grit to the metal pickups on the "pulsing coil" thing, cleaned and lubed the timing advancer and could not duplicate the loss of spark. Previously it was 5 minutes of operation to get the loss of spark. I puttered around the neighborhood for half an hour.
There is no four prong connector near the pulsing coil thing but there is bare wire disappearing into the pickups. I measured both cold and hot at each adjacent pair of wires.
front pair cold:436
back pair cold: 426
front pair hot: 545
back pair hot: 530

Should I have traced the wires back up towards the battery to find a connector - is my ohms measurement accurate?
Do I have an after market pulsing coil ignition pickup thing?
Is my 545 ohm reading out of service enough to have caused the problem?
Bottom line should I spend money?

I'd trace the wiring to the connector, and see if the male and female pins have corrosion on them, then retest the pickup coils. I doubt(could be wrong) that the previous owner(s) direct wired the pickup coils. Can you post a picture of what you've got for pickup coils?

I'll take a photo tommorrow midday . thanks

one shot should show bare wires and some brand name molded into the rubber. I'm looking for corrosion at the connector.

it lost ten units on both pairs along the wire to the connector. No real corrosion. I'm left with a front pickup thats 5 units over in resistance when hot. Is that difinitive as a cause of the trouble I now can't replicate? I guess I'll risk a ride farther from home.

My feeling is, one of the pickup coils is starting to fail when it gets hot. Use the part # at www.z1enterprises.com and see if they can get you a set(replace both at the same time).

I got a set I can send you, PM me.

issue solved with different pickup coils