No Spark - 1983 GPZ 550

Hey guys!

I've been a rider for awhile now, and I've recently picked up an old 1983 Kawasaki GPZ 550. It hasn't been running in while (multiple years), but most everything was there and the price was right.

The starter switch is a little messed up, but I can jump onto the switch to get it to turn over (but not catch). Note: I'm using a battery from another motorcycle to do this jump. It's a 12V as well, though I'm not sure about the Amps compared to the battery that the GPZ should have.... Could this be a problem?

Anyway, my first thought was that the carbs were a little gunked up, which they were (slides wouldn't move, floats were stuck, etc.). So I cleaned those up, reinstalled them and... nothing.

The sparkplugs are fairly new and the gaps are good. But when I put my spark plug tester inline, it showed no spark. I also grounded the plug on the engine while I tried to start it and didn't see a spark there. This holds true to all 4 plugs...

Now some quick background... I'm a mechanical guy, so electrical issues are a bit like black magic to me... so I was hoping you guys could help me out on where to go next.

Because it's all 4 plugs, I have a hard time imagining it's the coils, since it seems weird they would BOTH go out, but it's possible. I took out the multimeter, and with the battery plugged in I checked the voltage across the coils (by using the positive on the red/yellow wire to the coil, and the negative on the black wire to the coil) and I got something around 8V, while the voltage across the switch is 12V... could this result in no spark, or would it just be a weak spark?

TL;DR: Finding no spark on a 1983 GPZ 550, looking for help.

Thanks in advance guys!

No offense intended -
When you hit the starter button are you pulling in the clutch lever? If not, the starter won't operate - it's a safety feature. Ed

If it's like my GPz750 ign. theres a brown w/white
wire that grounds through the side stand and clutch switches
for it to fire while cranking over on the starter.

...and I got something around 8V, while the voltage across the switch is 12V... could this result in no spark, or would it just be a weak spark

Dropping a volt or so is no big deal, it has a lot of wiring and connectors to go through, but 4 volts is. Also the IC ignitor is sensitive to voltage and won't spark with low voltage.

There is a lot of info here on ignition diagnostics, all the early electronic ignitions are very similar - use the search button.

Hey guys,

Thanks for the responses!

Ed you question about the clutch got me thinking about the wiring on that bike. I was holding the clutch in initially (still no spark) but found later that I didn't need to hold the clutch in to get the starter motor going with the way I had it set up.

I ended up finding a wiring diagram and I think my problem was that the starter motor and ignition coils are on seperate circuits. When I was bypassing the handlebar ignition switch I was getting the starter motor to turn over but I wasn't engaging the coils.

Anyway, today I took about the handlebar switch and got it working again, and now I have spark! Sadly I drained my battery doing this and have to get it recharged so I haven't been able to try getting the bike to start, but I should give it a shot tomorrow!

Thanks again!