82 KZ440 only sparks when ignition turned off

Trying to resurrect my old 440. Testing spark and I noticed that it only sparked right when I turned the key off. It has CDI ignition. Where should I start troubleshooting?

Thanks,
Tim

ignition switch, WD40 will help to loosen the switch circuit (little springs) on the connection board inside.
maybe the PO have mess up something on the weiring harness.

Thanks, I'll check. BTW, nice mk1 Rocco. I miss my mk1 GTI.

Thank you, it was an 1975 TS Automatic 3 gear 85 Horse power car.
Now a 2.0 liter 5 gear hand shift with ported 8v head with 180 horse power GTI, the only 75er GTI in Germany.
820 Kg (1600 pounds) drives like a Go Cart

Very nice!

More symptoms to help troubleshoot. Ignition switch seems fine. Pulled it, cleaned the contacts. Wires connected fine in the light. But moved the start/run switch and sparks everytime it goes from run to off. This sat outside for a good while...

Have you check the kill switch?
You lost a lot of voltage on this old weiring and switches.
I prefer a so called weired George mod,trust me you got a very strong spark, a must have!!!
I do it on my project bike and i will not miss it, the ignition power comes directly form the battery without detours.

wgcarbs.com/index.php/using-joomla/exten...-categories/89-coils





Looks complicated but is an easy fix

Michael

With transistorised igniton You always get a spark when the ignition is switched on or off, This is why electronic tacho needle twich when you switch on or off or toggle the killswitch.

If you have a decent spark from both then you can forget about coils,plugs, leads and caps...for now, and look at the tigger pick ups and wiring to the ignition box where I think your fault is.

You can trigger the ignitor by tapping the sensors with a magnetized screwdriver, it fools the pick up into thinking the engine is running.

It is not a CDI. It is a transistorized Kettering ignition.
They work by charging a coil, then discharging it. The discharging coil creates the spark.

On the Kawasaki system, the signal to charge and discharge the coil comes from the pickup unit. If the crank is not turning, there should be no signal from the pickup, so there should be no spark. IF the factory system is sparking when the ignition is turned off, that means the igniter is charging the coil when it shouldn't. This can happen if there is a crossed wire to the input of the igniter of if the igniter itself is damaged. Turning off the ignition will cause the coil to discharge and create a spark.

This behavior is normal for aftermarket ignitions which are less sophisticated, like the Dyna S etc.

If you disconnect the pickups and this still happens, you need a new igniter. If the false sparks stop when you disconnect the pickups, it could still be the igniter, but you will want to check the wiring for the pickups closely to make sure they aren't frayed and shorting to some other wiring.

You can make a new igniter pretty cheaply, but it is getting more difficult to get the proper HEI module.

Scroll down to the bottom for the twins version.
s3.amazonaws.com/gpzweb/Ignition/GPZgmHEImod.html

Thanks for clearing up the confusion I had on the type of ignition. That def helps!

I checked the voltage at the kill switch and with it off I get 12.4 on brown, but then drops to 10.5 in run. Looks like I need to do the relay mod to get a good 12v at the coils.

Or just clean up the connectors and switches you already have. A can of Deoxit D5 and some small brass brushes can work wonders. You are likely going to end up doing some of that anyway. If there is dirt and corrosion, and maybe some bad solder joints in that circuit, they are very likely present in others.

vwrabbit wrote: I checked the voltage at the kill switch and with it off I get 12.4 on brown, but then drops to 10.5 in run. Looks like I need to do the relay mod to get a good 12v at the coils.

Or perhaps you just need to clean and repair the switch. In addition to dirt and corrosion, 35 year old lead solder can be brittle enough to break, causing increased resistance, intermittent function, or no function at all.
(I know this looks a little repetitive. I'm not trying to hammer you, I'm just too lazy to rewrite my previous post.)