TOPIC:

I apologize, this is my first post and I have done as much research as I can, but there just doesn't seem to be much info on my model with the different type of electronic ignition.

So my wife bought me the motorcycle to give me a "project" since I had sold my car to get her a truck. Boy did she pick a good one. The guy she got it from said it ran but
had a starter clutch issue and had to be kick started. Long story short, this thing has been neglected and looked like a 4 year old had been working on it. I finally got everything fixed, rebuilt starter clutch, new battery, air filter, etc. Got it running for a couple days while working on smoothing it out and fixing an exhaust leak. Set it outside for a bit to let it run and it started sprinkling/snowing. Pushed it back in to the garage for the night. Went to start it the next day and it wouldn't fire. Checked spark with a inline spark tester and no spark. Verified both sides had no spark. Checked voltage and still had 12.3 at the battery. Looked in the forums and checked the wiring diagrams and this is what I have so far.

With the ignition on I have 12 volts at the yellow/red on the coil and 12 volts on the coil side where the yellow/blue wire would connect (output?)
Check continuity on all the wires to make sure there wasn't a break in the wiring to the "Transistor Igniter"
Checked the pick up coil. It is putting out .9 V stationary, but drops to around .5 when spinning the starter. Ohm's out around .4 which I believe from the manual is in spec.
Checked that the black/yellow was getting a good ground - weirdness happened here.
When the ignition was on I was getting 26 Ohms but 0 with the ignition off. The previous owner had wired in a switch for the ignition, and had blue, red, brown, yellow on one side, and white on the other. I disconnected each wire to see which one was causing the jump to 26 Ohms when on and found if I disconnected the blue and brown wires ground went back to 0. I disconnected the blue and brown since they just looked like they go to the lights but it still didn't get me any spark.

Any ideas where to go next? It was running before it got wet but it has had a few days to dry out and still isn't running. I suspect maybe the "Transistor Igniter" but can only find used ones on ebay and they're over $80 each

Try nipping 1/4" off each plug wire. May be corrosion. Getting wet is the clue.
Steve

the trouble shooting flow chart of the manual says you should now perform the "IC ignitor out of circuit test" Id go from there.

Unfortunately my multi-meter is auto-range only but this is what I got with it from top to bottom on the list

27.91 m ohm
4.52 m ohm
open
4.64 m ohm
115.4 k ohm
115.4 k ohm

Looks like 90% of the readings are out of range, but maybe I am converting m ohms to k ohms incorrect.

well it seems like you need a new ignitor. the differnece between kiloohms and miliohms is 6 zeros so its way off. i would double check the measurements again first.

I'm double checked and those are the correct measurements. Guess the next thing is to locate the correct part. All the ones on eBay look pretty rough and I'd hate to spend $50-100 for something that'll fail in a week. Is there any newer options? Would a dyna s work? The part # isn't even listed on the diagram on Kawasakis website so it's hard to search for a cross or something aftetmarket.

httpss://www.kawasaki.com/Parts/PartsDiagram/136355/1983/KZ750-K1

As far as I know the only aftermarket ignition for these bikes is from C5 ignitions. They are pretty high tech; optical ignition with optional programmable curves, they ain't cheap though. I'm running one on my bike and have no complaints. great customer service as well.

You may be able to get a dyna s to work but you would be blazing new trails there I believe.

kz440 uses the same igniter if that opens up any possibilities

Thanks for the part #. I found one on eBay for $35. Hopefully this fixes it. I'll keep you guys updated, I appreciate all your help.

Your cheapest options are to use half of a Dyna S with a new coil, or make an igniter, or convert an inline-four igniter (pretty simple).

All of the above have probably been done and should not be too complicated.

To convert an inline-four igniter, you would simply not use the wires associated with the extra two cylinders.

If you can find the right HEI modules, you can make one using these instructions. Scroll down for the twins.
s3.amazonaws.com/gpzweb/Ignition/GPZgmHEImod.html

But you mentioned the pickup resistance is .4 ohms. That is not right. It should be more in the hundreds of ohms. Inline fours are around 400 ohms. The twins use a slightly different pickup, but I wouldn't expect the resistance to be much different than 400 ohms.

Also, don't use resistance checks on the igniter as the only test. Resistance checks on active devices rely heavily on the internal construction of the meter, thus the results can vary widely. Resistance meters are really only reliable at reading resistances of resistors. Diodes and transistors can give vary different results on different meters.

The Kawasaki manual is written based on you having the actual Kawasaki multi-tester.

So while waiting on the igniter I started playing with it again and finally got it running. It turned out to be the pickup coil was too far away and wasn't making contact, and one of the spark plug wires was rusted at the coil (should have listened to you SWest). Now that it is running again it still sound horrid. I have never owned a motorcycle but to me this is not that way it should sound.It did have an exhaust leak on one cylinder but I have replaced the gasket and the leak is gone. I was going to pull the valve cover but the gasket I ordered came in a million pieces so I didn't want to do that until I had a new one. Also, if I need to just open a new thread in the engine category I will.

KZ750-K1 Twin Running

The engine Sound really bad like a crank/rod bearing is shot.

Probably a long shot but any chance 10w-30 oil would cause this noise? The previous owner gave me 5 quarts of 10w-30 and I put that in there just temporarily while I waited for a new oil filter. I planned to change it to 10w-40 but don't want to waste my money now if i'm just going to have to tear the engine apart.