TOPIC:

During a tune up on a points bike, the points and condensors will be replaced. A couple of tune ups will pay for an eletronic ignition. In addition, during a tune up, major time consumers are setting ignition timing, setting points gap and dwell, etc. With an electronic ignition, timing is set ONCE and then you don't worry about this as part of general maintenance. With the Dyna S down to a very low cost, it makes little sense to me, to retain a points set up. I use my two KZs as a business tool (carb testing bikes) and can't afford to waste a bunch of time with maintenance.

bTph, your bike's broke so you bought another broken bike? I love the logic, but your wife must hate you.

r:

i'm not married, but my gf is certainly confused...
she just doesn't understand that sometines more is better

-bt

I have two and am looking at a third and an extra engine, the only thing my wife said is, "so you want three dead bikes?" and looked at me funny

Well*I* for one,have to say that having spare parts laying aroun,should be the LAW!!!LOL
Good luck with Your 650,Bud...You'll know a lot more,once You get the tank off,and start inspecting some wiring.Do You have a multi-tester,and a 12volt test-light?...You'll want both of these items,to start checking for voltage,continuity,and power from certain wires...
Also...do You have a manual for either one of the bikes?...You'll definately want one of those,as well...call it the Kawi-Bible...it WILL change Your life!...LOL...and Your whole attitude about the bike(for the better)
Good luck,B.T.

Post edited by: sandy, at: 2006/02/02 00:08

i don't have those tools here, but my father does at his garage where the bike is stored at the moment. however, i started taking apart my new kz650 and am beginning to understand where everything connects / how it works.

i do have a clymer manual on order, and xstreamcanadian was kind enough to send me boatloads of information, too.

cheers!
-bt

Had my coils and electronic ign fry once.. found that the regulator was bad.. replaced the reg with an transistor reg/rectifier and replaced ign and coils with like what was on it, no problems since 15,000 miles and running.. The main cause was that the silicon gel around the regulator components got old and hard and pulled away the components from the board. Upon finding this out I checked all my spare regs (about 8 or 9) and found the same problem, they just got to old. Should not charge over 16 volts max at over 3000/3500 rpm.. Mine went to 18/19 volts when it fried. If the main fuse is warped but looks intack but when tested shows no continuity thats what mine did.

Should never be above 15v. Really 14.6 or 14.7 should not be exceeded.

Mine run about 14.5 when running. One time I was happily riding along and suddenly my low beam burned out, then I noticed my blinkers were burned out, pulled off the road, turned off the engine. What in the heck? Look at the battery and my negative post had broken off of it. With no battery load and even a good regulator, voltage will skyrocket. So I burnt out every instrument light, headlight, tailight, all the blinkers. Have no idea what kind of voltage I was dealing with. Didn't hurt the coils or Dyna3 though thankfully.

RonKZ650 wrote:

Mine run about 14.5 when running. One time I was happily riding along and suddenly my low beam burned out, then I noticed my blinkers were burned out, pulled off the road, turned off the engine. What in the heck? Look at the battery and my negative post had broken off of it. With no battery load and even a good regulator, voltage will skyrocket. So I burnt out every instrument light, headlight, tailight, all the blinkers. Have no idea what kind of voltage I was dealing with. Didn't hurt the coils or Dyna3 though thankfully.

I think you got lucky there Ron. I burnt out all my lights once and then after replacing them and thinking coincedence I lost a coil too.

hey all...i've gotten to look at the bike.

used a multimeter the verify that the coil the melted is indeed bad. the other coil was reporting erratic readings, so i'm going to replace that, too.

the fuses are fine...wonder why they didn't blow.

lots of lights have blown out: headlamp, taillight, front/rear left turn signals, and 4 of the 6 indicator lamps.

i haven't checked the regulator yet, but that's next. you should check that when the engine is running, correct? anything else that could have overloaded the system? or was the short in the starboard coil the source of the surge?

bummer is that the shops have closed for the evening, and most around here are closed sunday and monday.

more to come!

cheers!
-bt

There's no doubt you had a heck of a lot more than 15v running through your system, almost like when my negative post broke off my battery. Either your regulator is bad, or the battery may have done like mine did, the terminal broke off mine, but I suppose it possible for the battery to look alright but be broken internally.
bionicTechnophobe wrote:

hey all...i've gotten to look at the bike.

used a multimeter the verify that the coil the melted is indeed bad. the other coil was reporting erratic readings, so i'm going to replace that, too.

the fuses are fine...wonder why they didn't blow.

lots of lights have blown out: headlamp, taillight, front/rear left turn signals, and 4 of the 6 indicator lamps.

i haven't checked the regulator yet, but that's next. you should check that when the engine is running, correct? anything else that could have overloaded the system? or was the short in the starboard coil the source of the surge?

bummer is that the shops have closed for the evening, and most around here are closed sunday and monday.

more to come!

cheers!
-bt