coil wiring polarity?

[DimitriT]

I had to remove the coils to take the valve cover off on my Katana and now I realize I don't remember the orientation of the power leads.

I know that the coils are wired so that W (white) and W/O (white/orange) is on the left and B/Y (black/yellow) and W/O (white/orange) is on the right.

What I don't know is if the W/O connector goes on the top or bottom lead for the given coil. I want to make sure I get the polarity correct.

 

[JTGS850GL]

I can't remember off the top of my head and I'm not near the bike right now, but aren't the wires coming out of the coil color coded as well? I believe they were on my 850 and 1000 the last time I looked.

 

[DimitriT]

On the Kat I only have two leads coming out of the coil. An upper lead and a lower lead. There are colored wires which come out of the harness and attach to the leads.

I have a wiring diagram which is telling me which wires go to which coil but it doesn't tell me which lead to hook up to on the given coil.

Here's an ebay sell with a nice pic of the coils:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2006-Suzuki...ion-wires-/391136268562?fits=Model:Katana+600

notice the leads coming out on one end

 

[JTGS850GL]

Really shouldn't matter since it's just a transformer. Polarity should be irrelevant.

 

[dorkburger]

I would tend to agree with JTGS. Two years ago while replacing plug caps I discovered the coils were installed facing the wrong way and the wires installed exactly opposite of what I marked on the coils when I had them out 15 years ago. I was new to the game then......it ran fine. The length of the wire leaving the harness may help tell the way also, as they may reach one terminal and not the other.

 

[jsandidge]

My coils are labeled for polarity. The O/W goes to positive. I mixed them up once, and the bike backfired pretty bad. Don't remember if positive is top or bottom, and the stamped labels are pretty small. I had to pull a coil to see it.

 

[Brendan W]

Time to sharpen the pencils
http://mgaguru.com/mgtech/ignition/ig104.htm

 

[DimitriT]

Time to sharpen the pencils
http://mgaguru.com/mgtech/ignition/ig104.htm

Yea I was afraid of that.. man those coils are a pain to get to. The GS550 is so much easier to work on.

 

[DimitriT]

OK I went in and pulled the coils and sure enough one side was mis-wired. Here's what they looked like with the incorrect wiring:

https://plus.google.com/photos/yourphotos?pid=6148136202237725666&oid=108852510929994304292

Here's a close up of the coil. Both sides have the same coil. The coil on the left has the + on the upper lead
while the coil on the right has the + on the lower lead:

https://plus.google.com/photos/yourphotos?pid=6148136258252579138&oid=108852510929994304292