• Required reading for all forum users!!!

    Welcome!
    Register to access the full functionality of the GSResources forum. Until you register and activate your account you will not have full forum access, nor will you be able to post or reply to messages.

    A note to new registrants...
    All new forum registrations must be activated via email before you have full access to the forum.

    A Special Note about Email accounts!
    DO NOT SIGN UP USING hotmail, outlook, gmx, sbcglobal, att, bellsouth or email.com. They delete our forum signup emails.

    A note to old forum members...
    I receive numerous requests from people who can no longer log in because their accounts were deleted. As mentioned in the forum FAQ, user accounts are deleted if you haven't logged in for the past 6 months. If you can't log in, then create a new forum account. If you don't get an error message, then check your email account for an activation message. If you get a message stating that the email address is already in use, then your account still exists so follow the instructions in the forum FAQ for resetting your password.

    Have you forgotten your password or have a new email address? Then read the forum FAQ for details on how to reset it.

    Any email requests for "can't log in anymore" problems or "lost my password" problems will be deleted. Read the forum FAQ and follow the instructions there - that's what we have one for...

  • Returning Visitors

    If you are a returning visitor who never received your confirmation email, then odds are your email provider is blockinig emails from our server. The only thing that can be done to get around this is you will have to try creating another forum account using an email address from another domain.

    If you are a returning visitor to the forum and can't log in using your old forum name and password but used to be able to then chances are your account is deleted. Purges of the databases are done regularly. You will have to create a new forum account and you should be all set.

Condenser problems

  • Thread starter Thread starter canuckxxx
  • Start date Start date
C

canuckxxx

Guest
I still have the original points ignition on my '77 GS750. About a month ago it started missing on 2-3 and I eventually tracked it down to a bad condenser on that set of points...with points cover off and bike running in dark garage there was much sparking at 2-3 points.

So I put in all new points and condensers that I got from Z1. Bike ran great. Yesterday I stared it up and it was missing on 2-3 again. Same test: a bit more sparking at 2-3 points so I put the leftover good OE condenser and the bike runs good again. But for how long?

is there some condition with coils or spark plugs or anything else that could toast condensers?

thanks in advance
Brian
 
If it were me, I'd covert to electronic ignition and be done with it. The Dyna-S kits work great. You'd need the DS3-1 or DS3-2 kit depending on which advance plate is installed. There should the letters "KD" or "ND" stamped on the advance plate. If it's "KD" then you need the DS3-1. If it's "ND" then you'll need the DS3-2.
 
Yes, i probably will go that route. I have the ND style points. Are the green Dyna coils (3 ohms I think) compatible with the Dyna S.

Paid $45 for the new points and condensers and now one of the new condensers is gone so that still bugs and would still like to figure that out. Might be awhile before I round up the $300 I figure it will cost for Dyna S, green Dyna coils and plug wires.

thanks
Brian
 
Yes, i probably will go that route. I have the ND style points. Are the green Dyna coils (3 ohms I think) compatible with the Dyna S.

Paid $45 for the new points and condensers and now one of the new condensers is gone so that still bugs and would still like to figure that out. Might be awhile before I round up the $300 I figure it will cost for Dyna S, green Dyna coils and plug wires.

I guess the first thing to check is the primary resistance of each coil. Should both be about 5 ohms I think.

thanks
Brian
 
The stock coils and the green coils have the same 3 ohm resistance and are both compatible with the Dyna-S ignition.
 
OK, I checked resistance to ground of primary side of both coils. Got the same 4.7 ohms for each. Might have just been a bad new condenser. If I had a spare condenser to carry with me I could easily swap it in in about 10 minutes if I really took my time.

All you guys out there who have swapped out your points please sell me a condenser for cheap.

thanks
brian
 
Dyna-S is no where near $300. They can be picked up for under $140 all day long. Shop around and you can find them for less.
 
I had an electrical problem I chased for months ; my old boss (in HS I worked at a gas station after school) showed me that I had bad plug wires and the spark was bouncing off the high impedance and arching at the coil. I would strongly suspect if the coils were arching your are probably arching at points also. The opposite might well be true as also. New ignition will not help and highly unlikely that the points. are the problem. My suggestion is to fix it before moving on.
 
Last edited:
posplayr said:
I had an electrical problem I chased for months ; my old boss (in HS I worked at a gas station after school) showed me that I had bad plug wires and the spark was bouncing off the high impedance and arching at the coil. I would strongly suspect if the coils were arching your are probably arching at points also. The opposite might well be true as also. New ignition will not help and highly unlikely that the points. are the problem. My suggestion is to fix it before moving on.
Click to expand...

So are you saying that there might not be a good connection between high tension wires at the coil so high impedance? Interesting. I'm pretty sure I have the OE coils and plug wires...they still have the metal covers at the plugs. I guess the fix then would be new plug wires, right?

i have looked in at the plug wires in a dark garage with engine running and didn't see any arcing but maybe the arcing is inside the coil-to-wire boot.

Would I use solid copper core plug wires? Maybe I could redo the connection with existing wires.

thanks
Brian
 
Just went out to the garage and measured the resistance between 2 - 3 and 1 - 4 plug leads; 1 - 4 was 32K ohms, 2 - 3 was infinity so no metal to metal connection. 2 - 3 is the one I have been having trouble with.

I think you've nailed it posplayr. I might try redoing all the cable ends. I think there is a writeup at Basscliff's website on how to do that.

Thanks a lot
Brian
 
OK so this evening I took the tank off and tried to measure the resistance across the coils. Got the same result as before 32k ohms across 1-4, infinity across 2-3. I remembered the last time I ran the bike #2 pipe was not getting very hot so I pushed down on it's plug cap and got a little shock. So I screwed the cap off of #2 and tried to measure the resistance through it. Got infinity across the cap. Unscrewed the resistor inside and some very corroded pieces fell out. So cap is toast.

Then I took the rest of the plug caps off and checked them. There was one other bad one and the other two had 10k ohm resistance through them. Measured the resistance through both coils now with the plug caps removed. I got about 12k ohm on each.

So I figure the coils and leads are OK but I need to, at least replace those two bad caps. Would like to find the same OE looking caps like the ones in the picture. Notice that the 2-3 caps are longer then the 1-4 caps.

Any ideas where a guy could get new caps?
Thanks
Brian

 
Here is another thought. Do you need the cap resistance for it to work right or is that stop radio interference?

Here is a picture of one of the bad caps with the part that screws in (that contacts the spark plug end) and the resistor pieces that came out. Why couldn't I just replace the resistor parts with a piece of copper wire? Would at least get me by until the new caps arrive from Z1. Supposed to be nice weekend coming up.

Thought, comments?
Brian
 
Quit being so cheap and fix it with the right parts. A brand new set of 4 caps will set you back around $20 and last another 30 years. Trying to fix those caps is just a waist of time.
 
I just bought NGK on eBay for less than $20 for a set.
Yes you need them. They will melt the points and plugs
 
OK, I let some moths out of my wallet and ordered the new caps. Even went crazy and ordered some new grommets for the side covers.
 
Update: Got the new NGK plug ends from Z1 and installed them. Measured resistance across ends...get about 5k ohms instead of 10k of OE ends. Now total resistance from end to end on each coil is about 21k ohms.

Of course bike runs much better; idles smoother, all pipes uniformly warm, less buzzy at high RPMs. So all is good...for now.

Would like to get the metal covers off the old ends and put them on new ends for that OE look.

Thanks for the helpful comments and suggestions.
Brian
 
Glad you have it sorted and I'm sure are wearing at least small smile of satisfaction from a job done well.
 
Yes, this bike is a pure joy to ride when everything is working but that has been hit and miss since I bought it. Those plug caps were probably my problem all along and I just failed to recognize it. Thanks to your suggestion that my condenser failures may be due to high coil resistance on the high voltage side which led me to measure the total coil resistance cap-to-cap. And finding an open in one coil.

The ultimate fix will be to install a Dyna S, green coils and new plug wires. And the purchase of the new plug caps won't be wasted because I will use them on the new system. Just need money.

Thanks for your help
Brian
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top