1977 GS400 help with mystery of the right ignition points

[pdqford]

I can only offer my SWAG (that’s my Silly Wild A@@ Guess) as to what might cause a set of points to always appear as open. Perhaps one of those condensers is internally shorted so as it doesn’t pass any (very much) current to its points and sucks the current to ground. That way the points never get a chance to “break” the coil primary circuit and cause a spark to be induced.

Maybe disconnect the condensers from the coils and put one meter probe to the coil side connection of the condenser and the other meter probe to a ground and see if one condenser has a short to ground. If one does short to ground then very little current would get to that point and it would appear as open. What do you think?

[gorillafan208]

I can try that, but the condenser connection is soldered onto the coil, should I just remove that solder? I did also just replace the right condenser after discovering this issue and it didn't help anything. Another question, is it possible if the joint where the orange/white wire is connected is bad it could cause that permanently open effect?

[pdqford]

Well, if the condenser is soldered to the coil, remove the orange/white wires from the coils so your meter can’t find a ground back out of the coil and then do as above to see if the meter finds ground through the condenser.

[gorillafan208]

The orange wire are soldered as well, but it is probably time to inspect that joint to see if it's all buggered up as well

[pdqford]

Or unplug the 2 orange/white wires from the wiring harness connector.

BTW, I see this gs400 is a vertical twin, so, since it has dual points, I suspect it is what I call an odd fire engine. In other words, the piston do not go up and down together, but actually one piston is going up when the other piston is going down. Is that correct?

[gorillafan208]

Yes I believe it is an oddfiring engine. And just to clarify, you mean put one probe on where the condenser connects to the coil and another on the ground and see if it shorts right? I did hook everything back up today and do the spark test where you lay the sparkplug against the block and see if it sparks. And both plugs did spark, but I noticed that the right coil didn't warm up as much as the left one did. And then I tested the orange/white connector with only the right coil wire plugged in, and I got a voltage of 10.5 while the left coil's wire when plugged in got the full 12 volts. (my battery is fully charged) I also noticed that on the right condenser on the bottom screw that holds it in, there was no thin metal washer like there was on the left condenser. Could that affect anything?

[pdqford]

yes i believe it is an oddfiring engine. And just to clarify, you mean put one probe on where the condenser connects to the coil and another on the ground and see if it shorts right?
>>Right. But be sure that condenser's set of points is blocked open.. Otherwise your meter may find a ground through the points.
Do you get similar reading on each condenser?

I did hook everything back up today and do the spark test where you lay the sparkplug against the block and see if it sparks. And both plugs did spark, but i noticed that the right coil didn't warm up as much as the left one did.
>>That makes me think then that the left coil is being continuosly powered (and grounded). That's why it gets warm. Or maybe the right coil isn't getting powered up?

And then i tested the orange/white connector with only the right coil wire plugged in, and i got a voltage of 10.5 while the left coil's wire when plugged in got the full 12 volts. (my battery is fully charged)
>>if the points for a coil are open, no current would be flowing through that circuit so it would read battery voltage. If the points were closed,, current should be flowing through the circuit so the circuit would experience voltage drop so you would read battery voltage less the volts being dropped.

I also noticed that on the right condenser on the bottom screw that holds it in, there was no thin metal washer like there was on the left condenser. Could that affect anything?

>>I don't know. What does that thin metal washer do?? Does it make contact with the electrical circuit?