Replacing Stock Igniter

[guyonabikewv]

I'm going to be replacing the stock igniter (CDI) unit tomorrow in my new 81 GS650L. I'm still waiting on a Clymer manual. Does anyone have pictures of where the igniter is actually mounted? The old igniter wasn't present when I bought the bike. I've found the connectors, but just don't know where to screw in the igniter after plugging it in. Thanks!

[Nessism]

You can download the factory manual from basscliff's site for free... http://members.dslextreme.com/users/bikecliff/

No waiting! Look up everything you could ever want to know about your bike.

[guyonabikewv]

I did this yesterday. There's actually no close up of the igniter, just a diagram of the signal generator assembly. I just need a close up picture of where it actually mounts. The closest the factory manual got was showing how to test the lead and the picture showed the entire front half of the bike. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

[TheCafeKid]

I did this yesterday. There's actually no close up of the igniter, just a diagram of the signal generator assembly. I just need a close up picture of where it actually mounts. The closest the factory manual got was showing how to test the lead and the picture showed the entire front half of the bike. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

Dunno bout your bike, but most are mounted ON or AROUND the battery box.. Its usually a black box about 3.5 by 2 inches, has two sets of wires coming out of it. One has only two wires (blue and green) the other, 4 (orange with a white stripe, black and white, green and red?[going off memory here] and black and yellow)

[hikermikem]

Try the triangulation method...

The ignitor will mount near the intersection of:

- the end of the 2 wires coming from the signal generator,

- its power plug coming from the main wiring harness,

- a mounting bracket/holes on the frame, electrical plate or battery box.

Get the 2 sets of wires together & look around for a mounting place. Perhaps a review of the "cable & wire routing" pic in your OEM manual will illustrate a bit clearer how the sig gen wires are routed to the ignitor.

[guyonabikewv]

Found it! Thanks for the help. So now just to put the piece in.

[guyonabikewv]

Ok, so I plugged in the new igniter and nothing.... am I missing something?

[TheCafeKid]

Ok, so I plugged in the new igniter and nothing.... am I missing something?

Ok well the next thing to do is break out your trust VOM (volt/ohm meter, multimeter whatever you call it) and start systematicly eliminating things from the equation. Start by checking that your getting power to the ignitor and the coils (delivered via the orange/white wire) if youre not then you know that the problem lies prior to either of those. Check your fuse block. All the fuses good?better still are you getting power and continuity through the fuses? If so your problem lies further back than that. Check your killswitch. This will require removal of the headlamp to access all the wiring in the bucket. There you will find the wire leading from your killswitch going into a connector into the main harness. Disconnect it. In the killswitch side of the connector you will see a couple of different wires. One is orange and white, the oter may be orange and white with a red tube around it or just plain orange. This wire is what delivers power to your switch. The other plain orange and white is switched power that leads back to your coils/ignitor and is energized when the killswitch is in the ON position. Take your VOM set to 200 or 20 ohms and stick one lead in the O/W and the other in the O/W (red tube or just Orange) flick the killswitch. In the ON position you should see roughly .0 ohm (test your leads by touching them together to "zero out" your reading. Some less expensive VOM may read around .7 ohm at zero) then in the OFF poss you should get 1. On the left side of the meter (meaning infinite resistance, as in the cicuit is open) if that doesn't happen and you see no change you may need to simply clean the switch with some contact cleaner or replace it alltogether.

Check back and let us know what you've found.

[mike_of_bbg]

Hello mr. guyonabikewv,

Did the PO explain WHY the bike was arriving to you without an ignitor? Could the bike be equipped with an aftermarket ignition (like Dyna)?

+1 check for volts at the coil.

BTW, I'm a couple of hours away from you, in Blacksburg, VA.

[guyonabikewv]

Hello mr. guyonabikewv,

Did the PO explain WHY the bike was arriving to you without an ignitor? Could the bike be equipped with an aftermarket ignition (like Dyna)?

PO said it had failed about six months ago while riding and he ripped it out. I found the bike on ebay and didn't put much money into it. I'd assumed I'd have to buy some parts before even seeing it. I knew it was going to be a project, I just didn't know how much of one.

After taking things apart yesterday, it's clear the bike had been pretty neglected. The cause of the new igniter not working was a tear in the cable coming off the harness. Took care of that and it tried to turn over when the button was pushed. It doesn't seem to be getting much of a spark, so I've got a lot to still look into in addition to the things I already knew I had to replace.

Thanks for the suggestion. If I ever get this running, I imagine the drive to the Blacksburg area is pretty nice.