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Guest
Guest
i liked the right hand switch short idea. go over all the wiring with a fine toothed comb, it costs nothing but time and will eliminate some possibilities.
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timbrigham
Guest
I bought this bike from the previous owner... i had some background on old car electrical systems.
Turns out there were a couple volts getting though to the spark plugs but not near enough to fire.
I started from the battery and found one of the ignition coils totally shot (no ohm reading from the boot, and geting crazy hot). The other was loose.
Could this have been the underlying problem, or just a symptom? Also I'm a bit leery about replacing with another used trandformer coil... how should I pick an appropriate aftermarket model? The primary coil comes back at 4 ohms.
Turns out there were a couple volts getting though to the spark plugs but not near enough to fire.
I started from the battery and found one of the ignition coils totally shot (no ohm reading from the boot, and geting crazy hot). The other was loose.
Could this have been the underlying problem, or just a symptom? Also I'm a bit leery about replacing with another used trandformer coil... how should I pick an appropriate aftermarket model? The primary coil comes back at 4 ohms.
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help us out here, what bike model year etc.? And welcome.
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timbrigham
Guest
It's the same 81 GS450L as the original poster of this thread. 
He asked me to let him know what I found... figured posting here he'd have the chance to see it.
When I unplugged the problematic coil it immediately sounded better trying to turn over. That's why I'm wondering if that may have been the cause of this behavior.
He asked me to let him know what I found... figured posting here he'd have the chance to see it. When I unplugged the problematic coil it immediately sounded better trying to turn over. That's why I'm wondering if that may have been the cause of this behavior.
"......It's the same 81 GS450L as the original poster of this thread."
So you are the PO? Yes, a shorted out ignition coil would change cranking noise/behavior, but the random problem he's describing can be challenging to find. Connections need to be inspected/cleaned before you can be sure it's the ignitor itself. Or you can uses jumper wire to bypass stuff (see earlier reply) and determine ignitor's condition at the moment this problem occurs.
So you are the PO? Yes, a shorted out ignition coil would change cranking noise/behavior, but the random problem he's describing can be challenging to find. Connections need to be inspected/cleaned before you can be sure it's the ignitor itself. Or you can uses jumper wire to bypass stuff (see earlier reply) and determine ignitor's condition at the moment this problem occurs.
eil
Forum Sage
It sounds to me like timbrigham bought this bike from Nilson. Correct?
If so, welcome and don't miss the link to the mega-welcome in my signature. It's tempting to fix the most outstanding issue to get the bike running and then call it good but chances are there's a lot more maintenance that bike needs in order to be safe and reliable.
OEM coils can go bad, but rarely do. If you decide you need a new one, a used one should be fine, especially if you buy from a member here on the forum. However, it's more likely the spark plug caps are just in bad shape. You can either buy new ones (NGK makes good and cheap replacements) or see if the old ones can be serviced. They can be taken apart and rebuilt pretty easily if the rubber is still good.
If so, welcome and don't miss the link to the mega-welcome in my signature. It's tempting to fix the most outstanding issue to get the bike running and then call it good but chances are there's a lot more maintenance that bike needs in order to be safe and reliable.
OEM coils can go bad, but rarely do. If you decide you need a new one, a used one should be fine, especially if you buy from a member here on the forum. However, it's more likely the spark plug caps are just in bad shape. You can either buy new ones (NGK makes good and cheap replacements) or see if the old ones can be serviced. They can be taken apart and rebuilt pretty easily if the rubber is still good.
