no spark, and cant really find why

[Guest]

Im working on getting a 1982 gs 850 glz back up and running after we were in an accident in october. There was no serious damage done to the bike, just some dents and a busted instrument cluster. as im finally working on getting her running, im finding that the spark plug wires arent giving any spark, so i had them tested and the coils are good, but the wire heads must have gotten hit in the accident. so, after i replace all the spark plugs, and put new heads on the wires, i put it all back together, and still no spark coming out of the spark. after consulting with someone at a dealership, he suggested it could be the pickup coil thats causing my issue. so, i take off the side cover thats covering the coil, find where the wire goes, and realize i dont have my voltmeter. i wanted to give it one more try though, so i put the key in, turned it, and nothing.. at all.. no lights, no starter motor (which had been working) no nothing. checked all the wire clips that could have been knocked loose, but found nothing. i checked all the fuzes, and loose wires, but nothing made since.

if anyone has any idea as to what could be causing my headache, please let me know

[habsdoc]

Start with your battery. Got power there??? Got power to and at the fuse box??? Power coming through the fuses to the rest of the bike??? You can work your way along till you find your problem area and then post back for more direction if needed.

[tom203]

So it cranked over before you you removed signal generator cover (pickup coils) ? Did your accident involve hitting ground on this side ? Do some testing as in this link steps 6, etc. find your voltmeter

http://members.dslextreme.com/users/storagecliff/images/electrical_odd-n-ends.html#A17

[cowboyup3371]

As the others said - battery, fuses, and connections need to be looked over with the multimeter in hand; don't just visually check the fuses if you still have the glass tube type as they can break under the cap.

[mwalter2747]

well, today i didnt make much progress. i did find why i wasnt getting any power: the bottom of the ignition had come loose, so when i was turing the key, it wasnt turning the ignition switch. ive tested continuity between most of the places you named, but nothings coming back negative. the next thing that im going to try is getting ahold of a peak volt meter, so i can trace the sparks electrical pulse back to where it should come from, so i can see whats keeping it from sparking.

@tom203- i took a closer look at the cover for the pickup coils, and i noticed a dent on the outside, that resulted in a spiderweb like crack on the inside. the bike has crash bars, so i wouldnt have expected the accident to damage that. is it possible that a blow hard enough to dent the casing could have damaged the pickup coils? the dent was practically right above one of them..