No Spark Situation.

[Guest]

I was riding on the freeway the other day and my engine completely turned off. It felt like the kill switch had been hit. I pulled to the side and tried starting it again, it spun but didn't catch. I called a tow truck and while waiting i tried starting it again and it fired right up. I rode it off the freeway and it died again, idling at the first light, and didn't start again for another 20 minutes or so. I pushed/rode it home, and then tested both coils for spark and neither had it. The battery is in good shape and so is the charging system. Is this a sign of a failing ignitor or do they not work like that? Is there something else that could cause the loss of spark on all the cylinders simultaneously?

[Nessism]

Could be the ignitor. Your model 550 is known for weak ignitors. Better double check your charging system to make sure it's not overcharging since that's bad for the ignitor.

[ColinClayton]

The battery reads 13.7 while running. Is it possible for an ignitor to fail and then continue working later on? I was checking the voltage at the coils, and they felt pretty hot. Could that be a sign of a bad ignitor as well?

[tom203]

Coils get toasty during running.Your ignitor could be getting too hot and crapping out but a connection could be breaking also and cutting off power to ignition system- faulty kill switch,etc. You could install a jumper wire to orange/white wire at either coil, so next time it craps out connect other wire end to positive battery terminal- this bypasses harness problems. If it restarts/runs with this bypass, you got connection problems. If it does run like this, you will have to stall it out to kill engine!

[ColinClayton]

I tried as Tom suggested and it did not start. The bike will consistently run for about 15 minutes then lose spark on all plugs until it has sat for 30 minutes or so. Does this mean it must be the ignitor?

[Redman]

QUiting after it warms up is a typical failure mode of electronics, such as the igniter.

I was pondereing if the pickup could have the same symptoms. But after thinking of it more, the pickup is more like a coil of wire. Actaully two coils of wire, one for each ignition coil, so would seem that would not suspect both of those to warm up and fail at the same time.

The way to check the pickup is to take on ohm check with a meter, which might be kinda hard to do aftger it has failed and is still warm, but can give it a try.

.

[ColinClayton]

After it cut out again I checked the resistance of the pickups and one did not have any reading. However once it cooled off it showed about 400 ohms, the other was around 350.
I assume that the signal generator is the problem, but I cannot find any replacement part at a used part store or otherwise. Is there a way to repair these pickup coils or mount different ones from another bike to the existing timing plate?

[Grimly]

The pickups are generally fairly reliable - but they're all getting a bit old now, and even a good used set might not last as long as you would hope.
It's a tossup between that and shelling out for a Dyna set-up.
Otoh, somebody might know for certain what other pickups might fit - Suzuki used a lot of parts between models. I doubt that the complete assembly would swap from anything else (I'm not even sure the 650 is a contender here), but the pickups themselves might - if you determine how they're wired; from your measurements, I take it they're likely two wires and a common return; physical size, etc. Another factor is the shape and size of the profile of the trigger.

[ColinClayton]

Ive opted to go with the Dyna 2000 setup, because if something as reliable as the pickup coils are failing, the ignitor cant be far behind. After speaking with a Dynatek employee, I found out that none of their ignition products are specifically designed to fit an 83 550. They offered alternatives, like a Dyna made for an GS1100 or 700, but they did not sound very sure. Is there a Dyna model that can easily be modified to work?