No spark - 1982 GS1100GK - faulty igniter?

[Rijko]

Could be. Maybe the plug was not grounded well during the test.
No harm in trying them anyway.

[Gorminrider]

I wouldn't worry too much about "voltage drops" when your ignitor tests bad.

You'll always have voltage drops with coils and lights loading a tiny battery but sure checking connections is always a good thing. Pull the headlight fuse. That should help improve the Voltage of the remaining circuits throughout.

Is my assumption correct that only one of the plugs has to be grounded to avoid damage to the igniter or do all four plugs need to be grounded at the same time?

all plugs should be grounded. The plugs fire in pairs.

[Rijko]

all plugs should be grounded

yeah .. i did not pick up on that.
If you ever want to see a spark from any spark plug, it should be grounded.

I usually ground 1 spark plug well, using a wire like in the video and switch that one with the coils i am testing.

[Gorminrider]

yes, good idea=One at a time using the same "known good" plug. I actually made myself a special test plug with a grounding clamp ....leaving the others in place

[MtnManCO]

You can measure how many volts are going into the handlebar switch, the left wire you're pointing at.

The other one shows how many volt are exiting the handlebar switch towards coils and igniter. I checked the voltage difference between the two Orange/White wires, it is 0.17 V. Is this in the range that one would expect?


Another point to check is the green/yellow wire, which sends 12V to the starter relay when the button is pressed.
Measure voltage at the connector Only 10 V at the connector. Should I completely disassemble the starter button for a thorough cleaning? I connected the positive cable of the multimeter to the connector and the negative cable to the negative battery terminal. , also be good to unplug the yellow/green wire at the starter relay and see how many volts arrive there. 11.1 V arrive there.
...

Thank you Rijko and Gorminrider for your input.

Please let me know what you think about these measurements.

I am wondering what my next steps should be. Retest the igniter with pulled headlight fuse?

[MtnManCO]

yeah .. i did not pick up on that.
If you ever want to see a spark from any spark plug, it should be grounded.

I know...When I checked all spark plugs for sparks I always made sure that the one plug I was checking at a time was properly grounded to the cooling fins. While I was checking one particular plug one or more of the other plugs may not have been grounded properly and I was wondering if one or more non-grounded plugs could lead to damage to the igniter.

[Rijko]

]I was wondering if one or more non-grounded plugs could lead to damage to the igniter.

No, that won't cause damage.
The igniter takes a pulse from the pickups at the crank,
does its magic with it and gives that signal to the coil.
Igniters can fail, not often but they fail sometimes.
But it may just be the lack of proper voltage or other bad
connections are the cause of not functioning well.
(or failure, bad connections may cause higher loads running
through components and heating them up.
Sometimes you find the transparent outer part on a connector
brown or black or even melted from heat)

[Rijko]

Please let me know what you think about these measurements.

that's bad contacts, should be solved.
If that means taking the handlebar switch apart, consider there's a lot
of small parts in there that want to jump out and hide.
Are you comfortable doing that ?

I am wondering what my next steps should be. Retest the igniter with pulled headlight fuse?

Retest is fine, as long as the igniter gets 12 volt

[Gorminrider]

I haven't done this myself but it seems it could work.

As another ignitor test, if you can turn the engine over slowly enough, you might be able to see a low wattage test lamp flicker as the ignitor ("TCI") pulses to the primary...
I'm not sure of the rpm required to create a pulse you can see at the lamp but it's likely under a thousand RPM and I doubt you can do it by hand turning the crank...spinning the engine with the starter might be about right?
The test lamp would be in parallel with the coil connections..a bulb similar to your gauge lamps would be a "low wattage" bulb.

Test both coils.

I know...When I checked all spark plugs for sparks I always made sure that the one plug I was checking at a time was properly grounded to the cooling fins

ALL plugs are to be grounded whenever the ignition system is employed. Be aware that the secondary high voltage coil GROUNDS AT EACH END through two plugs in the four cylinder bike.....so you should have the PAIR of plugs grounded......Leaving one lying loose while you test one seems bad to me. Keep them in their holes until you test them one at a time. As to igniter damage if you don't do this, I don't know, but some people say that it does...simply speaking, you're playing with lightning when you "experiment" with high voltage coils.

[MtnManCO]

that's bad contacts, should be solved.
If that means taking the handlebar switch apart, consider there's a lot
of small parts in there that want to jump out and hide.
Are you comfortable doing that ?

I opened the right handlebar switch and cleaned the kill switch with Deoxit, sprayed Deoxit also onto the starter button, but did not take the kill switch and starter button fully apart. Should I take both fully apart? Are they more difficult to reassemble than the ignition switch, will there by flying parts?

I took the ignition switch apart and cleaned it, was holding my breath when I opened it, but was able to reassemble it without major difficulties.

[MtnManCO]

[Retest is fine, as long as the igniter gets 12 volt[/QUOTE]

I retested the igniter. I pulled the headlight fuse, which allowed for 12.2 V going to the igniter. I performed the igniter test with a 1.5 V battery and got no spark on any of the plugs.

Based on this it looks like to me like the igniter is faulty. Please let me know if you agree.

Based on what I found on this forum and elsewhere I am inclined to get an aftermarket ignition system. Would the Dynatek 2000 be the right system for my bike?

Or should I consider getting a new (=costly) or used OEM igniter?

Thanks again for all your help

[Rijko]

I opened the right handlebar switch and cleaned the kill switch with Deoxit, sprayed Deoxit also onto the starter button, but did not take the kill switch and starter button fully apart. Should I take both fully apart? Are they more difficult to reassemble than the ignition switch, will there by flying parts?

I took the ignition switch apart and cleaned it, was holding my breath when I opened it, but was able to reassemble it without major difficulties.

Then you should be able to do this.
Some place a bag around the switch to catch flying parts, the starter button spring tends to jump out.

[Rijko]

I retested the igniter. I pulled the headlight fuse, which allowed for 12.2 V going to the igniter. I performed the igniter test with a 1.5 V battery and got no spark on any of the plugs.

Based on this it looks like to me like the igniter is faulty. Please let me know if you agree.

Looks like the igniter is fried ...

Based on what I found on this forum and elsewhere I am inclined to get an aftermarket ignition system. Would the Dynatek 2000 be the right system for my bike?

Or should I consider getting a new (=costly) or used OEM igniter?

The Dyna 2000 is a great device but costly, and takes some rewiring and has a control box you would need to hide somewhere.
Personally i would find another igniter.

[MtnManCO]

Thank you. Which Dynatek model would you recommend for my 1982 GS1100GK?

Are there any good alternatives to OEM or Dynatek?

[Rijko]

The only Dyna alternative is a Dyna S, cheaper and good, but that would mean installing a mechanical advancer.
Don't think that would be a problem, but i have no experience with that.

Not many alternatives for OEM or Dyna.