Ignitor location

[Anonymous]

Where is the ignitor and how do i test it ? thanks

[snark]

The ignitor is under the left side cover. Get a Clymer manual and it will take you step by step thruogh the testing. Good replacements are on Ebay pretty cheap.

[Mr. Jiggles]

It may depend on which bike you have. On the 82 1100E's it's located behind the right side panel, just in front of and below the battery. The easiest thing to do is to trace the wires back from the ignition signal generator. That should lead you straight to the ignitor.

Depending on which bike you have it might be better to change to a dyna ignition system rather than replace a faulty ignitor.

[Anonymous]

clymer manual wrong on wires/ignitor 82 gs450l

Hi all,
I was reading this thread and wanted to comment that the Clymer manual is just dead wrong on the wire colors for my 1982 gs450L (Or my bike was rewired...I've only owned it a month.) It just died; seems ignition related. Will run for about 10 minutes and then dies/won't restart.

I have no spark #2 cylinder (right side) and weak yellow/no spark on #1, so I want to do the ignitor test with a Volt-Ohmmeter, as per Clymer. But, they caution that wrong polarity will fry a good ignitor.
Clymer claims:
Cylinder Signal sender ignitor out
1 Green white
2 Blue black/yellow stripe

My bike: looking at senders: right engine cover off
Sender inner wire(s) outer wire
1-o'clock black/yel. stripe brown
7-o'clock black/yel. stripe green/white stripe
black/wht. stripe
Wiring harness from senders:
brown, black/wht.str., green/wht.str., green/yel.str.

Ignitor: "BB1201 [1B?] 12V" the [1B] is blurred and in question (no brackets "[]"on actual ignitor) the wires are:
black (2, I think, can't see)
white
brown
black/yel.str.
green/wht.str.
orange/wht.str.

any help on WHERE to put my ohmmeter leads would be greatly appreciated. since I have the right engine cover off, could I stick the ohmeter directly to the senders? (why not, I did to check those: 65 ohms each, but the harness was disconnected to the rest of the ignition)

Also, if the "ignitor" test fails, it could still be coils/plugs/wires/boots. But, since the plugs were new 30 trouble free miles ago, it's hard to believe both coils/wires/etc. went bad simultaneously.

[Anonymous]

Damn thee!!!! It's intermittent!!!

Follow-up:
Still haven't done the igniter test, but I tried again later and had spark, weak and yellow, but spark on both plugs. started it up, ran fine for 5 minutes, died. pulled plugs...no spark, plugs are dry and not fouled.

Have ignitors died on anyone like this? Seems a plausible theory is that it warms up and then quits. I bought the thing in cold weather and rode it several hours in 30-40F degree temps. Now it's averaging 60F plus...could this be the answer?

My wife's gonna kill me for buying this heap! Help!!!!

[Anonymous]

A follow-up: Still haven't done the test, but something similar and easier. I bought another used ignitor and it fired up and ran fine. Went 6 miles (all I had time for) trouble-free. Other posts in other topics seem to indicate that ignitors can do this very thing: Die, often with backfiring and missing, coll down and start again, die again, etc.

I'll keep posting follow-ups.

[Anonymous]

Well, that worked for another 10.1 miles...then a repeat performance. Some other discussions suggest a faulty regulator may be the cause of it all. (perhaps killing the igniters or at least temporarily disabling them)

I'll work on it and post again.

[Anonymous]

Feel yer pain, dood.

I have an 80 GS1000. It'll drop #2 & #3 cylinders (no spark), and then fire again for no discernble reason. My signal generator tests good. Coils have been swapped. Cleaned connections. Going for a test ride tonight.

Thinking about hucking the mess and getting a Dyna 2000, Dyna coils & an Electrex regulator. Stomp the gremlins to death!

[snark]

I just had the same problem with my 450L. Beleive it or not, the problem was cut wires to the left coil. Apparently, one of the three previos owners had the tank off and somehow slice the wires putting it back on. The wires weren't bad enough to act up all of the time, just whenever it felt like it.

[Anonymous]

The ignitor only applies a ground to the coil to provide a current path. If you have a weak spark you may not have a fully charged battery. Make sure you have 12.6 volts at the battery.

[Anonymous]

I found my problem (see discussion entitled "Igniter blew, new one comming... WHAT NOW?") long story. But here's the punchline:

A dirty connector from my pick-up coils (crankshaft sensors) to the wiring harness. Cleaned it up and has been trouble-free for a while now.

Derrick