Ok Earl, I'm back and need your help on this one.

[Anonymous]

I just put freshly rebuilt carbs, a used ignitor off of a running bike and new coils on my 550 and am still having the same problems. I am getting full spark from one coil and intermittent spark from the other. I swapped the wires to the coils and the problem swapped coils so the coils are good. If i bump the starter the coil will spark but it will not spark if I keep turning it over. Anybody have an idea what my problem could be??? I am getting really close to parting this thing out if I can't get it sorted out.

[earlfor]

Re: Ok Earl, I'm back and need your help on this one.

Shouldnt be a difficult problem. :-) If the problem follows a wiring swap, then it isnt any of the ignition components, its in the wiring. There are two choices. 1. you can strip the covering from the wiring harness and chase it down with continuity checks. But, that would be tedious and just plainly a hassle. :-) 2. I would fix it by rewiring new and bypassing the hidden corroded/broken/or frayed wire.

Here ya go..... The ignition is now powered off the ignition fuse in your fuse box. We change the route and this will result in it being powered from the main fuse in the fuse box.

Disconnect the orange/white wires from your coils, snip the ends of those wires off and tape them over. Wire tie them out of the way to the harness. We wont be using them.

Remove your headlight sealed beam. In the back of the headlight shell you will find a bunch of wiring. Find the pigtail that comes from your ignition switch. The switch is connected to the harness with a (I believe) 6 pin plug. Disconnect that plug. On the harness end of the plug, take your multimeter and find the 12v+ input power lead. (it will always be hot)
it will probably be orange and thicker than the other wires. Once you know which wire is power to the ignition switch, plug the ignition switch back into the plug. Now check the remaining wires in the plug with a probe or continuity light. At the check of each wire, turn the ignition key on and off. You are looking for which wires are switched output. (there will be more than one) When you know which ones are switched, go through those again with the ignition on and turn your headlight off and on.
You do not want to use the power source for the headlight. There will likely be one large remaining wire (possibly brown) that is the main power supply to the wiring harness. That is the wire you are looking for. Tee into that wire with a new orange/white wire long enough to exit the headlight shell and reach the coils. On the end of that wire, add a "Y" so you can connect both coils. Put that wire inside a length of vinyl tube so it will not chafe on any sharp edges and have the vinyl tube stick inside the headlight shell opening in the back of the shell. (where all the wires exit)

(I had the same kind of problem with my 1100 and this solution has worked flawlessly)

Earl

I just put freshly rebuilt carbs, a used ignitor off of a running bike and new coils on my 550 and am still having the same problems. I am getting full spark from one coil and intermittent spark from the other. I swapped the wires to the coils and the problem swapped coils so the coils are good. If i bump the starter the coil will spark but it will not spark if I keep turning it over. Anybody have an idea what my problem could be??? I am getting really close to parting this thing out if I can't get it sorted out.

[Anonymous]

Ok Earl, I took a wire and ran it from the battery to the positive side of the coils leaving the old connectors disconnected. I then ran new wires from the ignitor to the negative sides of the coils and it still does the same thing. When i first hit the switch it sparks the coil off and then quits while the other one continues to fire. Any other suggestions? I appreciate yours and everyone elses help in getting this thing running (hopefully ).

[earlfor]

Did you rake the "new" ignitor from a running bike in your possession? Or is it from a bike someone told you was running?

do you have the same 12v+ power supply wire feeding the + terminals of both coils?

What is the voltage supplied to the coils with the ignition on but starter circuit not engaged?

What does the voltage level to the coils drop to when the starter button is pressed?

Have you done an ignitor check to verify that indeed, both sides of the ignitor are working properly?

What is your battery voltage level?

What is the resistance between the plug caps on the 1,4 coil and on the 2,3 coil.

Earl

Ok Earl, I took a wire and ran it from the battery to the positive side of the coils leaving the old connectors disconnected. I then ran new wires from the ignitor to the negative sides of the coils and it still does the same thing. When i first hit the switch it sparks the coil off and then quits while the other one continues to fire. Any other suggestions? I appreciate yours and everyone elses help in getting this thing running (hopefully ).

[Anonymous]

Ok Earl, I disconnected the ignitor box and tested across each of the cranks sensors on the right hand side of the bike. One side tested at about 320 ohms (analog meter) And the other side measures nothing. Is one of these sensors my problem? If so any idea where I can get one? Thanks for all of you help man. If get this thing running right, dinners on me.

[earlfor]

The resistance spec for the crank triggers is 100 to 300 ohms. 320 ohms on one and nothing on the other places both triggers out of spec with one not working at all. Replacement time.

What year and model bike? Its likely someone has have what you need because the crank triggers are not used when converting to a dyna system.

You might want to put your bike in your signature line.

Earl

Ok Earl, I disconnected the ignitor box and tested across each of the cranks sensors on the right hand side of the bike. One side tested at about 320 ohms (analog meter) And the other side measures nothing. Is one of these sensors my problem? If so any idea where I can get one? Thanks for all of you help man. If get this thing running right, dinners on me.

[KEITH KRAUSE]

Re: Ok Earl, I'm back and need your help on this one.

I am getting full spark from one coil and intermittent spark from the other. I swapped the wires to the coils and the problem swapped coils so the coils are good. If i bump the starter the coil will spark but it will not spark if I keep turning it over.

I was going to say bad sensor/module or wire feeding the sensor from this description (honest Earl, don't kick me), but I can see you guys figured it out. I didn't want to butt in since you asked for Earl.
A bad sensor usually completely dies, but can also do this intermittent stuff. But your test description (across the sensor itself) says a bad sensor instead of the wiring feeding it. Using the known good sparking coil, simply swapping the white and black wires at the coils will show either a bad sensor or wire connection. If the problem follows, it's one or the other.

[earlfor]

Re: Ok Earl, I'm back and need your help on this one.

Hell Keith, please butt in any time, aint no big deal. :-) Besides, we want to let the old geezers around here have their say too. :-) :-) :-)

Earl

I was going to say bad sensor/module or wire feeding the sensor from this description (honest Earl, don't kick me), but I can see you guys figured it out. I didn't want to butt in since you asked for Earl.
A bad sensor usually completely dies, but can also do this intermittent stuff. But your test description (across the sensor itself) says a bad sensor instead of the wiring feeding it. Using the known good sparking coil, simply swapping the white and black wires at the coils will show either a bad sensor or wire connection. If the problem follows, it's one or the other.

[KEITH KRAUSE]

Re: Ok Earl, I'm back and need your help on this one.

Hell Keith, please butt in any time, aint no big deal. :-) Besides, we want to let the old geezers around here have their say too. :-) :-) :-)

Earl

I was going to say bad sensor/module or wire feeding the sensor from this description (honest Earl, don't kick me), but I can see you guys figured it out. I didn't want to butt in since you asked for Earl.
A bad sensor usually completely dies, but can also do this intermittent stuff. But your test description (across the sensor itself) says a bad sensor instead of the wiring feeding it. Using the known good sparking coil, simply swapping the white and black wires at the coils will show either a bad sensor or wire connection. If the problem follows, it's one or the other.

You're as funny as a fart in church Earl!

[earlfor]

Re: Ok Earl, I'm back and need your help on this one.

LMAO :-)

Earl

You're as funny as a fart in church Earl!