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Coils - Dyna or Suzuki?

  • Thread starter Thread starter UncleMike
  • Start date Start date
dietcokeking said:
I bought it to ride - not to work on. If I need it to go faster, I should've bought a different bike.
Click to expand...

Thats about as well said as anything Ive read here...:mrgreen:
 
morthrane said:
Dunno about that, but I've heard of coils that would test out fine cold, but start to behave erratically and fail as they heat up.
Click to expand...

That's what I meant.
 
Yes. A faulty coil will do this when it heats up. When the coil heats and expands, the windings separate, which weakens the boost. Could even kill it altogether...
 
My comment doesn't play into which one is better than the other. If they are both new, probably very minor difference if at all.
 
Hoomgar said:
One thing I can say is even though your wires are glued in from factory they can still be cut out, clean up the coils where they go in (a Dremel tool works great for this :) ) and then glue new ones in. BTDT. Not sure how to check wires to see if they have gone bad. But wires are cheap and never a bad idea to replace when old. Also the wires and connections feeding the coils are often suspect. Especially the ground.
Click to expand...
Once again Hoomgar comes through with the answer to my question. I want to replace my plug wires before there is a problem, who knows how old the wires on the bike are and I was curious about the glued on wires, I've never seen that before. Anything I should know before I start screwing with it?
Chuck
 
Evil Hobbit said:
I want to replace my plug wires before there is a problem...

Anything I should know before I start screwing with it?
Click to expand...

Yeah. Don't. If it's working, leave it alone. If performance starts to suffer, and you can trace the problem to the wires, replace them at that time. This fix-it-if-it-breaks policy will save you money and grief.
 
UncleMike said:
Then why do I hear so many people chiming in with how much better the bike seems to perform with newer coils? Better throttle response/idling/etc.
Click to expand...

Here's a quote from Motor Cyclist Magazine, December, 1984 regarding a restoration of a 79 GS1000:

"...If you own a stock GS1000, you own a set of weak ignition coils. Like most other OEM motorcycle coils, Suzuki ignition coils are poor performers. Low spark energy is partially to blame for slow warm-up and overly sensitive carburetor tuning. An engine does not have to miss, backfire or burn holes in pistons to have ignition problems.
Since we chose Dyna for our ignition, it only made sense to use a set of its coils and wires, too. They are easy to install, more than double the energy output from stock and are more reliable. You should also change the plug wires which are molded into the stock coils.
..... if you have to choose between an electronic ignition and a set of coils, leave the points on and take the coils. ....."
 
renobruce said:
Here's a quote from Motor Cyclist Magazine, December, 1984 regarding a restoration of a 79 GS1000:

"...If you own a stock GS1000, you own a set of weak ignition coils. Like most other OEM motorcycle coils, Suzuki ignition coils are poor performers. Low spark energy is partially to blame for slow warm-up and overly sensitive carburetor tuning. An engine does not have to miss, backfire or burn holes in pistons to have ignition problems.
Since we chose Dyna for our ignition, it only made sense to use a set of its coils and wires, too. They are easy to install, more than double the energy output from stock and are more reliable. You should also change the plug wires which are molded into the stock coils.
..... if you have to choose between an electronic ignition and a set of coils, leave the points on and take the coils. ....."
Click to expand...

The plot thickens,...
 
Well I just put on Accel coils on my GS850l and they work great ,I had to bump up the pilot jet but that was easy.Oh yeah make sure you get coils that are made for your bike ignition ,ether induction or CDI .
 
Stock coils OK

Stock coils OK

I was just wondering if there was a good way to get new wires on the stock coils without introducing unwanted resistance on the wires. I think that they are not meant to be removed from the coils. I would like replace the spark plug wires however, because the bike has 30,000 miles on it.

It's all in the name:
1985 GS700ES

-Bill
​
 
renobruce said:
Here's a quote from Motor Cyclist Magazine, December, 1984 regarding a restoration of a 79 GS1000:

"...If you own a stock GS1000, you own a set of weak ignition coils. Like most other OEM motorcycle coils, Suzuki ignition coils are poor performers. Low spark energy is partially to blame for slow warm-up and overly sensitive carburetor tuning. An engine does not have to miss, backfire or burn holes in pistons to have ignition problems.
Since we chose Dyna for our ignition, it only made sense to use a set of its coils and wires, too. They are easy to install, more than double the energy output from stock and are more reliable. You should also change the plug wires which are molded into the stock coils.
..... if you have to choose between an electronic ignition and a set of coils, leave the points on and take the coils. ....."
Click to expand...

Dyna probably wrote the copy for them. I have noticed with few exceptions that the enthusiam and rationale MC mags have for a product are related to revenue from their major advertisers. For instance, the motorcycle mags rationale for "motorcycle oil" came directly from their advertisers that sold oil.
 
1985GS700ES said:
I would like replace the spark plug wires however, because the bike has 30,000 miles on it.​
Click to expand...


Yeah. Let me tell you how that goes! You go to considerable trouble to access, cut, connect, and seal new wires to 20 year old coils that were working adequately to begin with(?). Two weeks later those old coils will fail. Guaranteed! This is Karma.​
 
Evil Hobbit said:
Once again Hoomgar comes through with the answer to my question. I want to replace my plug wires before there is a problem, who knows how old the wires on the bike are and I was curious about the glued on wires, I've never seen that before. Anything I should know before I start screwing with it?
Chuck
Click to expand...

Sure is Chuck. There is a pin that sticks into the middle of the plug wire inside the socket. You must be careful not to damage it when you remove the old wires and when Dremeling out the holes. I simply grabed the wires and gave them one hell of a pull and twist at the same time and they cam out with a snap! Then I cleaned up the holes with a router bit (in a drill actually because at the time I didn't have a Dremel). If careful, the job is fairly easy and the new wires go right in. Use some good epoxy to glue them back in with. JB weld works well :)
 
dietcokeking said:
Yeah. Let me tell you how that goes! You go to considerable trouble to access, cut, connect, and seal new wires to 20 year old coils that were working adequately to begin with(?). Two weeks later those old coils will fail. Guaranteed! This is Karma.
Click to expand...

Stop that! :lol:
 
Are Dyna Coils (or Accel or MSD) better than stock - the answer differs based on the year the original coils were made.

This answer is really a generic answer across the 4 Japanese makes.

To a large part, the coils are only as good as the rest of the ignition system. Putting high output coils on a bike running with points may improve the spark slightly, but they are not a panacea. If you go to the race track, you will not see stock coils on most of the bikes - there is a reason for that - the stock coils just do not cut it - the output voltage is not the same.

In the 1970's the coils fitted to most of the Japanese motorcycles were marginal out of the factory. Most had the molded in plug wires, most generated a very weak spark - many of the magazines lamented about the spark issues with this generation of bikes (although not as bad as Lucas electrics on the British bikes). Roll forward 30 years and most of those coils / wires are very suspect. Many of the spark problems are the wires and plug caps. Yes, you can try and remove the wires from these coils and often successfully replace the wires - sometimes it doesn't work. In removing the wires you can damage the post the wires attach to. In fitting new wires, it does take some work - the wires have to be sealed into the coil otherwise when it rains you'll get a short and lose spark.

Once you start getting into the 1980's, the coils start to improve significantly. Many came out of the factory with removable wires - a big plus.

Often the issue is not whether they are better or worse, but when looking for replacements can you find the resistance you need. Most of the coils fitted to bikes with points are 3.7 ohm to 4.2 ohm. Once electronic ignitions started to surface, you started to see a variety of coil resistances. From 1.5 ohm thru 2.2 ohm to 3 ohm. None of these are suitable on the older points bikes and you have to be careful to match resistance. Some of the newer bikes use some very low resistance coils.

Any coil can fail - they are subjected to tremendous heat by sitting over the engine. They can overheat and fry if you leave the ignition on with the bike not running (ask me how I know this one...). They may fail if you mismatch the coil with the ignition system. Over the years, I have personally replaced many factory coils that quit working effectively. Sometime the first sign was the coil breaking down at higher RPM, sometime they just failed and died.
 
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