82 katana somtimes starts somtimes not

[Will]

I think its the coil, somtimes it starts and other times it dosn't and it has just died on me while riding. Will a dieing coil behave this way? Last night I tested and there was no spark this morning I tried to start it and it fired right up. The other day I was riding and it just died, a few hours later I wiggled the wires to the plugs around and it started but then later it wouldn't.

[ikazuki]

will, there are a couple of investments you should make, inexpensive and you will use them time and again.
a good volt meter/ohm meter this will tell you what your rectifier/regulator, ignitor, stator, battery and coils are putting out.
the next is a shop manual if you can find one . however a clymer manual will give you the proper voltage and ohm requirements for each. good luck and safe riding. ikazuki

[Will]

coil

ok good idea, but in the mean time dose it sound like the coil to you?

[babcockdonald]

a few hours later I wiggled the wires to the plugs around and it started but then later it wouldn't.

Check your ground wires. If they are getting corroded/loose it will reak havoc on your electrical system. What could be happening is that you have a ground wire that is either loose or corroded and is only making good contact some of the time.

This could explaine your intermittent starting problems, and also your bike dying on you when you were riding it.

Usually when you have to wiggle wires that means that something isn't making proper contact.

[Will]

ok so i checked the ground wires and they seam to all be ok, and now the bike seams to start and run well I rode it around for about a half hour or so, Although this morning before I checked all the wires I started it up and started driving it and it died. Then it started up again 2 mins later. could this posibly be a dieing coil? or did I just maybe pull on the right wire?

[anvilman]

coil

it ius possible that it could be a coil. sometimes when they start goiung bad what happens is when they get hot and the bike will die and then after they cool off the bike will start back up. so it is possible that it could be a coil but i would also go bacvk and check all ur wires as well. u might have over looked one and dont realize it been there and done that myself and it was the coil