1983 gs550L

[lrburke]

Hi, I am new to this forum as of about two minutes ago. Can anybody tell me if the igniter resistance test that is given in the factory manual is legitimate. I know that the rectifier regulator is bad because the voltage is almost 20 volts at the red wire coming from it. It tested bad according to the test in the manual. I have went through the carbs and sure that they are right but the bike at idle has a violent popping out the exhaust and I think it is a timing issue. I know the igniter controls ignition timing and thats why I am not sure if it is bad but it fails the resistance test. Thanks

[Fishman]

I don't know much at all about ignitors, but I can tell you that a recent test I did on a Kaw 250 ignitor indicated it was very, very bad based on the values I should have been getting that were published in the manual. So I bought a new one and got the exact same issues. Turns out it was a missing part in the carb and not the ignitor at all. Now I have two ignitors that give me the similar values for resistance, etc. that appear wrong, but work fine.

You say you know the carbs are right, but did you dip them, etc. as stated many times here? Also, have you synched them? I just helped a buddy synch a Nighthawk 700sc that backfired whenever the throttle was laid off, and they were WAY off. Runs like a new bike now.

So, it could be the ignitor, but there are other things as well. I'm sure others will have more insight.

[lrburke]

Thanks for your reply. I could not be more sure that these carbs are clean. The bike seems to idle fine but it has this weird popping out the exhaust almost like it is a little out of time. According to the manual, the igniter controls ignition timing. That's why I was wondering if the high voltage could have damaged the igniter.

[Fishman]

Well if you can rule out the carbs, then I'd think you are on the right track with electrical.

Bump to the top for ya. Hopefully someone else knows something.

[Big N daft]

Thanks for your reply. I could not be more sure that these carbs are clean. The bike seems to idle fine but it has this weird popping out the exhaust almost like it is a little out of time. According to the manual, the igniter controls ignition timing. That's why I was wondering if the high voltage could have damaged the igniter.

The two ignitors that I've had go on me failed completely, so, if it's running, I'd say it wasn't the ingnitor to blame per se, especially as a fault caused by your R&R issue would tend to fry the thing completely if it was going to do damage. Also the ignition system fires 2 cylinders per channel so if one of the channels was bad then it would affect two cylinders which would show itself as more than just popping.

I've found the resistance checks in the manuals to be a good indicator of the state of the ignitor.

If you haven't got the R&R problem sorted then there's no real point doing anything as it could be that a high unregulated power source is causing the ignitor to work sporadically and I personally wouldn't take the chance of running the bike with that fault on just in case.

[Steve]

If you have 20 volts coming out the regulator, you may have fried the ignitor and some other stuff, too.

Is it a stock regulator or one of the popular Honda replacements? If it has more than 5 wires, it's definitely a replacement. If it has six wires, make sure the 'sense' wire is connected to a switched 'hot' wire so it can regulate properly.

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