confirm coil test

[azr]

79 GS850G, all stock. If someone could confirm my method for testing my coils, I would sure appreciate it. I unpluged the orange and black/white wires from both coils. I put on probe into the orange and one probe into the white and got my reading. To test the secondary windings I simply put a probe into each of the plug caps from the same coil. Does this sound right??

[nert]

Yes, No
NO! "I put on probe into the orange and one probe into the white and got my reading." You should be placing your probe on the coil terminals to test the coil. Not into the orange and white wire.

[Marine36]

Yes for the primary. Caps and wires on coils may be the real culprits if the secondary show bad by your method. I have never had stock coils so I am not real sure how to get a positive test on secondary since the wires are attached.

[azr]

when you say coil terminals....put one probe onto the orange terminal and the other onto the black terminal on the same coil.

[Suzuki_Don]

You disconnect the orange wire and the white wire from the coil. You then connect the probes from the multimeter to the two terminals on the coil that the orange and white wires were removed from. Then do the test in ohms. You should read 3 ohms for electronic ignition on the primary and 5 ohms for points operated ignition system. The secondary test on the two plug HT wires should read somewhere between 20,000 and 50,000 ohms.

[azr]

damn. 0.7 ohms on the first test and 20'000 for the secondary, and thats with points. Both coils are roughly the same, so I guess that means new coils. Thanks for all the help. It seems everytime I test something, there is something else that needs replacing. Any suggestions on decent coils that won't break the bank?

[gearhead13]

I have a set of coils off my '82 750 collecting dust. I dont know if the primary resistance difference would make cause a problem.
The coils show 4 ohms primary and ~13k secondary