I bought a coil but....

[Anonymous]

I bought a coil for my bike, but it still will not start. Cyl #1 getting spark,cyl #2 nothing. Spark plug is clean. I did not want to burn up my starter so I did not try to start it very many times. What is the R/R? Is it the same as the stator? I know Electrex makes a very good product. If this bike get me to Maryland and back one is going on. Right now hurt'n for cash. Help!!!

[Dink]

I am assuming that your bike is a twin, if so both plugs are fired off one coil, if one side is not firing the coil is no good.
Dink

[lhanscom]

Or, there is a bad wire.

[Anonymous]

Is this for your 1150? Judging by your past posts, it sound like either a problem in the signal generator or the ignitor. Do you have the Clymer's Manual for the bike?

[AOD]

swap the spark plugs and see if you get no spark with the plug that sparked before.

could be a fouled plug.

since you replaced the coil, i would re-check your wiring. if you need another coil, i have a few laying around. you might need to put wires on them though.

~Adam

[Anonymous]

pssst. 8O 8O What bike are you working on?????

[Anonymous]

think i found it

Sorry guys for not telling you what the bike is, an 85 GS1150. Plugs are good. I went back to the manual and started testing the wires,hoping for a simple problem.Wires good. I checked the pick up coil. I have resistence on it but lower than what the book calls for. Has to be the Ignitor. Is there any way of sub-bing this part for another from another bike, say, Honda? $200.00 is a bit much.

[satchmo]

Fire up ebay.

I'm not sure what's compatible with what. But they are available.

example

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=35594&item=2427409388

Good luck !

Satch

[AOD]

check to make sure your plug isn't fouled first!

if the CDI box goes...wont pairs of cylinders cut out?

i'm not sure how it works exactly on a stock GS, as i have a Dyna S from points conversion.

~Adam

[Dink]

I also have an 85 1150 the cylinders are fired in pairs, as there is only two coils. So if only one plug is firing , it is either a lead or a fouled plug.
Dink

[Anonymous]

ignitor questions

Been away for awhile. Was checking on E-bay and I found a CDI unit off of a 1979 gs550. Is this another name for the ignitor?Will this unit work on my 1150?. Went to the bike shop today to price an ignitor, $427.00!!! I was hoping for a typo $4.27 or $42.70, not $427.00. What does that thing do and can I hook a lap top to it? Do ignitors go out often? Also would I benefit by converting to electronic ignition?

[SqDancerLynn1]

DO you have spark in 3 & 4 1&2 use different coils paired up ??
1&4 2&3 If money is tight for the reg/rect you can use one from 78-82 Honda 400/450/500. Look in the tips section of the forum

[Don Lobacz]

Need 4 speed, you need to understand a few things before you start replacing parts. Mainly, you already have electronic ignition. These are very efficient and durable, but may be damage by trauma to the electrical system (burnt connections, shorting wires, overcharging, etc). There are aftermarket systems available (Dyna), but they are succeptible to the same problems (especially overcharging due to a bad regulator). One nice thing about the Dyna system is that it is much cheaper than the stock module alone ($150, I think). Your trouble shooting methodology has fatal flaws in it, so you need to go back and start at the beginning.

Pull all 4 sparkplugs, make sure they are clean (get new ones if there is any doubt), plug them back into their caps and lay them on bare metal on top of the motor. As long as the plugs are out, you can play with the spark and not risk backfiring the motor. Ignition on, turn the motor over. If your previous post is accurate, then you should see spark on 1&4 but no spark on 2&3. Go up to the coils and find the firing leads. These will be a specific color for each coil (black and white?) as opposed to the common orange lead that powers each coil. Switch these firing leads between the coils (it may take some creative jumper wiring if you have multi-connectors coming from the coils). Then, turn the motor over again. If the same coils fire (1&4), then you have a bad 2&3 coil/wires. If the other coils fire (2&3), then the problem is upstream with either the ignitor, wiring, or pickups. It may be as simple as a corroded connector or pinched wire, so check there first, but if nothing turns up fairly easily it starts to make sense to install the Dyna ignition since that will replace the entire upstream OEM system. Make sure that you switch the wires back to the original configuration, before you forget.

It is very important not to 'toast' the new system, also. You are expressing doubts about the charging system, so make sure that it is working properly (that is in another section, called the "stator papers").

[Anonymous]

No spark anywhere what is going on?

I admit my trouble shooting needs work. After taking the plugs out and placing them against the engine, the eng cranks but no spark anywhere. With the ign on, I take volt readings. Plugs good, 12 volts at the coils. I noticed that there is a Blk/wht wire that had only.088v and then .125v when cranking. This wire connects to starter relay, ignitor, regulator/ rectifier etc. Shouldn't this wire read 12v?

[Billy Ricks]

The black/white wire is a ground. The '79 550 unit won't work.

Here's how to check the ignitor. Remove spark plugs 1 & 2 and ground them to the motor so they will fire when they get power. With the ignitor facing you, the plug on the right side of the ignitor is where the signal generator plug fits. The two terminals on the right side of that portion of the ignitor will be pin 1 at the front and pin 2 at the back. The two left pins will be pin 3 in front and pin 4 at the back. Turn the ignition switch on. With a multitester set a the X1 ohm range put the + probe on pin 2 and the - probe on pin 1. Plug number 1 should fire. Next put the + probe on pin 4 and the - probe on pin 3. Plug number 2 should fire. If this happens the ignitor is good and the signal generators are suspect.