stupid question

[mrutah12]

I NEED A HELP i repaired my pickup coils but i still cant get it to start. i have spark to my plugs it doesnt even act like it wants to start and when it tires i get a backfire out of the exhaust is it possiable to put the pickup coils on the wrong way ? does anybody have a wiring diagram maybe i can look at i really want to get this bike running cause im getting bike fever weather warming up here in texas.


1978 xs1100 standard
33,000 miles

you cam email me at regular email at mrutah12@hughes.net

[Ken Talbot]

What did you do when you "repaired" your pick-up coils? I.e. did you remove them from the engine, did you one or more broken wires one at a time, did you unplug the connectors from the ignition coils, etc, etc. With a few more details and backtracking through each step you took, the answer will probably pop right out.

[mrutah12]

some more info

I took both pick up coils off i repaired both wire's on one the the one pick up coil i did one wire at a time yes i did unplug it from the wireing harness i brought it in the house cause it happened to be raining i have gone over everything i did three times all ready its driving me crazy by all rights it should be running unless i have the gap set in correct ? but is it possiable to put the pick up coils on wrong thats what im wondering as well thanks for the reply

[Snow]

Sounds like what I was going through with Nina a couple days ago - ended up being that the coils were swapped. Bike sounds like it is almost trying to start, but nothing much aside from black smoke and occasional fireballs? Even kicked my carb bank out of carb holders a couple times (hadn't tightened them down).

If you installed the pickup coils in reversed locations, it would have the same effect as plugging the spark plug wires into the wrong spark plugs.

[Snow]

Do you have your pickup coils mounted like this?:

[81XS1100-2006]

bad sparkplug?

[TopCatGr58]

Hey MrUtah,

If you'll go to the LINKS section, Scrolling down from the MAIN FORUM PAGE, not necessarily from the yellow column, you will find a thread with links to Wiring Diagrams, you can D/L!

You could have simply swapped the coils, so that they are firing the wrong set of spark plugs? The wiring diagram will show you what color wire should be connected to what!
T.C.

[79XS11F]

I also repaired my pickups coils at the usual location with no luck. Then I ordered a new set. knowing new ones were in the mail I ... removed the ones on the bike and pulled on the pickup leads as if to stretch the full length of the wires but did not use excessive force.
Well ... the wiring was broken or very weak in a few places along it's length. I replaced the wire right up to about an inch from the actual coils and they worked fine. I now have them as backups. Confirm that the wiring is in deed good and go from there.
Rob

[HobbyMan]

When you test the coils for resistance, test them from the TCI to make sure that they are in the right order. I can't rember if one coil is vertical or horizontal on the plug. I can check later today.

[mrutah12]

YES IT LIVE'S AGAIN

WELL IT LIVES AGAIN. WELL I DID HAVE THE PICKUP COILS IN THE WRONG POSITIONS SO I FIXED THAT AND IT STILL DIDNT WANT TO START SO I CHECKED MY COIL WIRES AND SOME CORROSION IN THE CAPS THAT GO ON THE PLUGS REPAIRED THAT STILL NOTHING FINALLY I DECEIDED TO CLEAN THE PLUG'S AND EUREKA IT GRUMBLED TO LIFE BUT STILL NOT RIGHT TRYED TO PUT MY TIMING LIGHT ON IT AN IT WOULD ONLY WORK INTERMITANLLY SO I THOUGHT MAYBE I HAD A BAD LIGHT SO PUT IT ON MY SONS CAR AND IT WORKED SO I HAVE COME TO THE CONCULSION THAT I HAVE BAD COIL WIRES SO LOOKS LIKE I WILL BE UPGRADEING TO NEW COILS CAUSE LAST TIME I TRYED TO CHANGE JUST THE WIRES I MESSED THE COILS UP ANYBODY HAVE ANY SUGGESTION ON WHERE TO LOOK AT FOR NEW COILS OH AND BEFORE I FORGET THANKS TO EVERYONE FOR YOUR HELP

[TopCatGr58]

Why Yes I do!

Check out the recent 8mm Yellow Hose Thread , you'll find a relatively inexpensive replacement coil solution. Just hope you're not into trying to keep it exactly stock, you'll need to bypass the ballast resistor.
T.C.