no start, Confused and frustrated

[Sgriger534]

So i jumped the red/wht to the bolted on termianl that goes to the battery, and nothing happend

Also when you are checking the pickup wires at the tci, do you leave them pluged in, and you probe the wire with one lead, where does the other probe lead go?

[psycoreefer]

So i jumped the red/wht to the bolted on termianl that goes to the battery, and nothing happend

Did you try starting it with those terminals jumpered? I think that is what the post is suggesting.

Also when you are checking the pickup wires at the tci, do you leave them pluged in, and you probe the wire with one lead, where does the other probe lead go?

No, you unplug the connector holding those 4 wires, set your meter to ohms resistance and put one probe on each wire in the pair your testing. Really explaind pretty good a few posts up.

take a digital multimeter, pull the four wire connector at the TCI, and hold it so the 'slots' are horizontal. Put a probe in each one of the 'upper slots' and take a reading. Should be 720 ohms plus or minus 20%. Repeat on the 'lower slots'. If the numbers are within spec, replace the four wire connector, and turn the ignition on but not running (if they're not in spec, jump to the last paragraph). From the back of the large TCI connector put a probe on the red/wht, orange, grey, and wht/red (one at a time) and put the other probe on a good ground. Set your dmm to volts and take a reading. Should be 12v. Repeat on the black/wht and you should get a reading of 6v. If your voltages are significantly less (I would say less that 11.5v), get to work cleaning all connectors, and pay particular attention to the red/wht wire. Don't forget to clean the handlebar switch too - and be careful with the kill switch. When you get the switch apart, there's a screw that holds the kill switch in. Once you've removed it you'll see a little circlip on a brass post. Watch it when you remove the circlip and pull the assembly apart - there's a small ball bearing and some springs and stuff in there that can really fly if you're not careful.

Again I hate to be the voice of redundancy but do you have 12v at the TCI now? See above.... if you don't then your chasing your tail, there is no way to know what the TCI will or won't do without the correct amount of power.

[Sgriger534]

it has twelve now, when i first posted this the battery was about dead. Since then i have charged the battery

[randy]

I can not get any spark from my bike, it turns over like a champ, but no fire. I have twelve volts at the coils, i am confused why i am not getting anything from the plugs

Apparently we thought you had a good battery at the start of this thread. Are you reading our posts or are we just pi$$ing in the wind?

[Sgriger534]

I have twelve at the Tci now, when i had the low reading it was due to the battery being low, now i am twelve at the tci, and i jumped the red/wht with the battery bolt on cable at the solenoid but still nothing.

Somebody told me that if you took two old chevy module you could bypass the tci to test it to see if that was the problem, I work at a parts store and could get two modules pretty cheap, but i am not sure how to wire them up? anybody else heard about this, and if so how to do it. I heard this from one guy and i would like to get multiple opinions before i splice into the wires, but i would rather spend a few dollars to make sure it is the tci before i replace it becuase everywhere i have found them they are a little expensive. Like i said everything seems to be getting ground and i seem to have power to everthing.

[psycoreefer]

my bad...

Apparently we thought you had a good battery at the start of this thread. Are you reading our posts or are we just pi$$ing in the wind?

the OP had another thread about tail light wiring and asked about starting issues there, in that thread he had posted he only had 10.5v at the tci. I suggested he check his battery and connections. Then I noticed he started a new thread about starting issues and so I jumped over here. He started the thread by saying he had 12v at the coils (after the battery charge?) and I asked to clarify if he also now had 12V at the TCI and never saw an answer so I asked again.

I think its just the normal case of trying to trouble shoot electrical over the net, really just guessing because like many things its about 1000% easier if your standing there with the meter in your hand.

Sorry for confusing things with my thread hopping!

[psycoreefer]

I have twelve at the Tci now, when i had the low reading it was due to the battery being low, now i am twelve at the tci, and i jumped the red/wht with the battery bolt on cable at the solenoid but still nothing.

Somebody told me that if you took two old chevy module you could bypass the tci to test it to see if that was the problem, I work at a parts store and could get two modules pretty cheap, but i am not sure how to wire them up? anybody else heard about this, and if so how to do it. I heard this from one guy and i would like to get multiple opinions before i splice into the wires, but i would rather spend a few dollars to make sure it is the tci before i replace it becuase everywhere i have found them they are a little expensive. Like i said everything seems to be getting ground and i seem to have power to everthing.

Did you check the coils as suggested? Did they check out ok?
You could try using the search feature at the top of the page for "TCI AND chevy" and seeing what pops up.
Have you checked out this link

[dbeardslee]

If you suspect the TCI, and you've got an analog multimeter, you might go to Randy's web page, and try the TCI quick test. Much faster than going to the parts store .

[Rasputin]

Like Dbeardslee says Randy's page is awesome when you are trying to diagnose TCI problems...even has a vid.
http://home.earthlink.net/~randyrago...html/index.htm

[Sgriger534]

so i read randy's page on the tci, with my probes hooked up to the orange and black wires on the tci, the voltage come right up to eleven volts when i turned the key on, but when you crank it drops down to about two and a half volts. although i only have a digatal multimeter so i don't know if it was just not able to keep up with it. i checked the coils, one lead at the orange wire and the other at the plug end of the wire and i got about 11 M ohms at each coil. I was thinking that was bad, like shorted winding but i am new to wiring so i am not for sure. As far as the wires themself to the tci both orange and red wires had very low resistance going from the coil to the tci. I think it is the coils but i would like your guys opinion on it

[dbeardslee]

You can't do the test with a digital - needs to be analog. IIRC Randy mentions that in the video, or possibly in text. Based on what Ivan said, I'd have to agree on the coils - he's a pretty good mechanic.

[Sgriger534]

Does anybody know where i could find some coils then

[BigRed]

Sounds to me like a bad battery and/or corroded connections. You should have over 12V when you turn the key, and over 10V while you crank. Do the same test with the probes on the battery. If it reads over 12 with the key on, and over 10 while you crank, then you've probably got corroded connectors and ground wires. If it reads low like the readings you got, then you need a new battery.

You said "very low" resistance on the coils; they should only read 1.5 ohms on the non-spark plug side. Were you reading less than that? If you're reading closer to 3 ohms, then make sure you've bypassed your ballast resistor.

Good luck!

[dbeardslee]

Does anybody know where i could find some coils then

There's a bunch of threads on coils if you do a search. I run the Mikes XS green coils, but you can also get Dynas or Accels.

You said "very low" resistance on the coils; they should only read 1.5 ohms on the non-spark plug side.

I thought he was getting the reading between the feed wires and the high tension wires where there should be no continuity at all. According to Ivan that's an indication of a shorted coil

[Sgriger534]

Yes, i put the leads on the wire from the TCI where it is soldered onto on the other lead onto the high tension wire. It was very high resistance but as far as i know it should have been infinite, my reading was about 11 M ohms