Suddenly no spark

[LoHo]

Every time I set up the CaliRally, my bike seems to sense it and demand attention.

One morning I tried to start her and the starter ran slow, as in low battery. I tried unsuccessfully to bump start her. Later, I charged the battery, and she cranked fine, but no start. My first thought was no spark, and that proved true. When I crank her and then stop and turn off the key, she cranks again for a split second, once producing an impressive backfire. Additionally, the last time I rode before the no start it was raining, but I garaged her still running fine. She only sat for a week.

Any instant solutions, or do I just start searching around?

[melbxs]

Sounds like your battery may have died on you. The battery needs to be healthy on these bikes to get a spark. I believe that a semi functional battery will still turn the motor but not give a spark. One of the electrical gurus will explain why.

I recently replaced my lead acid battery with a marine quality sealed unit and starting improved greatly.

[DGXSER]

What you explain sounds like battery to me also. Try jumping it form your cage's battery. If that cures it you will know.

[Ken Talbot]

Have a quick look at your pick-up coil wires. It may not the problem, but this is so quick to check it is a good thing to rule out first before you start digging in.

[petejw]

not sure of the model of ur bike
but if its an early one,
id check the ballast resistor,
just join the 2 wires together and try starting it that way.

[soccer4m]

Try this

Hey LoHo,,I second the jump off the car. It should crank fine with all the amps from the car, pull the bike up next to the car,hook up the jumpers and crank. Secondly, shoot a little quickstart, instant start spray in the intake, also,,,,check the gas???? maybe put on prime. I also have removed a plug, squirted some gas in there, reinstall plug and see if it fires. It sounds like no gas getting to the engine. If there is spark, or you can check by getting those cheap spark testers to hookup to spark wire and plug, crank and then it lights up. SOOO, let us know how its going, MIke in Sun Diego

[LoHo]

More info: No spark with known good battery, but a spark when the key was turned off.

[DGXSER]

This does sound more like a bad ballast resistor to me. But an electrical genious I am not.

[cywelchjr]

Except that a bad ballast resistor would normally cause the engine to start but quit as soon as the starter button was released. It's actually sounding a little more to me like the pickup coils or TCI, given then spark when the ignition is turned off.

[DiverRay]

LoHo,
Pull the cover on the TCI and re-flow the solder on ALL the connectors. The backfire AFTER shutdown tells me the TCI is NOT letting the coils fire until you remove the current. It's supposed to do that about 1K times per second at idle! I would also check the resistance in the four pin connector. IIRC it's the top two and bottom two that are paired to the pick-up coils. If they are within specs, you know the coils and wires are good. If they are NOT in spec, you know what to look at!
Good luck with it!

[cywelchjr]

Another thing (ok 2 of them) is check the ignition fuse, and check the tipover switch, either one of those could possibly cause the symptoms.

[DiverRay]

One last thought, check the kill switch! been done before, if it's just a LITTLE off, the engine will turn over but NOT fire.

[LoHo]

One of the first things I did was take the kill switch apart and clean it up. That seemed promising, but no dice.

I guess I'll have to follow the wiring all the way through and see where the failure is. What are my options if it turns out to be the TCI? My research indicates I can buy an old one, fix mine, or pay somone to fix it. Are there any aftermarket choices?

[LoHo]

I did Randy's TCI check and I think I'm okay. The opening voltage was in range (11.6V) and bounced around when the engine cranked, which he says is proof that the TCI is good. The pins were all secure. I guess that leaves the harness between the TCI and coils to check again.

[LoHo]

Hey electric gurus...is it possible that something in the key switch could go bad that would allow the starter to turn, lights to come on, but no spark? When I did the Randy TCI check, power is getting there and the voltage fluctuates when cranking, as he mentioned. Battery shows 12.6V. Connections (that I can find) are okay. Bypassing the ballast has no effect. My meager skills have proven insufficient so far. It seems to crank a little slowly, but I've never had her crank more than a second or two without starting before, so I'm not sure if I'm imagining it.