Mikes Green Coils

[Rickrod3]

My bike left me stranded this weekend. No spark. I checked the ignition fuse it was good. I wasn't in a good location 79th street on ramp to the Henry Huson Park Way N.Y.C.

Turns out I was less than 35 miles from home so my A.M.A. membership covered the tow.
Found out today;I was Losing spark due to coils opening up intermittently.
I have a little over 10K miles on the coils. This seems like a short life to me.
Is there anything that can cause this that I should be looking at?
I'm reading posts and getting the impression the Dyna coils are better than Mike Green coils.
What do you guys think
TIA
Rick

[bikerphil]

Sounds like you are one of the first to have the Mikes green coils go out on you. Dynatek is a well known brand coil.

[DiverRay]

I've been trying to get a '79 running properly, and it also has the green coils on it! I may try and swap coils, and see if it runs properly! I run on two cyl. at low RPM, and then it will seem to run OK, but it's still not running "right".

[Rickrod3]

Trouble Shooting it

I tried starting the bike when I got home and it started up.
I knew that would happen.
Today the bike started right up, I took it for a 10 mile ride, went to restart it it would not. Got out the multi meter after checking for spark on # 1 cylinder. Coil for 1 and 4 open, unscrewed the caps and tested still open. a few moments latter meter sitting on the seat without being disturbed and 16.xx ohms apeared . Put everything together and bike started right up. I haven't checked 2 and 3 coils since bike was warm and 1 and 4 easier to get to. Problem came and went so fast I didn't even get a chance to. Can assume there is a problem with 2 and 3 since bike would have started on those cylinders. Does seem weird both coils making and breaking at the same time.
Using a fluke digital meter is it better to use an analog meter?

Rick

[Rickrod3]

Not Mikes Coils

Do not want Mikes Coils to get a bum rap.

Still looking for the problem.
Intermitent loss of spark on all cylinders. verified with home made spark tester ( spark plug with the electrode cut off and tie wrapped to an aligator clamp)
When the bike fires it fires on all cylinders.
All cylinders jump the gap on the tester.

Here is what else I checked:
Battery voltage 12.58
visually checked pick up coils pulling wires to look for broken wire.
Could not find any.
Checked pick up coils with an ohm meter at the TCI 810 ohms.
Mikes coils 26 ohms with wires and caps on. got the reading during a time of no spark.

Will pull the tank Tomorrow to check connections to the coils and voltage there.

Rick

[Rickrod3]

Low voltage to TCI

I have been checking Ignition components.
I'm fairly certian that when the problem ocurs spark is lost on all cylinders.
I have occasionally been getting a loud back fire in both pipes.
I believe it to be from when igniton is interupted.

Battery voltage at the battery 12.6 volts ( I realize this is not fully charged and I'm charging it now.)

The voltage at the fuse box main fuse is 12.6 volts.
the remaining 3 fuses get voltage after the ignition switch is turned on the only have 11.5 volts as I understand the way the TCI works this voltage may be low enough to stop the TCI from working.

I was about to trace out the wires to the ignition switch when I realized that the front running lights are on and the tail light is on.

Does this seem like a reasonable voltage drop considering that the tail and running lights are on?
Sorry about being all over the place with this but; electrical is tricky especially when it intermittant

TIA
Rick

[bikerphil]

If you hot wire the coils red/wht wires does the bike run?

[Rickrod3]

If you hot wire the coils red/wht wires does the bike run?

Thats the common to the coils right?

I was thinking of putting a jumper from the 30 amp fuse to the ignition fuse. As far as I can tell it would jumper out the ignition switch.



Rick

[bikerphil]

Thats the common to the coils right?

I was thinking of putting a jumper from the 30 amp fuse to the ignition fuse. As far as I can tell it would jumper out the ignition switch.



Rick

Yes, the common (+) to the coils.

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Rick,

The TCI drops out below 10.5 volts, not 11.5. I wouldn't be worried about negative information about the MikesXS Green coils. I suspect that they are Dyna CLONES, but probably made by the same folks making their inferior BLACK ones that many here had bad experiences with.

And Mikes does NOT offer any warranty on any of their coils, whereas DYNA provides a 1 year warranty.

I hope that the folks that got the Mikes Green coils keep having good success with their endurance, but I wouldn't hold my breath. That, and the NO WARRANTY are the reasons why I went with the Brand DYNA's when my black ones crapped out!!

The way your describing the coils, they are shorting/breaking their continuity under HEAT stress...something is expanding that is breaking the flow THRU the coil, and joins back together when they cool down enough. I seriously doubt that it's the TCI.

T.C.

[BigRed]

I had a problem with resistance at grounding points, and it would get worse as things heated up. Once I cleaned up some connectors and the grounds at the voltage regulator, it cleared up.

See if you can hook up a voltmeter to the coils, and you can watch it as you ride. If that's good, you could do the same with voltage to the TCI. If neither of those is dropping below 10.5, and your pick up coils/wires are good, then I think it has to be what TC is talking about; your coils shorting under heat stress.

[Rickrod3]

Hey Rick,

The TCI drops out below 10.5 volts, not 11.5. I wouldn't be worried about negative information about the MikesXS Green coils. I suspect that they are Dyna CLONES, but probably made by the same folks making their inferior BLACK ones that many here had bad experiences with.

And Mikes does NOT offer any warranty on any of their coils, whereas DYNA provides a 1 year warranty.

I hope that the folks that got the Mikes Green coils keep having good success with their endurance, but I wouldn't hold my breath. That, and the NO WARRANTY are the reasons why I went with the Brand DYNA's when my black ones crapped out!!

The way your describing the coils, they are shorting/breaking their continuity under HEAT stress...something is expanding that is breaking the flow THRU the coil, and joins back together when they cool down enough. I seriously doubt that it's the TCI.

T.C.

Intermittant problems sure could be a pain. I had to trailer the bike day before last. Had my volt meter with me but; my local friendly policeman wasn't too keen on my roadside diagnosis attempt. I guess he didn't want anyone to get clipped on his watch. I understand. He did give me a ride to pick up a trailer. Not a bad guy after all.
I have a set of coils from my project SG I'll swap them out next chance I work on the bike. I needed a little time away from the bike.
Originally the bike would not start and I did measure open coil on 1 and 4 as I was gathering my tools it looked like the coil closed and the bike started right up.
So it looks like your right.

Thanks for your input.

[AmmoSS]

Rick, mine's doing exactly the same thing. I'm putting on new Dyna coils as we speak thanks to TC. Hopefully that fixes it. I still had the stock coils on it before.

Steve

[Rickrod3]

Rick, mine's doing exactly the same thing. I'm putting on new Dyna coils as we speak thanks to TC. Hopefully that fixes it. I still had the stock coils on it before.

Steve

How did you make out?

I replaced my coils with spare ones from my SG project.
Same result.
I did get a chance for some roadside trooble shooting. When the bike died I plugged in another TCI did not help. Got out the multi meter and found the lower set of PU coils were open. took readings at the TCI.
I was under the impression that I would still have half of the engine since the the upper set seemed okay.

I did the check of the wires under the cover today and a few times before and as before could not find any breaks. I removed the wires and jacket to inspect the wires from coils to the connector still nothing.
So I replaced all of the connectors in both molex plugs for both coils. Tomorrow I will replace the ones at the TCI and take the bike for a test ride.
Keeping my fingers crossed that this does it.
I'm getting good at backing a trailer up

Rick

[Rickrod3]

I believe I found the culprit!

Last 2 rides bike cuts out after around 8 miles.
Both times I found the upper pick up coil open (w/r w/g) measured a the TCI
and salmon blue at the advance. (the upper pick up coil)
Sunday I went through the wires pulled the jacket off could not find a break.
Today I pulled the coils off the advance plate and got deflection of the ohm meter needle when I would tug on the salmon wire right at the coil.
It would not go completely open but it would move about one inch.

Has anyone made a repair that close to the coil?
How was the wire originally attached to the coil?

TIA
Rick