Curious

[barrelguy]

Been doing some tinkering recently - replaced coils (Honda 1000) and eliminated the ballast resistor. had some starting issues so ended up replacing the plug wires and caps. Started up like never before but wouldn't stay running. Adjusted the idle mixture screws so all are 2 turns out and had to fiddle with the throttle stop to get the idle back to around 1100. Seemed like a good day for a test ride so off I went - lots of get up and go. 5 miles down the road the get up and go got up and went. Very reminiscent of my pick up coil wire problems that I fixed last year; gutless at mid range rpms which got worse and worse until it just stopped and wouldn't start again.

Took it home in a trailer and as I had another p/u coil assembly I just replaced the wiring harness part. Went to check spark on no. 1 and got a face full of gasoline from the plug hole (and no spark). That did me for the day so tonight I will check all the wiring connections, etc. as well as the other plugs. I'll let you know what I find but any comments are always helpful.

[Gallaecus]

try running the coils designed for the bike. ohm them out according to the book to see if they are good. then fix your carbs.

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Barrelguy,

Congrats on the coil upgrade! Like you said though, ran out of power after a while, and then died! When you tried to start it, did it crank as quickly as before, or did it sound SLOW? Your pickup coils were a good place to start, but after replacing them, still no spark...and you had spark before it died.

Have you checked your battery and charging system lately? Put a jumper battery on it and see if it will then start or at least show spark. BTW, you will want to shut off your fuel....an open spark and fuel blowing out the plug hole is a recipe for a nice bike bonfire!

Then, once you get it started, put a voltmeter on the battery and check for ~14.5 volts at 2500 rpm....if still only ~12.0 volts or less, then you will need to do further investigative work. Keep at it, you'll figure it out!

T.C.

[barrelguy]

Thanks

TC & Steve. I checked the coils and got good readings all around. Put my charger on the battery and gave it a shot but still no spark. All fuses good so I need to do a bit more detective work. I have a friend down the street who may as well have invented electricity so I'll get him over one night to have a look see. Results will be posted as available. I did notice it turned over just a tad slower than when I had it running the other day but not significantly. Don't know if that means anything yet. Just for the record I did a comp test while the plugs were out and got 148 even across all 4 on a cold engine.

[Gallaecus]

if you want to check spark. get a fifth plug to check with. leave the other four in the engine.

[DGXSER]

Have you checked your pickup coils? Not often they go, but they could. Other possible culprit is the TCI.

[barrelguy]

Have you checked your pickup coils? Not often they go, but they could. Other possible culprit is the TCI.

Thanks DG. I did check the pick up coil and actually switched out the wiring harness on it. I hope to get some time after work today to check the TCI - that was next on my list of possible suspects.

[GLoweVA]

Check your connection where you 'removed' you ballast resistor. If that's open, then you wouldn't get any spark from either coil.

JAT.

[LoHo]

Let me display my ignorance for all to see:

Does the "face full of gas" sound like a carb problem to anyone? Could the bike be flooding out gradually until the spark is drowned and gas flows into the jug? Sitting might let the gas drain down (somewhere) until you start her up and gas flows into the carbs freely, then overflows into the cylinder.

I'd bet on good petcocks but bad floats/seats.

[DiverRay]

I had my '79 die on a ride because of the "bypass" on the ballast resistor. Make SURE it can not touch anything! I ended up with electrical tape over the connection, from wire to wire. After that, ran great.

[barrelguy]

Ok

checked the tci - good. made sure ballast resistor jump isolated. still no spark. Has to be something simple so I'll keep at it. Thanks all for the input - it is greatly appreciated. looking at the wiring diagram it shows 4 wires coming off the pick up coil going to the tci. However the wiring harness from the p/u coils physically goes to a 5 pin connector behind the fuse box which I cant identify on the wiring diagram I'll post again when I figure it out - I refuse to accept defeat.

[GLoweVA]

checked the tci - good. made sure ballast resistor jump isolated. still no spark. Has to be something simple so I'll keep at it. Thanks all for the input - it is greatly appreciated. looking at the wiring diagram it shows 4 wires coming off the pick up coil going to the tci. However the wiring harness from the p/u coils physically goes to a 5 pin connector behind the fuse box which I cant identify on the wiring diagram I'll post again when I figure it out - I refuse to accept defeat.

The 5 wires coming from the pick up coils are 4 for the coils and one for the neutral switch. That's why the connector has 5 pins.

Okay here's the steps for checking the TCI:
Ignition on, At the 8 pin (7 wires) connector at the TCI (while plugged in) using voltmeter check: (top then bottom starting on the left side)
-grey to ground - 12V (from Coil)
-orange to ground - 12V (from Coil)
-white/red to ground - 12V (from right handlebar stop switch)
-Red/Yellow is from the starter solenoid to bypass the ballast resistor while cranking.
-Black/White to ground -6V (from Engine tipover switch)
-Red/White to ground - 12V (From ballast resistor)
-(empty/not used)
-Black is your ground

If all that checks out, then Ignition off, pull both plugs off TCI then check pin to pin on the connectors to see if everything is good going out to the bike.
If your bypass of the ballast resistor is good, then you should read continuty between the red/white and white/red wires.
If you pick up coils are good then you should get about 720ohms each between the white/red & white/green and also between the yellow/green and yellow/red
If your new honda coils are good, then you should see about 3 ohms from the orange to the red/white and also from the Grey to the red/white.



I hope this helps a little.

[GLoweVA]

Just re-read your post, you say you've check the TCI,
okay, I've read somewhere here that the wires coming from the pick up coils could ground out with the neutral switch wire in the harness, try disconnecting the neutral light switch wire from the switch. When the bike is in neutral, the switch grounds the wire to the engine and gives you a path for the nuetral light to light up.

Just something to try.

[DiverRay]

One thing no one has said anything about, the kill switch! It is KNOWN for going out after about 30 years, as the plastic breaks inside the switch. I'm at work, so I do not have the book in front of me, but I think you need to connect the two wires in the headlight shell, red/white, to run the bike. You will need the rest of the connector to start, or just jump the starter near the battery.

[barrelguy]

Quick Dumb Question

Is the red/white wire side of the coil positive or negative?