Newbie No Spark

[Ind1anRid3r]

Good evening everyone, Im glad to be on this website, just purchased a xs1100 about 15 days ago its 79 F and magenta red original paint.

Problems I had were stuck brakes, got them done, all fuses were bad/wrong fuse amp, fixed that, bad TCI(I think), ordered a new one got it in, carbs cleaned.
OF COURSE new battery

now the problem im having is that when i press the start button the engine cranks but no spark in all 4 coils.. I used a $4 tester on the TCI plug wires and I had a spark plug hanging grounded to the engine.. while I was checking all the wires were giving bright light but when I touched the black/white wire .. something wierd happened.. it didn't light up at first and when i went back and touched it. my spark plug sparked for .1 second and the light on tester came on but VERYYYYYYYYYYYY dim. I kept doing it and it kept being dim but kept sparking my spark plug.. any explanations.. because if this gets fixed.. my bike will crank and run.. everything else is done.

Only thing that explains the dim light is that the black/white wire only outputs 6v as it says in manual unlike the rest except black which all give out 12v
but that doesn't explain the spark plug sparking blue flame when b/w is touched by a grounded tester?

I havn't gone to my bike yet but I was told by a mechanic that I could have a bad/ corroded ground.. now if it is ground how many grounds are on the bike?

Also, could it be the ballet resistor? if so where is it.. and how to bypass? or no?

also the rectifier what good is it? the last owner kept saying he thinks it's the thing held by 3 white wires O.o

the Tip over switch.. If I take it off do I need 2 plug the wires somewhere? just incase it's rotted itself to ****s? because it was rusty....

Oh.. Thank you, come again! lol(it's funny cause I'm Indian and I still laugh at it)

[bikerphil]

The tip over switch is bypassed by just unplugging it. The ballast is under the front of the fuel tank on the left side, unplug it and plug the harness male/female bullet connectors together for a temporary test. Not good to run it long this way. You may have some broken pick up coil wires under the left side ignition cover which would cause no spark, see here...

http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread.php?t=543

[James England]

Re grounds. There's a strap which earths the engine to the frame, at the top/back of the engine, I recall. Other components earth through the frame, so it's important that any component which relies on the frame to complete a circuit should connect to the frame without any rust or paint or anything. Bare metal is the only way.

The ignition coils earth by wire, not through the mounts, so you can rule that out.

Have you checked the kill switch on the handlebars? And the ignition switch?

I bet you are using the glass fuses as per OEM? Right? Your best bet is to remove the OEM fuse box completely, deposit it into the nearest trash can and then buy one of TC's blade fuse boards. This forum is full of posts about the OEM fuse box and, even with new fuses, cleaned etc , they still play up a lot. So get rid.

You should post more details re the TCI you used. Are you sure it's compatible? They vary between different models. Find out re ballast resistor or not and post back here.....

[LoHo]

Look at some of those four-pringed cube switches. They are go/no-go safety switches. I had one that was supposed to be off (0v) or on (12+/v), but showed 3v all the time. I replaced it and all was well. It looked sealed, so I cut it open and it was full of rust, which allowed some current but not enough current.

[Ind1anRid3r]

Update:- So, i unpluged the tip over switch, no sucess
I unpluged the resistor and pluged the wire into itself i checked the female port for electricity and it was good, and tried to stard (pressed clutch and start) motor cranked like always but no spark at all.. sooooooo now what? the dreaded pick up coils? any other suggestion? do I need 2 take out the engine ground wire and dremel tool it clean from rust? the bolt that holds the ground is rusty.

I havnt opened the kill switch but when i turn the kill switch to the left the motor wont crank( cause it is on the off) and will when I turn it to center it will crank .. sooo we good there? or I still need 2 open it up?

[MPittma100]

No Start

Yes and Yes. You need to ensure the ground is proper by cleaning it of rust. You also need to verify the pickup coil wires are not broken.

Check all fuses and fuse holder tabs in the fuse box. Make sure that the tabs are securely holding the fuses. The tabs weaken and break over time.

[LoHo]

With bad connections, everything else is a waste. Do those first!

[Ind1anRid3r]

So............................. I opened the box for pick up coils.. and...... I tugged the pink and green wire.. the green wire was solid.. pink wire.. stretched like well... a rubber band that has no elasticy, so I will strech it till it snaps only question now is .. how do I get "Slack" like it says in the pick up coil repair place, says gets 1/4" slack.. am I suppose to pull the top part and it will real out?

[motoman]

existing slack is sucficient. Make repair area small and compact so wire moves freely still when done. In other words, no full length buttt connectors in this area. Use a 'naked' buttt connector shortening it and a tiny short piece of shrink tubing slid over wire prior to connecting. Alot of folks will solder wires, but the heat weakens the tiny copper strands and movement from the advance will eventually re-break the wire.

[GLoweVA]

If you need a little extra 'slack' you can pull the bundle up thru the rubber grommet that's located about the 5 o'clock position on the case. This should give you about 3/8-1/2" more wire bundle 'inside' the cover.

While some would advise soldering, I agree with Moto, those wire strands are real fine and the heat will make them brittle and prone to breaking again.
I took an insulated butt connector (red I think) and pulled the hard plastic 'sleeve' off it so it was 'bare' then slid a piece of heat shrink on one wire, crimped the 2 wire ends together and then slid heat shrink over and used a small zip-tie to keep that crimp joint stationary. (therefore the wire would flex elsewhere)

Just a side note:
These bikes use a 'wasted' spark system. That means that the pairs 1 & 4 and 2 & 3 share the same coil. In other words when the coil 'fires' the spark has to travel thru BOTH plugs in the pair order to complete the path. (technically the electricity travels down thru one plug, thru the engine head and back up the other plug to get back to the coil to complete the circuit)
So if you troubleshooting why one plug isn't sparking, then it's partner/pair isn't firing either. This is why it's key to have both plugs of the pair grounded and/or installed when testing for spark.

[Ind1anRid3r]

ok, so after the tug test, it was clear that the pink wire was broken from the inside, i took it and striped some wire and guess what... after stripping, i tried to tangle the copper exposed wire, while twisting, even those copper wire broken, without any force.. and come to find out that most of the wire is deteriorated... what to do now? now do I attach point a of wire to point b ... the gap is big.. because of the extensive wire breakage.. its almost like this

=Top entrance
//
))
====
no wire
no wire
no wire
((
((
Bottom entrance||

[bikerphil]

If you get some multimeter leads, they are made of the proper flexible type wire. Splice in what is needed, you can even go all the way down to the neutral switch where there are factory splices. The flexible wire joins with normal wire there.

[Ind1anRid3r]

Ok, splicing complete, I crimped the pick up coil wires and pressed the start button with bike on nuetral and clutch pulled in... and still no spark .. now what?!

[Schming]

What TCI are you using ?

Have you checked the continuity of each fuse ?

Have you inspected and cleaned all plug in connectors and grounds ?

Have you checked ohms on your coils, and spark plug caps ?

Keep pluggin' away you'll get it, and yes pun intended.

[Ind1anRid3r]

TCI is 2h7-10 TID14-01

how many grounds are there? 2? batter and engine?

sparkplug and coils are good because when I connect a tester and touch the black/white wire on the tci socket all 4 sparkplugs spark, only 2 were sparking but after pickupcoil fix. all 4 are sparking.. even when i take my tester and unplug the tip over switch and touch the socket with tester all 4 spark plugs spark for a second... this is nerve racking..