turns but won't fire after rewire

[achim1313]

well when I got the bike the wires were a pos. splices, cuts, wires missing, no fuses...everything was bad. so I decided to just do a bare wiring to it. finally got it to where she will start up but she is not firing now where before she started up. good connections by my coils. but i'm not sure about the tci box. then should I be having power going to the box? any advice would be appreciated.

thanks!

[CaptonZap]

Do you have a wiring diagram? If not, get one. You will save yourself a lot of time by referring to it to trace the various systems.
Yes, the TCI does have a power in, and the color coding is shown in this diagram. In fact, there are two power in connections, one of them is for the starting bypass of the ignition resister.
http://webpages.charter.net/kbhahn/xs11/E-Fwire.JPG
CZ

[3Phase]

well when I got the bike the wires were a pos. splices, cuts, wires missing, no fuses...everything was bad. so I decided to just do a bare wiring to it. finally got it to where she will start up but she is not firing now where before she started up. good connections by my coils. but i'm not sure about the tci box. then should I be having power going to the box? any advice would be appreciated.

thanks!

Welcome to the forum, Achim!

Hmm... if it worked before but it doesn't work now it's probably some small, insignificant 'something' that you changed.

Do you have a shop manual?
How far did you go with the "bare wiring" job?

Did you keep any of the original wiring harness or do you just have the ignition and charging system hooked up with a bunch of new wires with your own choice of custom colors and wrapping?

Here's a link to some electrical schematics:-
Colored Wiring Diagrams

Do not let the schematic intimidate or overwhelm you. Sit down and study it for a while while you look at the wires in your hands and in front of you on the bike. Once you figure out how the wiring was laid out and what it does then troubleshooting and repairing is pretty much just another wok<sp> in the park!


.

[achim1313]

thanks for replying. I completely stripped everything. Unfortunately it was almost a month from the time I stripped everything to yesterday when I was actually able to work on it and start putting it back together. Went as bare as possible: Charging, ignition and starting. then will be adding head and brake light. I kept some of the wires but not all. in the tci does it matter which wire goes to which slot?

what is the resistor and what does it do. then standing behind the bike looking at the coils what are the two small wires that are connected to a metal like plate for?

[3Phase]

thanks for replying. I completely stripped everything. Unfortunately it was almost a month from the time I stripped everything to yesterday when I was actually able to work on it and start putting it back together. Went as bare as possible: Charging, ignition and starting. then will be adding head and brake light. I kept some of the wires but not all.

Carumba... are you familiar with electrical schematics?

in the tci does it matter which wire goes to which slot?

<facepalm> Of course not! </facepalm>
Just plug wires into any slot in the TCI and it'll figure it out for you! The parts are getting a little old so don't be surprised if you discover a lot of defective TCIs that won't work after you allow them to automatically configure themselves.

what is the resistor and what does it do.

The ballast resistor on your XS does the same thing it does on every other ignition system with a ballast resistor: limits the current through the coil(s) during normal engine operation.

The ballast resistor is bypassed by the starter relay during engine cranking when the Start button is pressed and the starter solenoid kicks in to provide a full 12 Volts and maximum current to the coils when the engine is trying to start.

If you remove or bypass the resistor it'll burn up the coils and/or the TCI so try not to do that.

then standing behind the bike looking at the coils what are the two small wires that are connected to a metal like plate for?

I'm drawing a blank on this one.

Is the metal plate-thing with the two wires sitting up next to the coils on the left-hand side of the frame? The ballast resistor sort of looks like a plate and should have two Red/White (Red with a White stripe) wires connected to it.

.

[achim1313]

yes I'm familiar with schematics.

I didn't know the tci was able to auto configure. that's good to know

I've never worked with a resistor so I wasn't sure so thanks for enlightening me on that

then the part i was referring to was the resistor

[3Phase]

yes I'm familiar with schematics.

Excellent!

I didn't know the tci was able to auto configure. that's good to know

Okay, jokes over!

The TCI will quite probably be completely destroyed if you don't put the correct wires in the correct slots in the TCI. They will not automatically configure themselves except into an inert state if you get the wiring wrong and all the magic purple smoke will leak out of the box.

I've never worked with a resistor so I wasn't sure so thanks for enlightening me on that

No problem!

then the part i was referring to was the resistor

Probably... do you have a shop manual? It has pictures that show the locations of the components on the bike.

.

[natemoen]

I didn't know the tci was able to auto configure. that's good to know

No it CANNOT auto configure. That was 100% sarcasm in the previous post!

[achim1313]

lol ok I assumed it definitely matter but then you said it didn't so i was thrown off a bit lol thanks for clarifying I know I have the coils right. from what I see all the tci needs in the big block are the 3 coil wires and then the ground correct?

then yea that's how I figured that was the part

[3Phase]

Achim,

Here's a basic minimalist schematic that bikerphil found:-


1978 - 1979 Yamaha XS1100 (E/F/SF)
(Starting, Charging & Ignition Circuits)

You're going to need add turn signals and a horn to be legal or you'll be having some interesting chats along the side of the road.

.

[James England]

No it CANNOT auto configure. That was 100% sarcasm in the previous post!

100% unhelpful too......I hope the poor guy didn't just connect it up based on that and then fry his TCI

[3Phase]

100% unhelpful too......I hope the poor guy didn't just connect it up based on that and then fry his TCI

Achim appears to have a sense of humour<sp> so he'll do well.

.

[rdmcguy]

Smoking purple Ganja??????

The TCI will quite probably be completely destroyed if you don't put the correct wires in the correct slots in the TCI. They will not automatically configure themselves except into an inert state if you get the wiring wrong and all the magic purple smoke will leak out of the box.

Hey Scott,
Does that magic purple smoke come from the teensy weensy little electricians
inside the tci. hooking things up as the need arises?





Probably... do you have a shop manual? It has pictures that show the locations of the components on the bike.

.[/QUOTE]

[3Phase]

Hey Scott,
Does that magic purple smoke come from the teensy weensy little electricians
inside the tci. hooking things up as the need arises?

Paranoid

Yeah, fairies wear boots and you gotta believe me!
Yeah I saw it, I saw it, I tell you no lies!

[James England]

Paranoid

Yeah, fairies wear boots and you gotta believe me!
Yeah I saw it, I saw it, I tell you no lies!

Beware though...this is what prolonged exposure to XS1100's can do to you. It's only a matter of time...