Broke down and towed back home

[adelii]

VFR Coils huh? will they fit right in place?

i started to take apart the coils only to not find my voltmeter (i just moved). I ordered one on amazon. so i wont know if they are bad until saturday. as far as cables, all connections look good snd nothing melted by the fuse box.

[BA80]

If you're going to spew numbers Brant, explain.

The VFR coils will work fine but the ballast resistor needs to be removed from the bike and the connectors to it plugged together and the connectors on the coils are placed so they easily ground out on the frame. So, they need to be mounted so the wires don't touch the frame.

It does take some finesse.

[adelii]

what do you guys think about these coils i stumbled upon on ebay?

https://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/201350689500

[IanDMacDonald]

what do you guys think about these coils i stumbled upon on ebay?

https://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/201350689500

Caveat emptor! And, it says they're rated @ 2.42 ohms, +/- 12%= 2.7 ohms. You wanna see 3 ohms. If ur gonna go the cheap route, at-least buy used VFR coils.

[adelii]

I dont want to go cheap route, but i do want the fitment to be easy.

[motoman]

If you're going to spew numbers Brant, explain.

The VFR coils will work fine but the ballast resistor needs to be removed from the bike and the connectors to it plugged together and the connectors on the coils are placed so they easily ground out on the frame. So, they need to be mounted so the wires don't touch the frame.

It does take some finesse.

Thanks for adding the necessary info Greg. I just get lazy typing more info and assume folks here understand more than I would expect at times. Also, I might add that even though the VFR coils will bolt right to frame using the same bolts and mounting holes, some are 1.5ohm and others are 3ohm. So they need to be checked across the two poles with an ohm meter prior to purchase. If one would like to use the original same coil wire plug-ins, unsolder the wires from original coils and re-solder them to replacement coils using shrink tubing over the re-soldered location for insulation so they don't ground to frame when bolted back on.

[mikubuilder]

I could have sworn we were talking about pick up coils....for firing coils I strongly suggest Accell 3 ohm coils and 7 or 8 mm solid core wire

[motoman]

Caveat emptor! And, it says they're rated @ 2.42 ohms, +/- 12%= 2.7 ohms. You wanna see 3 ohms. If ur gonna go the cheap route, at-least buy used VFR coils.

True, cept for his sig. says it's a 79model, which uses 1.5ohm coils. Even bypassing the ballast resistor(as Grg stated) when using 3ohm coils, will create an issue with TCI module used on the 78-79 model bikes. Not bypassing the ballast resistor and using 1.5ohm coils IS the correct option for 78-79 model yr. XS1100's.

[BA80]

I have 3 ohm coils from an 81 on mine.

[dbeardslee]

My advice is to put a DMM on it first and see what the diagnostics say. Check your resistances to the pickup coils, and your primary and secondary resistances on the ignition coils. Throwing parts at a problem before you know what the problem really is is a good way to waste money on new parts that may not fix the problem. My $.02

[adelii]

DMM?

I wont be buying anything until i figure out the problem.

i was just looking for potential places and parts to buy

[BA80]

DMM?

I wont be buying anything until i figure out the problem.

i was just looking for potential places and parts to buy

Digital multi meter............to test electrical circuits. You do need to get one and familiarize yourself with it. Electrical is the biggest issue with this 35+ wiring on these bikes.

[adelii]

oh ok i gotcha. For sure. ill be getting it saturday and be asking you guys tons of questions

[dbeardslee]

You said you found a wire from the stator that was "exposed" - did you mean the insulation on the wire was gone? Did you ever check that connector behind fuse block that the wires from the stator run to? Just thinking of stuff you could check while you're waiting for a DMM.

[LoHo]

Probably too late for this, but check to see that the vacuum hoses and caps are intact; I rode my bike quite a ways on two cylinders when just reattaching the vacuum to the petcock (or switching to prime) would have gotten me full power.