ignition/pick-up coil wires check

[motoman]

You all seem to to be very versed on these 11's...been great help so far...so here goes: I read on how to check continuity for the older XS's, as far as finding a bad wire or wires at pick-up coil. On my 81 'Venturer 1100', what are the color code combinations on the 8 prong plug for checking for continuity or broken wire on this later model?

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Motoman,

I'm going to assume you mean the 8 prong plug on the TCI!?

Only 5 wires are used on the 8 plug. The Orange and Gray with the Red/white wires go to the Ignition high tension coils. Red/white is common to both coils, so checking between it and either grey or orange should show continuity.

The other 2 wires, black/white goes to the emergency kill switch, and the black is ground.

The other 4 wire plug IS for the pickup coils. The wiring diagram has them labelled as Red/Yellow; Green/Yellow; Red/white; Green/white. The diagram shows the 2 white/colored paired, and the 2 Yellow/colored paired, but it's not very clear, so you might have to play with combinations of those 4 to see which pair you find continuity, then the other pair should be the linked leftover pair!?

Perhaps someone has the timing cover off of their 81H and can tell you exactly which color combination is the actual paired wires for each pickup coil!
T.C.

[Ken Talbot]

Rather than trying to do a static check with a meter, try it with the cover removed and the engine running. Give each wire a good tug and you'll know in an instant if there's a break.

The problem with a static check is the wire may be broken inside the insulation, but just the way it is sitting it could still be making contact. This is what happens when you're riding, and why it is so hard to determine what the problem is because it comes and goes.

[motoman]

Hey,thanks alot for all that info Topcat. I put is tib-bit if my file for reference tomorrow. I did re-check those number of wires, and glad you corrected me on that. prior to reading this I did ground( to large black wire goin into box and checked continuity at rest, and they all 'beeped' at me, so I'm thinking that end of things are good. looked at wires on pick-up coil assembly, and everything in there still looks like when it did new. I remember being told by the shops mechanic then that yamaha had made improvements on the '81s' as to how those small wires are routed and held down, and it does look very nicely done by factory. One good advantage here where I live in Colo. is there isn't the rust and moisture problem, even tho before I got this thing back 15 yrs. later, it sat out in weather uncovered alot, and still no rust problem anywhere on bike. (found lots of leaves and cob-webs tho). It ran reasonabley good (considering neglect) until I changed plug boot ends, thats when things went array. So in the back of my mind, problem still may be self inflicted, even though it acts electrical, as those things do crop-up for whatever unknown reason at the time. Think I'll start back at the possible self inflicted thing first, then double check using the good info you have given me. At least fortunately(or un-fortunately) my Honda ST 1100 keeps me cleaning my drawers(if you know what I mean) so I don't have any 'not riding withdrawels, but still would like to twist the go fast grip on the old horse anyways.......Thanks for all the good info...you guys are all good at brainstorm'in all these problems.......Brant

[randy]

Hey, motoman,

There's an easy TCI test explained on my web site. Hit the little www bar next to my name above. Also, I posted a TCI pinout diagram here:

TCI Pinout

You'll need Adobe Acrobat to read it. Hope this helps.

[motoman]

Hi there, I took a look at your web page and was impressed with your restoration work! Super job! I also read about the TCI units and re-looked at my bike. Here is what I got: As you may have previously read, I bought bike new in 81,sold it 10 years later, and now got it back as of Aug. this year. It was sold to me, and titled as a 81 Venturer 1100. After reading some of your info. I looked and saw its manufacture date as 7/80, consiquently it also has the 2H7 TCI, possibly the type to as it could have fell into that transition period......this has all become very curious for me as you can imagine. So like I said, I'll go back and check my plug end cap replacement job(or lack of a good job) first, since the problem cropped up after that. then I'll make the other checks as you reccomended. Yesterday I did check continuity at the plug in on TCI box, prior to reading your info on the web site, and that seems to be all good, so I'll go back to square one (plug ends), specially since 3 &4 four are the ones not firing, and that's no corilation to coils unless it would've been 1&4 or 2&3 with the problem....Anyway if you think of anything else I may be missing here, let me know....Otherwise, a great site and great people for help and information......Thanks

[John]

It is possible that the TCI was replaced between the times you owned it, and the wrong TCI was installed. The bike will run, but not very well. That very thing happened to another member here in town. He had an 81 SH that would run,but not past 5000 rpm. He put it in a shop for a couple of weeks, but they couldn't figure it out. I asked the owner of the shop that the bike was in about the TCI and he had no idea that they were changed in 81.That may be the case in your situation.

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Motoman,

IF your machine is an 81 Venturer, then it should have the 4RO TCI box. You can use the serial number and tech tip to verify what year and actual model it is! Many of the bikes are made months earlier for the upcoming model year!

The 81's did away with the Centrifugal advance mechanism, and so if you pull off the timing plate and don't see any centrifugal advance mechanism under it, then it's an 81, and you should be using a 4RO TCI, it has the advance curve built into the TCI! They are a bit harder to find, cause they were only made in 1 year vs. the 78-80 series!

However, this alone should NOT be why it wouldn't be firing on #3 and 4, just like Randy said, it wouldn't Rev very well due to lack of timing advance, but should still fire on all four!!
T.C.

[motoman]

Hi guys....sorry to be such a problem. Prior to this malfunction it revved riding it past 8,000 as I saw because of clutch slippin(clutch problem is an easy remedy compared to this). Also I know it's an 80 even though it's titled as an 81 cause when I bought it new, the serial numbers didn't correspond with it being and 80 model.....and lo and behold, when I bought it back and did the title transfer, had to go to one of local dealers and have it verified again! Kinda remined me of 24 yrs. ago when I bought it new! It doesn't look like any of that has ever been unplugged or replaced, heck, the previous owner, (and there was one prior to that, the one I sold it to) didn't even know about adjusting cam chain, let alone where slack adjuster was located. Im tellin ya' it really sounded like a thrashing machine. Thanks again for all the input......this has become a real xs brain teaser....least for me anyways. I'll watch my e-mail for any more ideas....Thanks.