Bike wont start.

Ok, tried grounding wire from coil to point/condenser , left cylinder sparked almost every try out of ten attempts, right cylinder sparked at first touch and once more but definately not consistent. Not sure what to make of that though as it sparks more consistently at the right plug. Just hit the starter with the plugs out and there is no spark on the left plug and the coil is very hot. Thinking I justed shorted it ??
 
I'll make a suggestion here if I may...
Charging and ignition are two different systems. If it were me, I'd ignore the charging system issues for now and worry about getting spark to the plugs. Once you get it running, you can worry about charging. Reading above is just confusing because the idea is to get the bike running and all the talk is about regulators, rotors, stators, brushes and such.... none of which have anything to do with making the bike actually run.
So my suggestion... let's concentrate on ignition. I believe I read above that you have power to the coils, correct? If so, take the lead coming out of the coil and going to the points/condensor.... disconnect it and touch it to ground... then remove it from ground. Kinda like tapping it to ground. Grounding it charges the coil. As soon as you un-ground it, the coil should fire the plug. Tap it a half dozen times or so and see if the plug consistently fires. Does it? If it does, that's a good coil, ht lead and plug... and we're getting good power to the coil. Answers a lot of questions no? Let us know and we'll press on from there.

I would look at the charging circuit first
a ) There has been problems
b) There exists a fault finding service instruction
c) There is a newly installed regulator / Rectifier that has newer worked ??
d) No power at brushes.

My view is that it can be a problem localize the fault that part is passed for the Alternator Brushes
Assume the rotor is shorted again :then there is ground there and
Unless it is fixed the Coils wont get the Power needed
But sure Fault finding can be done Top down or down up or in subsystems
My view ..A fault is there No power on brushes I would look into that.
Cause and effect ..now in # 21 there is a problem that might give more info
But Again like a parrot
No power to Brushes ..I would go for getting it there ,and then the rest .
On a points bike if there is to low voltage on ignition ( fex via a rotor Short )
You can kick it to the face gets blue and eyes pop out it wont start and the few times it tries it will misfire.
But again there are different ways to do it .And I must admit I have been wrong before.
 
First I would check the Kill Switch on the handle bar I have had problems with those
Nothing prevents two test procedures at the same time
To sum it
The rotor is fairly new
The regulator is new

Please give the full Description of bike name type and or Wiring schematic
Please give info of voltage on brushes Still nothing ?? .If so .Others please come in Why is that possible
Ignition Lock ?
Rubber grommet in headlamp ?
 
right cylinder sparked at first touch and once more but definitely not consistent.
Not sure what to make of that though as it sparks more consistently at the right plug.
Those two statements are in conflict. It can't be both "not Consistent" and "more consistent" at the same time. Can you clear that up for us?
Have you ohm'd out the coils?
 
When the alternator self destructed i managed to get the bike home. Since turning the engine off at that time the bike has constantly had spark at both plugs and points every time I have tested it but the engine will not start. Yesterday I tried the grounding of the coil wires and the left plug sparked every time the wire was grounded. When I tried grounding the right coil wire it only sparked once or twice. Then I inserted the plugs into the plug caps and earthed them on the barrels as I have done a lot recently and used the starter to wind the engine over with the key on, right plug sparking, left plug no spark?!!. Swapped the plugs over still no spark on the left. That is when I noticed the left coil was very hot so I did no more testing. Hope I haven't cooked the coil doing the tests. Last week Team junk suggested unplugging the regulator and see if it would start and when I did it fired but it was late at night so I left at that until the next day. The next day I fitted new reg / rectifier and the bike would not start. Yesterday I realised when I unplugged the regulator to see if it would start i also unplugged the reserve lighting unit so when I got home I unplugged the reserve lighting unit and hit the starter and it fired but I had the fuel tank off to check wiring etc .when I fitted the fuel tank and connected the right carby hose to the tap it ripped the spigot out of the tap so now I need to re tap the thread.!. New coil?
 
New coil?
If one's getting a lot hotter... a lot faster than the other, then yeah, it's a good possibility it's cooked. Ohm it out. You should get about 4Ω's on the primary side and about 8KΩ's on the secondary. If it's getting real hot, I suspect the primary will be lower than the 4Ω's. Let it get hot, then ohm it out before it cools.
 
Ok Jim will try that when I get home. It did work fine doing the grounding test and possibly fried while doing the right coil test even though I had plugs in the plug leads the whole time. Thanks for staying on it.
 
Just had a thought.... 1 set of points will be closed and 1 set open. The closed set will be charging the coil and it'll heat up. The open set won't pass current and the coil will be cold 'cause there's no juice running through it. So what you're looking at is prolly normal.
But do ohm them out anyway so we know where we're at.
 
Thanks Jim, I hope you are wright and ill do the ohm check this arvo. The better half and I are off on a three week ride to cooktown and western Queensland tomorrow, roughly 6,000 kilometers from here in brisbane on the k1600 ga bmw so I will be back to ask for more help from all the people here on the forum on the 17/5. Safe rides to you all.
 
Ok gang, the bikes going and charging!!!!. After the coil test it had no spark so I ended up replacing the condensers and it started first kick. While I was at it I replaced the plug caps as they were the originals and a bit worn. On the charging issue, turned out the regulator part of the new solid state one piece rectifier/regulator was not working and I installed the old regulator and now it is charging great. A big thanks to Jim ,Jan_p Team junk, Two many, 650Skull for all the input and advice, great to be on the road again and hoping that's the last rotor that I need to replace. Enjoy the ride;.
 
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