Bike died while riding, now no spark

[Pineapple69]

Yo, I have a 1980 xs650 that I've been stripping down the stock bits. This morning I changed my burned out tail light bulb and wired my neutral light to my new mikesxs mini speedo. It was idling pretty normal with a full tank of gas, I rode about 5-10 minutes down the road and as i was changed from 4th to 3rd it all of a sudden died. I pulled over and all power was cut out, I tried to kick it over but no go. I pushed it 5km home and checked for spark and nothing. The bike has a brand new battery that I put in 2 weeks ago and boyer ignition and pma that the last owner put in. I'm pretty stumped as the bike was running great up until it died and help would be appreciated.

 

[richardthemotorcycle1]

Have you check all the fuses? Check the battery with your volt meter.

 

[retiredgentleman]

Does your bike still have the original fuse panel, with the glass fuses? If so, a "must do" on these bikes is to replace that panel, with automotive blade type fuse holders.

Other suspects are the Kill Switch, Ignition Switch, and various bullet connectors.

Did you check the charging voltage from the PMA, when you installed the new battery?

 

[ANLAF]

Pineapple69
If it suddenly died, then it is not likely to be the battery - batteries tend to give a warning when the voltage is dropping as sudden missing of sparks and generally running poorly. Sudden catastrophies can be as simple as a loose wire or the ground/earth connections are loose or dirty.

It's multimeter time.

Good luck.

ANLAF

 

[Pineapple69]

I'm changing out the fuse panel to blade ones today. Thanks for all the help

 

[retiredgentleman]

I'm changing out the fuse panel to blade ones today. Thanks for all the help

Make sure you reply back on this thread, so we know if you had success.

 

[Pineapple69]

I changed out the fuse panel to blade type fuses and it's running better other than backfiring letting off the throttle, it doesn't backfire right away but once its warmed up and I've been riding for 10-15 minutes it'll start. Doesn't look like any air gaps by the carbs could it be wiring related? I'm using stock wiring harness but I recently moved it under my tank because I am no longer using big headlight that held all my wiring.

 

[ANLAF]

Pineapple69

Two things leap out at me:
1. one of the cells in your battery may be faulty, and when it fades the spark becomes intermittent, until, the engine just cuts out. That might be your problem if you've masked the weak battery by, say, putting it on trickle charge.

2. HT leads get old, too - and they can break the connection if you;ve trapped them like I did while tinkering with timing. For next to no money by a couple of yards of decent automotive cable (while you are there check the coil output (usually measured in ohms) and the resistance at the plug caps.

Did I say two - make it three for luck...

3. go back to your tail light and make sure your ground is secure and on to clean metal.

Keep us informed. Retiredgentleman is correct to want closure on threads - it helps you and it helps others, too.

ANLAF