Coils burning out

[Prisondawg]

Ok so Initially I had got my bike to run with a brand new coil I had purchased from Mike's xs , and I stopped getting spark, I was getting power to the primarys but no spark, so I swapped the could out for a Honda coil I had laying around and it started pretty quickly but then it wouldn't start again, I checked and there's no spark , but I still have power at the primary. It seems like my coils are burning out. I have the TCI ignition, I know not to start the key without the spark plugs grounded. I wired the bike myself, using the wiring harness from an older xs. So I'm worried I might be missing something. There's definitely a few capacitors not being used on my bike currently. There's specifically one between my top motor mount with two black leads coming from it that aren't going anywhere. Maybe that has something to do with it. Any idea why my coils seem to be breaking before I buy another one ?

 

[Paul Sutton]

The TCI system does not use points so the capacitors are not required, so why are they there?? Did your bike originally have points ignition or did the capacitor come with the harness??

Have you measured the resistance of the primary and secondary windings on both coils to see if there is a break (or very high resistance on the primary)? Do you leave the ignition switched on for several minutes without the engine running - this can lead to overheating and possibly burnout the primary winding. A resistance check on the primary winding will confirm this, should be low approximately 3 Ohms.

If you can measure the resistance then let us know the values.

 

[xjwmx]

Plenty of Mike's stuff is fine, but two of his TCI coils burned out on me. And there was a period where the spade lugs would actually break off. I started using a used Honda MP08 coil from ebay which solved the problem of where to get a coil.

 

[mrtwowheel]

Burning out one coil......it just happens, like shit happens. Replacing it with an old pre-MP08 Honda coil and burning one of them out...…..that's not surprising either. Many Hondas have been parked for decades because of that generation of Honda coils, before the MP08, with the bad rep that they fully deserve.

Scott

 

[mrtwowheel]

Are you sure that there is NO POWER to the coil when you turn the ignition off?

Scott

 

[xjwmx]

Yes, BEFORE the MP08 just to be clear. The MP08 has the opposite rep.