Ignition wiring question – bike stranded

[tkurt]

Hi guys, another electrical question...

I was getting erratic voltage on the road, and after parking the bike now I'm getting no spark. My bike had been running & charging well.

I get 11.5V at the alternator brushes and the rotor looks OK (5 ohms). No spark when I flip open the points with the key on.

I'm getting 0 volts on the brown wire at the kill switch, so I started checking the ignition switch.

The ignition switch voltages I have, with key ON:
red wire: 0 V
brown wire: 12.5 V
red/yellow wire: 0 V
blue wire: 12.5 V only when key turned to Park

Continuity tests:
Red – blue are continuous when key is in Park
Red is infinity to any ground when the bike is off.
Brown and red/yellow read infinity with key on.

So the brown-red wiring connection is bad, right?

Is it ok to wire them together to get home? I should still be able to use the kill switch to turn off the bike still...

Again, thanks in advance for your help

 

[Grinder]

The red wire on the ignition switch is what comes from the battery through a fuse. You should have 12v there with the switch off. When you turn the switch on the brown and red/yellow become hot. Did you check the fuse?

 

[tkurt]

Sorry, I was checking the red wire incorrectly. Yes, it is 12V with the switch off.

The brown and red/yellow wires are both hot with the key on - not sure why I didn't get voltage on red/yellow before.

I connected the red/white and brown at the kill switch, and I get 12V there as well.

But still no spark...

 

[pamcopete]

Check for voltage at the points with the kill switch on and the points open. If no voltage, then could be the kill switch or associated wiring. You can access the kill switch wires in the headlight bucket. They are red / white wires. Short them out to bypass the kill switch.

 

[Grinder]

If you get no voltage at the brown wire going into the kill switch, make a jumper from a 12v source and go to the red/white coming out of the kill switch. That goes to your coils.

 

[tkurt]

Hi guys,

Thanks for the help!

I made a jumper to connect brown to red/white at the kill switch. I'm getting 12V at the red/white wire in the headlight bucket but nothing at the points or coils.

So I'll try a jumper from the hot red/white wire in the headlight bucket straight to the coils.

 

[tkurt]

WOOHOO!!!! Bike fired right up


Just need to adjust the timing now, since I was fussing with the points a bit.

Thanks again everyone here and on the forum!

 

[tkurt]

Well, I went to start the bike and whaddya know, it wouldn't start and the red/white in the headlight was giving 0V. So I wired the coils to a live brown wire. Bike started and ran, but the points were arcing when open. Suspect a bad condenser(s) in addition to wiring problem.