No spark, TCI shot? Something else??

[section8joe]

I have an 83 Heritage special. I'm trying to wire it up using this diagram. I'm having trouble getting spark and I think I've done all the appropriate tests.

The bike is kick only with only a headlight and taillight. I wired everything up and I can't get spark to the plugs. I'm not sure if I'm testing for spark correctly. I'm kicking the bike with a plug out(still attached to the plug wires). The plug is pretty much touching the side cover screws and side of the cylinder. Is this the correct method?

XSLEO's advice from another thread.

On your fuses, the one with a red wire on each side is the main fuse, 20 amp.
The one with red/white wires is the ignition fuse, 10 amp.
The one with red/yellow is for lights, 10 amp.
The one with brown wires is everything else. Use your meter check the battery voltage, When you check voltages at other places it should come very close to this voltage.
With the key on check the voltages at the fuses. The red/white wire is the one you need to check. If it has battery voltage fine, If not check the fuses, main and ignition and the key switch. The switch can have dirty contacts inside. Most can be taken apart and cleaned.
Once you have battery voltage at the fuse check the voltage at the red/white wire at the coil and the TCI box. They both should get a reading within .5 volts of battery voltage.
If not check the kill switch, dirty connections inside will prevent power passing through. If you have good voltage at the TCI box and coil check the grounds at the TCI box and coil. You need good grounds.
If everything checks out good and still no spark you need to check the coil for proper ohms. On the 81 the primary side, the red/white and the orange wires, With your meter set on it's lowest range, touch the probes together, this reading is just the probes and wires, you need to subtract this reading from your test reading to get the actual reading.
Now touch a probe to the red/white and one to the orange wire, If it reads 2.5 ohms + or - 10 % then that parts tests ok.
Now with your meter set to the 200k position touch one probe to each spark plug cap. This way you are testing both caps, wires and the coil. It should read 23k ohms, + or -10%.
Now down on the stator is the pick up for the TCI box. There is a connector for them by the connector for the stator. At this connector there will be three wires, one black/white, one white/red, one white/grey. They used different colors sometimes. Too check the ohms check from the wire that has black on it to each of the other wires. The reading should be about the same and some where in the 700 ohms range.
These are about all the checks you can do on the TCI system. If all these checks are in spec the TCI box is the problem.
There are several things you can try to fix the TCI box. Re soldering any cold solder joints. Re soldering all the joints. Replacing any parts the look burnt up. Usually the transistor and some diodes. If you look around you will find the threads that explain just how too do these fixes.
If fixing the TCI box fails, then you can spend money trying to get a good replacement from forum members or off ebay. These can get your bike running. Unless you get a NOS replacement in the $500 range you will get a 30 year old used part.

I've done everything in the above quote and all my tests comeback ok.

Once again more advice from XSLEO

Before you buy anything find out if what you have works. The TCI is a set and forget ignition.
I would hook up the TCI box, coil and pick up you have, leave the reg/rec out for now. Use a battery to power ignition. See if it runs with what you have.
Do this and see what happens. It won't cost you anything but a bit of time.
If it runs, then wire up the reg/rec and see if it charges. If you get it to run and charge you can ride it till you can save a few bucks and do some upgrades.

I tried this too and no spark. I also was using a test light and both sides of the ignition coil have power. All three wires going to the PICKUP COIL have no power when tested with a test light. Should these wires have power? Is there anything else to try? Is my TCI box shot? I know there are a few threads on here on repairing the TCI box but I don't want to jump into that without exploring other options.

I just thought of one other thing. I have the 7 pin TCi and the black wire with the white stripe is the wire that I think goes to the sidestand relay. I have the white with the black stripe going to the pickup coil. Is this correct?

Sorry this post is so long I just wanted to fully explain the situation.

 

[crazyazsredneck]

is the on /off switch on??? does it work ??? i have an 82 and only have two wires goin to my coil. some times its the simple things ,like bad connections. do u have any power to lights on speedo.kick stand switch could be bad also ???? heres the tc bros on iam using also only have tail and headlight

 

[section8joe]

yeah, the on/off switch was on. I tested the ignition coils with a test light. Could my plugs be shot? They don't look too bad. I did clean them with a wire brush. They were a little rich.
What about the neutral switch wire. I just pulled unhooked it?

 

[retiredgentleman]

Here is something to check. It sounds like you still have the sidestand relay mounted on the bike. It would have 4 wires............red/white, blue yellow, black/white, and black. I would have you unplug that relay, and see if the engine will run. Its a simple way to remove the possibility of a ground on the black/white wire.

That relay will send a ground down the black/white wire to the TCI box and disable the TCI..............and no spark. If you leave the relay plugged in, you need power from the kill switch, and either a ground from the neutral switch or a ground from the sidestand switch. Many riders find that the sidestand switch does not work due to road debris and years of neglect. If the neutral switch is working ( but you said you pulled it out), then that would energize the sidestand relay, and remove the ground from the black/white going to the TCI.

 

[section8joe]

The sidestand relay is romoved from the bike. The bike has minimal electric. Headlight, taillight and that's it.

 

[gggGary]

As you mentioned The 83 has a 7 wire TCI, what did you do with the second black white lead? It should just be isolated and capped. The trick is making sure which of the two black white leads you have hooked to the pick up coil.

 

[section8joe]

I believe the black wire with the white chaser is the wire going to the sidestand relay. I didnt have a screw on cap so I just put a butt connector on it. It's not connected to anything. Should I do something different with it? What about my method of checking for spark? Is that the right way to do it? Can this have anything to do with my neutral wire being disconnected? Or the fact that the pickup gets no juice when I test it with the check light? What about the plugs? Can they be bad and not appear to be bad? The bike ran fine at the end of winter and when I tore it apart I was really careful with the TCI. Sorry again for the rapid fire questions. Im just really frustrated.

 

[section8joe]

I forgot to mention in my original post that the bike was completely redone over the winter. I didn't do anythin to the engine but I did hardtail the bike so it's pretty much barebones right now. I don't have the tank mounted so the bike will not actually start. The absence of the gas should have nothing to do with the bike not making spark.

 

[FastColt]

I have the same bike with the same freaking problem, ive been going nuts all morning. How do you test the pick up with the test light?

 

[section8joe]

I tested the pickup with an ohm meter. Look at my first post and for the proper ohms for the pickup. I tried to test the connection where the pickup connects to the ignition unit with a test light. I don't seem to have power there. I'm not even sure if I need power there. Do me a favor and let me know if you get any power at that connection.

 

[FastColt]

I dont have an ohm meter, but when i put my test light on the connector the goes from the harness to the coil, it shows power on both wires. Shouldnt the light turn on and off when i crank the engine, like the pickups are tell the coil to spark? Or does the power just stay constant? I built this bike from a box o parts so im really lost. I followed the wiring diagrams to a T. I have one yellow wire that looks to have been cut, coming from the engine. I think it might be the kick stand wire or something.

 

[section8joe]

I also get power on both side of the ignition coil. I dont have power to the pickup coil. I'm not exactly sure it's supposed to get power.
Look at the second quote on my first post. Try to start yours eith just the tci,ignition coil pickup coil and battery. Good luck!

 

[FastColt]

I unplugged the reg/rec. No luck. I also show no power to the pickup.

 

[section8joe]

I think you may be stuck til you get a ohm meter. Harbor freight has them for like $3.

 

[FastColt]

I think the pick up is supposed to get power no?

 

[section8joe]

I'm not sure. Either we both have the same problem or the pickup coil gets power from the stator? Maybe? Just a guess.

 

[retiredgentleman]

You will see no power indication at the pick-up. Its only when the tiny magnet on the rotor travels by the pick-up that there is a voltage pulse generated. You would need an oscilloscope to see the pulses.

Use an ohm meter to measure for 700 ohms on the pick-up. Measure from 1 common lead to the 2 other leads. (There are 2 pick-up coils)

 

[FastColt]

Im so lost i feel like setting my bike on fire.

 

[section8joe]

That's how I feel right now. Retiredgentleman confirmed that the pickup coil gets no juice so thats working properly.
I went and bought new plugs and I'm still not getting a spark. I also have my ignition coil temporarily mounted to the bike. It is grounded, does it need be? Would it hurt if it is grounded? I Just thought I'd throw that into the whole mix. I having a feeling that my tci is bad so I opened it up and took a few pics. Can someone take a look and let me know if there's anything bad going on here? Sorry for the large pics I wanted to show them in detail.

 

[FastColt]

My coil is not grounded. Should it be??? I have zip ties temporarily holding it to the frame.