Stumped, bike not starting...

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Terrible

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Hey, so I have a bit of a problem, and I am more then stumped. Last year I bought a '83 Heritage Special. The bike was rough, put a new wiring harness in it, fixed it up some, and rode it for the summer. Over the winter we tore it down, and hardtailed it. I put it all back together, all the lights work and it seems like it is ready to go. Won't start. Change the coil, wires, plugs. No spark. There is power going through the wires, so it must be the points.... Take the covers off, and there are no points on either side, nothing behind the covers at all. So now I'm here wondering, what kind of ignition system does this bike have? I believed it to be stock, but I guess not. I was working on it with my friend, and we are both stumped, as neither of us has a clue. Should I get a new igntion system? What kind? Or is there some easy fix to this. Or was this this just jimmy rigged up and never intended to come apart. I really wanna ride this thing, but I'm stumped. Thanks:shrug:
 
You welded on the frame with the TCI (ignition black box) in place? It lives (it used to be alive) under the battery box. The TCI really is sensitive about welding. Or maybe you just "didn't need" that thing?

xs650.jpg
 
So the ignition box gets it signal from the pick ups mounted on the stator. get the trouble shooting manual and do the tests. An 83 has an ignition interlock safety switch on the side stand. Is that still there?

I guess I'm confused you were looking for points but knew it had an igniton box.......

The ignition box provides and removes ground to the coils causing them to fire.
 
Oh, I did not know exactly what the igntion box did.

When I got the bike, I did not know about the switch on the side stand. When I tore it down I found it, and it was all busted up, and it seemed like it didn't work...
 
We tested everything and it all has power.

However, the starter has been taken out and the bike is kick only now. In doing this the starter relay/solenoid isn't on the bike at the moment. (I was told I did not need this, however that might be the case with older bikes, and not this one?)
 
I think during your "sawzall frenzy", you removed something you need, lol. Yes, many of the safety electrical do-dads can be removed but many require some wire jumpering to keep things working.
 
Your lack of knowledge of your own bike makes it difficult for anyone else to help you. You said you put a new wiring harness on the bike. Does that mean you put on a stock harness for a 1983, or did you make up your harness? The 1983 has many nasty interlocks, most of which quit working over time.

Are you saying the bike has no spark? Are you trying to use the stock type interlocks, such as sidestand switch, sidestand relay, neutral switch interlock, clutch switch, or have you removed all of those items?
 
Another angle grinder massacre gone wrong ! 1st, go buy a couple of manuals . 2nd ,go read them . 3rd , build a time machine and go back and do steps one and two before you attacked your bike with a sawzall.
 
Yes, an angle grinder massacre....

The bike is 1983 Heritage Special. The wiring was a mess on it, so it was replaced with a stock harness last year. Everything worked. The bike was on the road last summer. The only things it did not have hooked up were the clutch switch and the sidestand relay(I did not know about the sidestand relay until the bike was being taken apart, however it was beat/smashed/cut, and did not work)

I start to put the bike back together, and rewire it. None of the harness seemed damaged, and everything was there. I run all the wires and it seems good to go. All the stock harness. I turn the key to on, neutral light comes on, awesome. I give it a kick, headlight comes on, highbeam/lowbeam both work. Signals work. Brake Light works. My guages work, everything seems to work.

Here is were the trouble starts, it never fired up, and after checking for spark, I have none. Now the only thing I have removed from the system is the starter relay/solenoid. I'm not using a starter, so does it do anything if your only using kick?

So I check the battery, fully charged. I had changed the coil, check it, power going into the coil, and coming out. I replaced the wires and the plugs, and checked the end of the wires with no plugs/cap, and there is power all the way to the plug. I have power through the whole system.

Now at this point I had never gotten into my ignition system, I didn't know this bike had something other then a points system, which I am learning now. So this is where I'm at, trying to figure out this tci ignition.
 
A fully charged battery and power all the way to the plugs........sounds like it should fire up, if you have spark at the plugs. Only thing missing next would be fuel.
In the manual there are a few procedures for checking the system, you'll need the volt/ohm meter and the manual of course.
 
I'm not clear as to what interlocks you have or don't have on the bike now. If your bike still has the sidestand relay, unplug it, as it can send a ground on the black/white wire, which disables the TCI.

You can measure resistance of the coil primary...........should be around 2.5 ohms.
Also measure coil secondary from one lead to the other..............around 11k ohms without caps and 21 k with caps.

2 pick-up coils should measure around 700 ohms.

If they measure OK then TCI black box is likely faulty. Substitution with a known working TCI is the only way to test.
 
So I put everything back on the bike as it came. Checked all the connections, and traced all the wires for the ignition. Somewhere in the ignition unit itself is the problem.

I read online how to test the transistor, so I got the multimeter out and tested it. It seemed faulty as I had no conductivity. So I replaced it, and boom, I had conductivity. So once again I try to start the bike. Still nothing. So the problem must be somewhere else.....

The bike has power, but no spark. There is power going into the ignition unit. However I have not been able to find what in the igntion unit sends the power back out and tells the bike to spark.

So here I am, with a bike that won't start, and summer in full swing. It seems like I need a new ignition unit. However I having trouble finding any, and any that will ship to Canada. Can I swap out this ignition with something better?
 
Swap the old TCI for a new Pamco ignition. I did that in my '83 and it is a great unit. Check out yamahaxs650.com or xs650direct.com. Since you have an '83 you will need the advance rod and other small parts that typically come factory on an older points ignition, but it's a worthwhile upgrade.
 
You say you have power to the coil. The TCI box needs power to. Check for power on the red/white wire at the TCI box.
I assume after you did the frame mods you painted the frame. Did you make sure all the grounds had a clean bare metal to clean bare metal connection? Bad grounds causes all sorts of trouble.
Leo
 

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