Okay I found it and swapped the leads, still no spark on that left side
Hi Silviculturalist - welcome from Canada's sunny southern coast in Windsor, Ontario!
Please do not get discouraged - these bikes are pretty simple and very reliable and durable so you will get there. You are certainly already talking with the best mechanics on the forum so stick with them - but I will put my oar in here too.
The fact that you have a dead spark plug
may be something even simpler than a problem with the wiring harness and the ignition points etc.
The connection at
EACH end of the big thick 7mm diameter spark plug wires is not what you'd likely expect. In fact, the big fat spark plug wire
screws onto what looks a lot like a big wood screw
inside the spark plug cap
AND inside the big high voltage terminal on the coil (see the photo below). That ribbed cap on the coil will unscrew and you will see what I am talking about. If either end of that big wire is not properly connected, you will have a dead or intermittent spark on that side.
Inside each of those connections is a sharply pointed tapered screw - and to make a good connection, you must:
- carefully strip about 1/4" of the insulation from the end of the spark plug wire;
- splay the wires out radially (like rays of sunshine);
- screw that splayed out wire end INTO and ONTO the spark plug cap and INTO and ONTO the coil connector (i.e. pushing and turning on each connection at the same time and then repeating at the other end of the spark plug lead).
Don't forget to slide the little ribbed plastic cap (visible in the photo below)
and the little ferrule sleeve onto the wire at the coil end - and also - the little rubber boot over the wire at the spark plug end before the "pushing and screwing" (
) operation. A little dab of dielectric grease may be a good idea too as it will keep moisture out these important connections.
I apologize for not being able to illustrate my thought better - but my wife and I are moving in the coming week and all of my parts are packed and I cannot find a decent photo on the web - but I know that 5Twins, Gary, Mailman or Jim will have one.
Anyhow - making those connections better may very well at least help with, or even cure your dead spark problem.
Cheers,
Pete