MikesXS Gen 2 ignition issues.

[Alllooksnnogo]

Hi guys, well its been a journey so far. I have almost completed my xs650 project. A month ago, however, I ended up having an ignition issue. I had mikes xs gen 1 ignition running on the bike for years now. This year I installed a PMA/lithium battery setup with a HHB rectifier. Everything was working fine until I lost spark, diagnosed the issue and found that the set screw to hold the chip board in place in the ignition rattled loose and detonated it. I purchased a new GEN 2 unit from Dime City and installed it. The bike ran but very funny. holding a high rev and backing off slowly, then the bike died. the bike is kick only. I had is running for all of 15 min then kapoot! Nothing and back to no spark. I checked the entire charging system and coil again and good at this point. I am thinking a back ignition unit out of the box. Any suggestions? Am I going nuts here?

 

[jpdevol]

Hmm...so Gen II is it a red unit with mechanical advance or blue unit with E-advance? What battery and is it holding full charge? What coils are you running on what year bike? What PMA system and a MOSFET regulator from Hugh, or other? Have you checked voltage at the battery?

 

[Alllooksnnogo]

Hi JP, thank you for the response. Its the red unit with mechanical advance. I recently replaced the mech. advance unit as well with a new one. Battery is holding its normal charge of 13.15 (lithium) and the PMA is charging. So sorry as if you guys can guess lol....its a 1972 xs650 with a 77' xs650D motor. PMA is mikes and the rectifier/reg is a mosfet from Hugh's.

 

[jpdevol]

As you may know, there's probably no specs for the red trigger mechanism. The goal, then, is to eliminate everything else. If you're getting 12.5VDC to coil + (R/W on OEM harness) then you should be able to ground (briefly) the orange (-) from the coil and get a spark. It was running so the coils should be compatible with TCI ignition (anything prior to '80 XS OEM is not).

 

[Alllooksnnogo]

Yes I am having a difficult time trying to find info on how to troubleshoot if at all the gen 2. Is there a multimeter test that you know of? So sorry again. My coil is a newer style high output and I do have 12v at the coil/ Tested the coil as well and have 25M through the wires on the secondaries and 2.5 across the primary. It has to be the new unit but I'm a little bit dizzy from all the troubleshooting lol.

 

[jpdevol]

The ohm test sounds correct - ballpark. Can you jumper orange (-) from coil and quickly touch to bare ground to see if a grounded plug will spark? The exact source of coil (p/n) may help

 

[jpdevol]

Is there a multimeter test that you know of?

No test for the trigger unit that I'm aware of.

 

[Alllooksnnogo]

Ya, shoot, I thought so on the trigger. I have only one coil, 2 leads for my primary in red/white and the green. then the 2 plug wires. I took an old spark plug and shorted it to ground and nothing my friend!

 

[jpdevol]

Contact Mike's customer service customerservice@mikesxs.net ; they have replaced many of them.

 

[jetmechmarty]

they have replaced many of them.

On this forum, on XS650 FB groups as well, this seems a common thread. Happy customers are not reporting or I'm missing something.

 

[Alllooksnnogo]

Absolutely JP I emailed them and waiting for a response. Thank you very much for the advice. Nice to know I am on the right track for my troubleshooting. Thank you Jet, I agree, I have not heard anything nice either. I am hoping there are no contradictions in my set up with regard to using this Gen 2 and my PMA. I do not think so as these items are sold together as a package.