No spark

[bartender]

Hey everyone, just wanted to get some opinions from the masses. I have a 1979 XS650 Special with stock motor. Here's what happened:

I've put 76 miles on the new Pamco ignition with black dual output coil and non resistor caps from MikesXS and they were awesome. Last night the bike started giving me trouble. First it didn't want to start after I popped into the grocery, but after about 10 kicks it got me home. Checked my plugs(good) and battery(low). Charged up to full and it started right up and got me to the gas station. Filled up and it started sputtering and died after about a 1/4 mile. Could not get it to start after that. Thought maybe the battery was drained again, charged it, tried starting, nothing. After about 20-30 kicks it fired and got me another 1/4 mile or so before dying again. Ended pushing her home last night. Used a fresh battery today, nothing. Coil reads 3.1 at the primaries and around 17,000 cap to cap. Is the secondary off? Tested the ignition by pulling the pin and spinning the rotor, but no spark. Am I looking at a bad ignition?


I've emailed Pete at 3 different addresses but have yet to hear back, as I'm sure he's rather swamped. I'm working all day today, but I think tomorrow I'll look over the soldering on the ignition and see if there's anything there that would lead to a failure. Anything I should try/look for?

Thanks

Andrew

 

[cros36]

so you emailed him at 3 addresses TODAY, and your wondering why he hasnt gotten back to you yet. give the fucking dude a chance to answer all the other emails he got from people last night that dont realize they have a charging issue.

 

[bartender]

Wow Crocs, great answer. I probably shouldn't have included that part of my message where I say I'm sure he's really busy, which you either didn't read or misconstrued for some sort of complaint. I've had charging systems fail before, but a fresh battery always provided spark regardless. If the XS is different, then that's good to know.
I do appreciate the quick response though.

Andrew

 

[cros36]

Wow Crocs, great answer. I probably shouldn't have included that part of my message where I say I'm sure he's really busy, which you either didn't read or misconstrued for some sort of complaint. I've had charging systems fail before, but a fresh battery always provided spark regardless. If the XS is different, then that's good to know.
I do appreciate the quick response though.

Andrew

i guess i did take this as a complaint. alot of people that install a pamco think that its going to solve all their problems. then they get pissed when pete doesnt email them back while their on a lunch brake at work. i guess i shouldnt assume that your battery draining would have anything to do with a charging system.

sorry, i hope you all the best.

 

[bartender]

A partially drained battery could just as easily be the result of having the key on while kicking 40 times at a pop. Like I said, I used fresh batteries to test for spark this morning and got nothing. Pretty sure the coil resistance for both the primary and secondary are on spec. Anyone else care to throw their hat in?

 

[bartender]

Well, since no one has ideas as to what else could be wrong with the bike, maybe someone can chime in in regards to how long it typically takes to hear back from Pamcopete? Is he on vacation perhaps? Would just like to know so I can plan accordingly.

Andrew

 

[Grinder]

Do you have 12v at the coil? Sometimes the ignition or kill switch can be bad and not allow full voltage to the coil. If your charging system is overcharging (more than 15V) and killing your battery that could fry the pamco.

 

[bartender]

Grinder, didn't check for overcharging, good idea. My battery wasn't killed though, just a little weak at first. As for the kill switch, there is none. All safety switches are removed also, so that eliminates that possibility. Thanks for responding, much appreciated.

Andrew

 

[bartender]

Alright, checked out the pc board on the ignition, doesn't look like anything is fried. The safety diode looks good as far as I can tell. I took some pictures, maybe someone here will see something I missed. I would really rather not have to buy another ignition considering this one is less than a month and less than 100 miles old. Anything else I can check with the bike not being able to run?

Thanks everyone

Andrew

 

[bartender]

So I went at testing the coil again. Primary reading is 3.5. Primary to core is infinity. Primary to plugwire is infinity. Wire to wire is 16,000. I've read elsewhere that wire to wire should be about 17,000, is this correct?

This is my setup:
Ultimate High Output Coil - MikesXS Part #17-6903
Spark Plug High Tension Wires - MikesXS Part #23-2902
NGK Spark Plugs - MikesXS Part #50-5944
Non-resistor NGK Plug Caps - MikesXS Part #23-3114
Pamco Ignition - yamahaxs650.com

Anybody??

Thanks

 

[Grinder]

Tight, clean ground on the black pamco wire, rotor magnets in place?

 

[bartender]

Yep on both accounts. First thing I did was check that the 4 magnets are still in place and that my wiring wasn't loose/dirty/cracked/fried somewhere. Grinder I appreciate your input, thanks for helping out.

Andrew

 

[Grinder]

One thing I noticed on your parts list is that you have non resistor caps. If you look at the pamco ultimate ignition setup at mikes it shows 5k caps. I bought the whole system from mikes and have 2k miles on with zero problems. Not sure what difference this would make but it is different than what you have.