Welded turn signal on frame. Bike won't start now

[Rd51]

Hope everyone had a great Christmas/New Year.

A few weeks ago, I came out to my bike to find one of my rear turn signals hanging by the rear wheel. Someone must have bumped the bike or something. Anyways, I took it to the fabricator to have them weld it back up there.

Shame on me and the fabricator for forgetting to disconnect all the grounds, before welding that turn signal.

The bike will not start now. I've checked the basics; good battery voltage, all fuses are good, ignition key switch is working, electric start still works. Just won't fire.

After all those checks, I figured well, I'm probably not getting spark. But what's weird is that I have checked for spark on both plugs, and I have a strong spark.

Thoughts? Ideas for where to look next?

 

[RFeng]

Need more information on your bike. Year, ignition type...

 

[Rd51]

Need more information on your bike. Year, ignition type...

Apologies. I should include a link to my build thread.

It's a 1978 Standard. PAMCO ignition, Hugh's PMA, Shorai battery

 

[Rd51]

Need more information on your bike. Year, ignition type...

http://www.xs650.com/forum/showthread.php?t=30867&page=7

The bottom of this page is the start of the electrical

 

[pamcopete]

Rd51,

Had a look at your build thread. Awesome wiring job. If you are getting spark, then the PAMCO is still working. That's all it does. Real simple. Wonder if the welder was a little nervous with fuel in the tank and drained it?

Welding doesn't just create harmful electrical problems, it also creates a strong magnetic field. Could have affected the magnets in the PAMCO rotor so only one set of magnets is working. You will still get spark on both plug wires because they both fire at the same time, but only one cylinder would get the spark on it's compression stroke making starting difficult. So, remove the slotted disk on the advancer side and spin the PAMCO rotor to check if each set of two magnets produces a spark.

 

[Rd51]

Rd51,

Had a look at your build thread. Awesome wiring job. If you are getting spark, then the PAMCO is still working. That's all it does. Real simple. Wonder if the welder was a little nervous with fuel in the tank and drained it?

Welding doesn't just create harmful electrical problems, it also creates a strong magnetic field. Could have affected the magnets in the PAMCO rotor so only one set of magnets is working. You will still get spark on both plug wires because they both fire at the same time, but only one cylinder would get the spark on it's compression stroke making starting difficult. So, remove the slotted disk on the advancer side and spin the PAMCO rotor to check if each set of two magnets produces a spark.

Thanks Pete, I appreciate that. I'd like to use Deutsch plugs for future builds.

The bike has plenty of gas

I had a feeling there was something more than just a spark. I think what you described is what is occurring. I'm going to attach a couple photos, as I do not 100% understand what you are telling me to do.

 

[Rd51]

Rd51,

Had a look at your build thread. Awesome wiring job. If you are getting spark, then the PAMCO is still working. That's all it does. Real simple. Wonder if the welder was a little nervous with fuel in the tank and drained it?

Welding doesn't just create harmful electrical problems, it also creates a strong magnetic field. Could have affected the magnets in the PAMCO rotor so only one set of magnets is working. You will still get spark on both plug wires because they both fire at the same time, but only one cylinder would get the spark on it's compression stroke making starting difficult. So, remove the slotted disk on the advancer side and spin the PAMCO rotor to check if each set of two magnets produces a spark.

I removed the slotted disk, correct?

Do I spin the rotor by hand by putting a 10mm socket on the opposite side of the PAMCO? Do I turn the igntion key and run switch on to feed power to the PAMCO before doing so?

 

[Terrible1]

No. At least that's not how I checked my pamco. On the OTHER side where the advance mechanism is, is where you need to remove the key. Once you remove this! You can spin the ATU rod with the pamco magnet disc (which you took off in your pictures) and it will trigger the pamco to fire the coils.

Be safe pulling the atu through the engine so that you don't drop the key into the engine.

HTH