Ignition Coil Help on my XJ750 Maxim

OK guys and gals, I was trying to check out my ignition coils and I am not sure what to expect. I saw that I would see about 11k ohm on both of the secondary coils according to the thread about checking out the electrical systems , but got wildly different results. I verified the pickup coils and moved on to the ignition coil primary coils at 2.5 ohm, which is good. I removed the spark plug cables from the plugs and checked across them using my fluke and got 32k on the 1-4 plugs, then I got 65k on the 2-3 plug wires.

I think I might have a bad one (or both), so I am just curious if I checked it wrong. All I did was put my ohmmeter on the 1-4 spark plug connectors and got 32k ohm, I took the internal caps off of the 2-3 plug wires and found one blackened (see pics). Once I did that I got about 700k ohm between the plug wires. So... I think that one was damaged and when I pulled it out, I ruined any continuity between the plug wire and the plug connector.

So my question really is, was I checking this stuff right? And are these both considered bad? I was just checking the spark plug wires between 1-4 and 2-3 plugs, and found some interesting stuff in there.

First pic is the blackened one, second is the other side that looks OK, third is just a pic of the blackened plug.

 

New caps, not worth playing with the old ones

 

Forgive my ignorance and the barrage of questions, but are the boots/caps removable from the coil or does that mean getting a new coil all together? Or are they something I would cut off and crimp on? Also, aside from the physical size and depth of the cap, how do I know what resistance is required in there or is it standard?

I've done some bike mods on my FZ8, but this is my first rebuild, so I'm out here learning a lot.

 

Oh I think I got all my questions answered here:
http://www.xjbikes.com/forums/threads/is-this-supposed-to-happen-spark-plug-wire.83184/

 

Keep in mind, Chacal has the cap resistors for sale to "rebuild" your boots.
I've also had good results potting new wires on the coils, it's a bit time consuming but cheaper than new coils if your wires are the problem.

 

Thanks all, I removed the old caps, coils are in good shape, just waiting on the NGK ones to come in the mail! I'll snip off a little at the end of the wire to make sure I get a good connection on the new ones. The old ones were definitely bad.

 

Got the NGK caps in the mail, coil measurements looked great, so I have them all on and it started up nice. I ordered 2 each of NGK LB05FP and YB05FP as suggested in other posts. The angle on the YB05FP makes them little tight, might have ordered the stock (taller, but no angle) type if I were to go back in time, but these make up fine. I also put in NGK BP7ES plugs while I was at it.

 

I couldn't say for sure if they are stock, but the ones on my 82 750 Maxim are XD05F and they seem to fit very well.