82 XJ550 sect with no spark

alright.... more questions..

I've been working on my bike on and off for a few years now and have made some solid progress. Last fall/early winter I completed all the rewiring following the minimum wiring diagram. It was quite the project since I've never done anything of the sort before. I got the bike running and actually rode it to the end of the street and back when I realized it was completely gutless and was totally bummed. I realized that only 2 of the 4 cylinders were firing. clutch pedal side exhaust was hot and the brake pedal side was blowing slightly warm air. I figured I must not have cleaned the carbs as well as I thought so back to the carb process.

Life got busy and nothing happened with the bike up until the last month. I finally got the carbs back on and went to start it up and only the start turns over, nothing with the motor. scratching my head I checked for spark on the plugs and there is nothing.

Is there a way to check if the plugs and coils are even getting power? How? I've never used a voltmeter and it's a little above my head.

All help is appreciated..

 

Not sure what you mean by "only starter turns over, not the motor." By that do you mean the engine turns over, but no ignition. Or, do you mean the start whines, but the engine doesn't turn over. If the latter, you have something going on with the starter engagement.

If the engine turns over, with no spark or ignition, you my have a week battery. You may have enough life in the battery to turn it over, but the voltage might be sagging enough the TCI/coils won't fire the spark plugs.

The easiest test, if you don't know how to use a voltmeter, is this: jump with a car battery. If it starts/sparks, you probably have a battery going dead.

 

My bad.. the engine turns over, but no spark. the battery is less than a year old and I've made sure it's charge 100% before trying to start.

Is it common for the coils to go bad or the T.C.I unit?

 

coils go bad so do pick up coils.
ohm out the ignition coils also trim back the spark plug wires to eliminate corrosion
. ohm out plug caps
ohm out the pick up coils at the tci connector.
\
disconnect the black white wire from the tci to bypass safety switches


XJ550 models:

Pick-up coils:
650 ohms +/- 20% = 520 ohms to 780 ohms acceptable range


Ignition Coils:

Primary side (input from main wiring harness):
2.5 ohms +/- 10% = 2.25 ohms - 2.75 ohms acceptable range

Secondary side (spark plug wires, without their end caps):
11K ohms +/- 20% = 8,800 ohms - 13,200 ohms acceptable range


Spark plug caps:
10K +/- 20% = 8,000 to 12,000 ohms per cap acceptable range

Spark plugs:
0 ohms per plug

 

How to Use a Multimeter and Read Schematics and Wiring Diagrams.


I can test your tci if you want me to

 

XJ550H knows electricity a heck of a lot better than me - his advice is sound . . .
HOWEVER.

You say - your battery is 100% charged before you try to start the bike - What is the voltage of the battery while you are cranking/ starting the bike?

New batteries can be bad batteries. Check the voltage drop and report back . . . .

Oh - go to Radio Shack and get yourself their 22-810 Multimeter - I have one, it is cheap and basic but works well for a simpleton like me and offers enough options that I can sound smart talking about continuity, ohms, resistance and voltage fluctuations. AC is house current, DC is battery.

 

Thanks for all the help. I'll report back later this evening.

 

Ok... so I did some tests, however I was only able to get this multimeter which I don't think had the needed range.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Klein-Tools-Auto-Ranging-Digital-Multi-Meter-MM400/206517333

Here are my results:

Battery: 12.75v
Ignition Coils:
Primary side (input from main wiring harness):2.5 ohms on both coils
Secondly side: I couldn't get the meter to register, I don't think the multimeter has the range
Pick-up coils:
I was getting like 1500.

I thing I need to get a different meter.

 

that meter should work for you you will want to turn the dial to 3ed position on the right to read ohms and use the range button to set the values range.

are you trying to read the secondary (spark plug wires) with caps on or off?
the caps have a resistor in them which can fail open

1500 at pick ups may be the problem. did both pickups read 1500 and did you disconnect it from tdi before testing?

 

I agree, you can change the range as suggested, but Auto Range should be easier and less confusing.

Checking 1 to 4 and 2 to 3? I like starting the check with the caps on and stuffing the meter leads up inside the plug caps. If the reading is not as expected, then remove the caps and check resistance separately to isolate the fault. If at that point all checks out OK then there was likely a corroded contact between the cap and plug wire, and trimming / cleaning of the plug wire and reinstalling the plug caps should get it back in spec as an assembly.

That looks like a reading from Orange to Gray, measuring the combined resistance of the two coils. You need to check Orange to black and Grey to black.

 

Thanks again guys.. I'll check again over the weekend and report back. I wasn't measuring with the plug caps off, to be honest I wan't aware they could come off. That being said, would you suggest getting new caps? They are 35yrs old, assuming they have never been changed.

To test the pick up coil.. is it best to remove the cover and test there or to do it at the TCI plug?

 

chacal sells a set to replace them with it requires the screw top on top of the spark plug. I replaced mine after having problems with the oem caps
there is also the option of replacing the resistors in the caps but the cost is the same or more than new nkg caps .

testing the pickups is done from the left plug at the tci pull it out and test black wire to to gray wire then same black wire to orange wire. also test the 3 wires to ground.

 

XJ550H.. thanks for the continued help

 

After you remove the cap, you can check resistance. I had an open one, so replaced with all new NGK resistor plug caps. My XJ550 uses 10Kohm caps, but could only find NGK 5kohm (although Chacal probably has the correct rating cap for your bike) and then I use a 5k resistor plug, viola, combined to make 10Kohms.

 

I'm also having issues with no spark with my XJ550 but mine's an 81. I can't make a thread about it, XJBikes marks it as spam, but I don't want to hijack someone elses thread.

jmcgrew you might be having the same problem as me... I'm getting voltage drops @ the TCI unit when I crank the bike over. @The TCI, right side of it there should be a red/white wire and a black ground wire. Set your multimeter to DC volts and connect the positive end of your multimeter to the red/white then black to black. Ignition on you should get 11-13 volts. Crank the engine with the meter still connected, there should still be 10V during cranking, if not you won't get proper voltage to the coils and the bike wont start. I'm dealing with that issue right now and need help too.

 

Battery.

 

you can go with the stock plugs because of the +- in the sparkplug wire cap setup and be ok or go with 0 ohm caps and use resistive plugs.

myself i would go the way you have with 5k caps and 5k plugs, just because it would always be there in the back of my mind.
I got enough stuff back there as it is

 

NGK does still make the 10K ohm caps (and the little resistors to replace the failed ones), but generally you have to order them from NGK directly, or Chacal. Not many places stock them.

 

Ok... so I tested the coils and they are in the range, actually dead on the spec. The pick up coil tested in range, however when I tested to ground I got zero reading, assuming I did it correctly.

I kept my multimeter on ohms and tested black, grey, and orange to a ground location on the bike. Zero reading.

I went to my local old school bike shop and bought new plug caps. They had NKG caps, installed those.

Still no spark... so that leads me to think it could be a dead TCI or possible issue that I can't get a reading when I test the grounds on the pick up coils.

Thoughts?

 

you do not want to get any readings when testing black orange or gray to ground so that is ok .

when you turn the key on do you have 12 volts at the red/white wire at the tci unit and ignition coils?

min wiring .the pick up coils share a common wire Black (one pick up coil has a brown wire spliced into the black .
so on your tci you should only have 3 wires hooked up to the pickup connector the 4th wire is black/white and is used in the safety switch to shut down the tci.

 

I have 12v at the red/white wire at the TCI. One probe in red/White the other in black.

I'm not sure how to check on the ignition coils. One probe goes into the red/white, where do I place the other one?

 

battery ground is always a good spot.

if you followed the min wiring the 12 volt supply to the tci is also the supplu to the coils

what are you getting for voltage drop when you hit the starter button?
both meter leads to battery press starter button what does it drop to ?
if it is going below 10 volts you need to charge /change battery.

 

in your min wiring did you use pickup coils oem harness?
did you also use the ignition coil set up from the tci to coils, or make your own?

check any crimps you made

 

Voltage drops to 10.6v when starter button is pressed.

For the pickup coil I used the OEM harness. for the ignition coils i replaced the connectors with new ones and ran new wire to the TCI where I installed a new plug for the TCI..

Is the only way to test the TCI to have someone plug it in their bike that is currently running?

 

yes the only way to test is is to have someone put it in a running bike.
I have done this for others here, if you would like me to test yours I can.
it only takes me a few hours to run it through its paces.
about 3 days to go through the post office each way to Utah


10.6 should start the bike

 

Just curious, how did you do this?

I would double check that for correct wiring also.



The orange and grey wires at the TCI 4 pin connector should have approximately 12v on them until they are pulled low by the TCI. Normally, at power up either the Orange or Grey wire will go low for approximately 3 seconds, after that both the Orange and Grey wire should be approximately 12v until the bike is started.