No spark, need help

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BeetleDave

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Mar 3, 2012
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Location
Coventry, Rhode Island
My GW is driving me nuts. It is a 79 GL1000. It has been sitting for an unknown period of time. I do not know if it was garaged because it has no spark or if that happened because it was garaged. I get 12v going into the ballast and 3v coming out. I changed the coils/wires/resistor assembly with a good used one. Same issue. I have no spark at the plugs and no spark that I could see at the points. Any ideas?
 
start from the caps or plug ends ...they have resistor in them ..there always in bad shape it seems on sitters .....the 30 yr old wires always seemm to work like 30yr old wires not good...coils always seem weak....it dose sound like your ballist is working to good but thats only because its working full time when motor not turning over ....id replace the resistors in the plug ends first and try again for spark...its best to have plugs out when testing for spark as not to labor starter motor ....
 
first change the ballist. 3volts out is not enough to induce spark. There really is no way to check for "iffy" condensors car or bike.
 
on the other hand you could just bypass the ballist and run 12v straight to the coils to test. If you get good spark then replace the ballist.
 
Turn the engine over until a set of points is open then ground the points arm to ground,with the tip of a screwdriver. If a spark occurs when removing the screwdriver, clean or replace the points. If no spark happens you need to check wiring back to the coil and voltage at the coil feed terminals.
 
Oh right, points. I have to think back to the olden days when everything used them.

Often in cars the points will carbon up and if a condenser went bad you'd see tiny sparks flying from the points when cranking.
Checking continuity through the points when closed wasn't a very accurate test of points making contact.
When I had no money for new points I'd slide a piece of fine grit sand paper across each side a couple times while the points are closed. This usually got me back on the road for a few months.
 
dan filipi":306rpm5f said:
When I had no money for new points I'd slide a piece of fine grit sand paper across each side a couple times while the points are closed. This usually got me back on the road for a few months.
Ok.......I hate to admit to this.....but I had been known in the past to use a finger nail file to do the same thing (and get lots more time out of my points!) :smilie_happy:
 
Could be low voltage.

The GL points system is elegant in it's simplicity.
I had trouble with running them on my 1100 testing out the cams until I figured out all it needs is a POS to each coil and a NEG trigger from the points.
I would supply 12 volt battery power to the coil side of the ballast resistor and see what you get.
 
I finally gave up and converted to electronic ignition and new coils. It still doesn't run, but I can get it to sputter a little before dying, so big improvement. I did static timing and it was much easier than I thought it would be. I don't know how long this has been sitting so next I think I will drain the gas and put fresh gas in. Can anyone suggest what octane to put in it? Around here, we have 86, 87, 89, or 92 octane. 86 is junk. Will 89 work ok. Also I will be replacing the plugs. Would the gap be different for electronic ignition? I know it is on a car. Can anyone suggest a plug and gap?

Thanks,
Dave
 
86 0ctane is fine. Plug gap may differ with the electronic ignition. If the manufacturer does not have a plug gap recommendation. Use the stock plug gap. Add seafoam and or automatic transmission fluid to your fillup. Might help but I'm betting you need to clean your carbs.
 
i have electronic ign and new dynatech coils and am using the books recommened gap on the plugs, however i have changed to iridium plugs and the bike seems to run smoother. just sayin
 
Irridiums are very good plugs.
One 1100 engine I had with a broken oil ring smoking bad would foul other plugs, irridium stayed clean.
They recommend stock gap.

Slabghost has an old electronic ignition, can't remember the name but the recommend gap is up in the 60's so good idea to verify which system you have.
 
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