Coils Shot, Again (long post) --maybe I am too techie--

[arfstrom]

Okay, I know I was bad, I didn't follow the manual, and Drewpies advice. Never run the bike with out the cap on the plugs. Bad Tobie, Bad Tobie

Okay, the Rectifier tested Okay, VR cannot be tested with out the bike running. (Not running) Coils tested bad. 8.61-8.50 Ohms. (both primary/Secondary). After reading some threads on our sister thread and watching a YouTube vid on the TCI. (the 80-81 has a TCI) I will forget in a month or so)) T stands for Transistor. The sister site (xs650) had issues where the diodes were bad, and replaced with Radio shack versions, and it worked, also noted that the solder joints where bad, and just needed to be touched up. (I am trying to prove that, I did look around before posting) My circuit board looked good. No burn marks, no popped cap's, the diodes we checked were fine, the zenor too. Solder points looked fine.

so is the voltage reg popping my coils then? The bike ran for maybe 10 minutes off and on, I did do a rough manometer calibration, I realized that I need to clean my carbs, so I turned it off till the carbs where clean, then no start. I was kick starting it cause the start button didn't work, but it was starting up, off the first kick.

My last fear is that the starter relay is shot, and or what ever jacked up my coils may have jacked up my safety/headlight relay. (move over scorpio, I may be adding to your thread

So far I have 2 used coils inbound from Ebay, a new VR is 20 bucks at the local auto place, I have a spare TCI, but if there is nothing wrong with the first one, both started and ran the bike when I tested it.

I did start with the new Used TCI first, then I used the Old TCI (original) So the TCI is not off the hook yet.

 

[Scorpio1963]

except for the coil problem our electrical problems are starting to be very similair in nature.I dont feel so alone now.Maybe we can both solve some our problems together.My shoulder is slowly getting better and its cool enough for me to work on the bike and try some things.I plan on working on this evening
Unfortunately I can only guess on the cause of your coils burning.I throwing this out there your voltage regulator is bad.

 

[arfstrom]

That is definitely a possibility. With no way to safely test the V/R

Here are my numbers:

• 
  Rectifier:
  1-2...5.19 .461
  1-3...2.94 .448
  2-1...4.94 .459
  2-3...2.83 .---
  
  Coils:
  .................. R ..................... L
  primary .......8.61.................. 8.51
  Secondary ...8.61 ................. 8.51
  
  Stator -- Normal .72
  1-2 1.2
  1-3 1.0
  2-3 1.1

I took everything off, except for the stator, there may be an issue in there. I did see a bare wire before I put it back together. It was on one of the white wires, just after the solder, and before the gasket. Look like the heat shrink wrap took an unintentional hit.

 

[Scorpio1963]

I wonder if one the 3 white wires is grounding out inside there.Going from pics I seen from other threads they can get brittle and either break off or a bear spot grounds inside the casing.

 

[arfstrom]

Could be, That portion is running AC (alternating current) from there to the diode/rectifier, maybe I did a shoddy job of coving it up.

Worse case that I can think of, is that it will short out. if it gounds out, in the stator housing, is it going anywhere to do damage, I don't know. probably boil your/my battery first.
Tobie

 

[arfstrom]

Bump, Does anyone have an Idea? on this I know Scorpio and myself are in the same water.

 

[Scorpio1963]

I think its a virus its been floating around on this site for months now with other members having tons of electrical problems.Im at my wits end with my bike almost to the point im going to start parting it out.I know theres still riding time left but Im about to write it off for this year.

 

[arfstrom]

I am willing to betcha everyone who can, is riding, and those who cant, are here waiting for a Answer man to say, Yup, with out a doubt, that is your problem.

When I last had the bike running, It ran for 5 minutes or so on the new computer(TCI) and then I switched it back to the old one. ran it a few minutes after kick starting it. then I put it away. Then next day the coils were shot. I guess I will take that as a hint, don't use the old coils. (I had some other grounding issues) Now to find out if the relays are shot cause of the grounding issues I have now fixed. but I need the bike running to ensure the grounding bugs are out of its system. Coil should be here tomorrow, or Wednesday. Nope not till Monday. You know I can order another off of ebay and get it here faster oooohhhhhh

 

[16VGTIDave]

I think its a virus its been floating around on this site for months now with other members having tons of electrical problems.

This is why I re-wired my bike over the winter. It took way too many hours, but now it is worth every second!

 

[MrStubb]

Here's an off the wall thought. Are you sure that when you turn off the bike there's no power going to the coils? I have seen on my lawn tractor that a bad ignition switch could send power to the coil with the switch off. I know if you use the Kill switch to shut it off with the ignition still on then turn the kill switch back on is it possible??? Also take this as coming from a guy just home from work and tired Very very tired. (near drunken babbeling?) I also am having electrical issues with broken wires on my turn signal switch and only the right signal working but no left. Even with me hot wireing the left signal. Can anyone say Ghost in the machine's??? Anyone with both R & L switch assemblies for an 80 I'll trade you a 1 12 yo opinionated chicken (Beagle) for them. (then i'll have to find another place to live)

 

[arfstrom]

Update: I started to doubt the integrity of my testing equipment. I took 3 of the bad coils, and had them tested at a yamaha place. 3 of them were good. all of which I had listed as 8.61.

Okay, so I am going to take the stator off, and refresh the connectors, that had been exposed. Pics forth coming.

 

[arfstrom]

I also am having electrical issues with broken wires on my turn signal switch and only the right signal working but no left. Even with me hot wireing the left signal.

My thought is that would be in the headlight bucket, (provided you have not modified that stuff. Since I modified my LED's, I had put in the DIODE kit (metric) from SuperbriteLED's, and what it did was isolate the turn signals so that they are not using the same ground point. provided you not doing any of that, you might notice one light has the wire wrapped up around the turn signal post, and that might have broken the connection.

Perhaps look for the ground point, and sand it up alittle bit. (sandpaper on the connection points for better connectivity.

 

[MrStubb]

Never thought of this. I'll have to tear it apart this weekend and look for grounds but after I get the switches repaired. One thing the left never worked from the time I brought it home. On a different note Is it normal for these bikes to vibrate a lot while riding? On my little drive sunday I noticed lots a vibration in the mid range rpm's. Almost put my left foot to sleep.

 

[arfstrom]

Without knowing everything about that vibration, Common vibrations could be caused by flat tires, shot tires. That could be more of a wobble. If its engine created, maybe it could be anything from the Exhaust, Valves needed to be set, Chain too loose? Wheel balance fall off? Spent bushing? (psudomonkey suggestion off the next link. where I am getting my suggestions) Engine mounts tight? all there (2 extra pieces on my bike)


http://www.xs400.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8136

here is another one, might worth cycling thou.
http://www.xs400.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11256

 

[MrStubb]

The Vibes are all engine related. I'm sure of that since around 45 mph if I pull the clutch and let rpm's drop off it settles down. Never thought of valves causing this but they are quite noisy. Seems the first thing to do is to set their clearances. I've never been in there yet. Also I haven't gotten the carbs adjusted quite right and they're not synced yet. I am riding on OLD tires since I hadn't been able to find a good matching set with a fairly aggressive tread for some of the dirt(sandy) roads I get onto. I'm looking into making this into a sort of adventure bike with a ww2 military twist. I haven't had the bike past 55 mph yet since my front tire is my biggest concern and I'm not interested in getting any form of road rash. But it sure seems to pull good and hard up to there when I'm pushing it.

 

[MrStubb]

As I was looking thru those posts it became clear that my bike is suffering from much needed basic maintenance. Things like a new chain & sprockets & a major tune up complete with carb syncing and valve adjusting. Then comes the tires. Any suggestions for a good mildly aggressive all around type tire available for both ends?

 

[ctindog]

Dear Mr. Stubb, LOL because I'm going nuts. My left turn signal doesn't work, and now my left cylinder doesn't fire. Coil? Points? WTHeck? I hate electrical gremlins!

 

[arfstrom]

I see how it is.

when you just lose one cylinder, easyiest and cheapest thing to do, is shorten the wire. cut both ends off by .5 inch Chances are The middle of that wire, Plugs and cap are fine.

However they are among the cheapest things to buy from your favorite auto store (napa/orielly/autozone ...) The plug wires if you have a cycle shop nearby, stop in there, and buy 2 feet. might cost you $2 bucks. plugs from orielly's isnt more than 3 bucks, a 5ohm cap from the same automotive store isn't that much. While your at oriellys see if you can get a spark tester (see link below) I could not find that one at my store, so I bought a different one, It doesn't fit my plugs. This one looks like it just clips onto the existing plug. I should have asked. so I am going to drill a small hole to fit the top of the plug into this one I have.

That will at least tell if you have spark. Then you can read up on the older post on points and condensers. I just don't have any experience with them to be knowledgeable.

Left turn signal could be just a burnt out bulb. 1157 or 1156 amber I forget which one, google search will tell ya. don't get LED unless your ready for more gremlin wrestling.

 

[MrStubb]

I've had some spark trouble since I used that carbon core wire from an automotive wire set I had. Carbon core wires don't work as well as a stranded copper core with those spikes in our plug caps & coils. They still work but I've had to trim them back a few times. My signal issues are deeper than the common bulb issues I haven't checked weather I have power at the sockets yet but that'll be this weekend while our Monsoon rains continue to try to give me lake front property (in the basement).

 

[arfstrom]

I am on the saint Croix, I know what you mean. Good luck on that, I am attemping to extract 2 screwed screws on my stator housing. Then i will find my check list, and start that up again. Hopefully I can get this going be fore I go to school. Sounds like I will have a couple days all by my self, so maybe I can just focus on that.