No spark plug fire

[Tmalone]

I have a 1981 xs400 that I bought I couple years ago and haven't had a lot of time to work on. I've had it run before but not consistently and I finally have some time to put into it. Right now I am sure that the starter solenoid is bad and I have one ordered that will be here next week. To see if I could get it started I went ahead and jumped the posts on the solenoid to see if it would run but had no luck (this may have been a bad idea, but I couldn't think of any reason not to). The starter cranks but it won't start. I have fresh gas and I'm sure it's getting to the engine.

I took the spark plugs out to see if I am getting spark or not. I connected the plugs to the wires and made sure I had contact with the block for ground. As I was cranking the starter I saw no spark out of either of the plugs. So here are my questions. . .

I think that I should still have gotten spark even though I bypassed the solenoid. Can you think of any reason this would keep ignition for occurring?

Where should I start with troubleshooting the ignition?

Thank you for any input!!!!

 

[63-Coupe]

Start with the simple and easy things first. Ensure you have fully charged battery. These bikes need battery power to make the spark plugs fire when first starting the engine. Your battery may have enough juice to turn the engine over but not enough to fire the spark plugs at the same time.

Oh yeah, are you sure the kill switch is in the right position? As I have said before, there are two types of motorcycle riders; i) Those that have tried to start their bikes with the kill switch turned off; ii) Liars.