OEM igntion acting strange

[86 Quad R]

i have an OEM ignition that will only fire when the ground is floating. meaning that if you hook up the ground wire or ground the spark plug it will not fire. only when holding the plug wire and touching ground. i've trouble shot it best i could. the coil, stator, crank trigger and harness check out ok. i even tried a different harness. i've even tried other coils and cdi's with no luck. any suggestions?

thanks in advance, :)

[Aceman]

I knew this post was going to be a tough one when the guy posting is the one that usually answers OUR tech questions!:p

Seriously though, what about the kill switch? It's a possibility that's it's permanently grounded out causing a no spark condition, and you're simply bypassing it by pulling the plug and lifting the ground wire.

[86250rrider]

i thought of that soon as i read the question. disconnect the kill switch totally and check foir it to be shorted somewhere. do you use the motorcycle type ? i like the kx style myself.

[my88r]

those aftermarket kill switches cause a lot of problems. if there not grounded. also where its ground to the frame is rate to the metal not the power coat or what ever paint you have.

[86 Quad R]

thats that strange thing about this. the kill switch wire isnt even hooked up. its open ended before it goes into the harness.

[86250rrider]

then i would remove the ground wires from the frame...and using a tester ,check for continuity from all wires to ground until you find it . then when you do ...thats your problem wire. no wire should have any path to ground with main grounds removed.it may be the stator windings also.

[86 Quad R]

preciate the input. got flustered with it and hadnt thought about that. :rolleyes: i'll give that a try but, what gets me is i put a totally different harness and got the same results.

[fireburns99]

Originally posted by Aceman
I knew this post was going to be a tough one when the guy posting is the one that usually answers OUR tech questions!:p


I thought of the exact same thing. lol. I don't get along with electricity, but i wish you the best of luck.

[86 Quad R]

Originally posted by fireburns99
I thought of the exact same thing. lol. I don't get along with electricity, but i wish you the best of luck.

i dont like trouble shooting elec issues either. its frustrating. :mad:

[Aceman]

Originally posted by 86 Quad R
i dont like trouble shooting elec issues either. its frustrating. :mad:

I do it for a living!:p

[fireburns99]

any luck finding the gremlin?

[86 Quad R]

nahhh! its on the back burner till the weekend. trying to add on to the shop right now. decided to pick up a hammer and saw instead of a wrench and screwdriver and/or a volt meter aswell. lmao

[fireburns99]

haha, thats a neccessity. But i hear you.

[wilkin250r]

Originally posted by 86 Quad R
preciate the input. got flustered with it and hadnt thought about that. :rolleyes: i'll give that a try but, what gets me is i put a totally different harness and got the same results.

I get along with electricity real well.

Explain the problem to me again. What happens if you hold the spark plug against the head, all ground wires attached? You are saying, no spark.

But if you disconnect the ground, you get a spark? Which ground, where?

And what do you mean by the statement "only when holding the plug wire and touching ground"?

I just want to understand the symptoms. No spark at all is one thing, but you are getting spark under certain conditions, but I don't fully understand what those conditions are.

[86 Quad R]

whats happening wilk is that when ya hook up the system ground (green wire) to the chassis it shorts out and ya get no spark. either by holding the plug wire in hand and touching ground with the other or by grounding the spark plug.

if ya remove the chassis ground you get a spark that'll light you up but, if ya insert a plug in the boot and ground it to the head and shorts out.

see what im saying?

[wilkin250r]

What kind of kill switch do you have on it?

[86 Quad R]

the kill switch isnt even hooked up at the moment. open ended wire.--^