Hobicus Posted May 10, 2003 Share Posted May 10, 2003 Ok... so I know this isn't a bird topic.... but its a bike topic. My buddy picked up a KZ440 for his wife (I thought it was a good trade, too, except his wife is actually pretty hot) We've been attempting to get it running, and have been through the carbs, etc. We installed new intake boots on the carbs and when we went to fire it up, we have no spark. After about 10 minutes of dinking around with things, he informed me that he "Cleaned the point today with an emery board". Ok, so we trace through the ignition system: Coil Ground: OK Coil Main Power: OK Wire from Coil to Points: 12 V Not the coil (at least.. not yet) Something with the Point (This is a 1980 bike) We look under the point cover, and find that with the ignition switch ON, Point still mounted in bike, and the point closed, hooking up a voltmeter to the Wire from the coil to the ground, we get 0 V as expected, as the point is closed and current is flowing from the coil wire through the point and the 12 V is charging the coil If you OPEN the point, you still get 0 V, which is NOT expected, as at this time there is no path of least resistance, and therefore there is no other way for the 12V to find it's way to ground except through the meter, and yet it is. If you unscrew the point from the bike, and hook a wire from the GROUND portion of the point (using the same screw holes used to mount the point to the bike, you get 12 v with the point closed and 9 v with the point open. I'm thinking the point itself is hosed, and I should just buy a new Point/Condenser set for this bike and put it in. Am I on the right track? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobicus Posted May 10, 2003 Author Share Posted May 10, 2003 Yea, we see nothing happen when we break the points manually. That's what's making me think it's the points. Yes, it was running, although it's incredibly cold blooded. I'm thinking that this may very well explain part of that. The intake boots were probably the other reason. While we had the carbs off , we opened the plugs covering the mixture screws, so if we need to adjust mixture, we can do that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobicus Posted May 10, 2003 Author Share Posted May 10, 2003 It's been acting as if it's running lean, hense the new boots (the old ones had tears in them) We weren't planning on changing the mixture until we saw the effect of the new boots and the cleaning. However, it would have sucked to have to disassemble everything again just to remove those plugs. Traditionally, when I'm diagnosing a problem, I work on the "change only one thing at a time" method. However, the guy who owns the bike is the one who decided to clean the points with an emery board. :mad: That's the one thing I wouldn't have touched, as as long as you have a reliable spark.... well, you get the idea. The good news is, that now that we have the new boots, it seems that we're getting gas to the cylinders. So, we're making progress. I'm going to see if I can get a new point for it this AM at the local shop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobicus Posted May 11, 2003 Author Share Posted May 11, 2003 Hey, Joe.. just in case you were wondering.. the new point did the trick. Still takes forever to start when it's cold, even with the choke open. One it finally starts, it keeps running. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete in PA Posted May 11, 2003 Share Posted May 11, 2003 These bikes are very lean runners, pry that EPA mandated plug off and turn the pilot screws out an extra turn or 2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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