Intermittent spark

glidercoach · Post by **glidercoach** » Fri Jul 02, 2010 9:29 pm

My KR wont start... Checked everything (obviously missing something). Kill switch is OK, coils and engine have good ground, all the connector blocks related to the ignition system inspected and cleaned. It does spark enough to pop every now and then, but not every time the piston reaches TDC. With the plugs out, when I kick it over it should light up the spark plug, it doesn't. Removed the spark plug holder and ran the coil wire to ground and it only sparks intermittently. When it sparks, it easily jumps a 5mm gap. What am I missing?

ScottaKR · Post by **ScottaKR** » Sat Jul 03, 2010 3:48 am

check your leads, coils, and pick-ups (also check the gap), as these are the most likely things to give you an intermitent spark on a Tandem Twin.

glidercoach · Post by **glidercoach** » Sat Jul 03, 2010 7:28 pm

Well OK... Went to check the gap for the pick up and after draining the coolant, I removed the cover to expose the magneto/stator assembly and much to my surprise, oil came pouring out! Can anyone explain why I have OIL where my magneto/stator assembly is? I'm guessing this is the ROOT cause of my spark issue!?

ScottaKR · Post by **ScottaKR** » Sun Jul 04, 2010 12:34 am

You have oil in there because there seems to be an oil passage between there and the wet-clutch. It seems so wrong, and defies all logic that I can throw at it, but there it is. I have no idea why Kawasaki thought this was a good idea. Believe me, I was shocked too when I first found this and thought like you that there was a major problem, but every Tandem Twin engine I've pulled down has been the same.

glidercoach · Post by **glidercoach** » Sun Jul 04, 2010 1:38 am

It's funny in the manual, they make no mention of draining the oil before removing the left side cover. Great... So what now? The gap is fine, where should I look to solve my problem? I need to get this running and pack it to ship overseas. I may have to move as well. My landlord is letting his house go into default and I will have to find a new place... Damn it! Pull for me guys!

StrokerBoy · Post by **StrokerBoy** » Mon Jul 05, 2010 9:26 am

I was gonna suggest looking at the safety cut-out circuit that picks up the sidestand, clutch-lever and neutral signals, but if it ain't 100% dead then it can't be that.

Damaged or weak ignition pickups ? Faulty CDI's or coils (one of each per cylinder) ? It is a 25-year-old bike, any breakdown or resistance anywhere in the circuit will add up and turn a good spark into a weak one. Is one cylinder any worse than the other ?

By the way, the two CDI's are different but - with a bit of thought - are interchangeable. One has an extra wire for the aforementioned safety cut-out.

glidercoach · Post by **glidercoach** » Tue Jul 06, 2010 12:58 am

It's running! $\:D/$

Sounds great for sitting for years... Issue... The ignition still cuts off and it dies. Bypassed the ignition switch and it still does it. It will run for a few minutes, maybe 10, then shuts down. Sometimes when I rev it you can hear it cut out, but comes back before it dies. It has to be a wire somewhere, but where?

People ask me why I hit my head against the wall. My answer is, because it feels so good when I stop!

fred · Post by **fred** » Tue Jul 06, 2010 11:51 am

I had a similar problem on my kr1s ,thought it was a coil breaking down but changed the stator coil for another and it went fine.so i put my old ignition coil back on and proved it was the stator coils .i could go 20 miles .stop .then have trouble restarting.check plugs .no spark .keep trying .after ten mins when the engine was cooling down the spark would come back and be fine .for 20 miles .then lose igniton over 7000 revrs.good luck

glidercoach · Post by **glidercoach** » Tue Jul 06, 2010 4:39 pm

Your old stator gave you trouble above 7000 RPM? What was your voltage output? I'm getting 13.2 volts. Isn't the stator part of the charging system seperate from the ignition? Once I get the brakes together I can put a load on it and see what it does. Thanks for the input!

fred · Post by **fred** » Tue Jul 06, 2010 6:26 pm

might of changed the pickup at the same time,ime no sparkie, to me what ide learnd it sounded like the ignition coils breking down at high revs ect ,changed coils ,same problem. changed stator and pickup(it was 2 years ago) and all was well.it could of been bad insulation on stator or pickup wires,i was riding in the wet alot

JanBros · Post by **JanBros** » Tue Jul 06, 2010 10:35 pm

stator failure is a known problem on a KR1, and yours looks ecxactly the same ...

glidercoach · Post by **glidercoach** » Wed Jul 07, 2010 4:24 am

Have they been an issue on the KR250a1? I have a spare stator in storage... somewhere... If I checked the resistance values between the two and they end up being the same or very close should I still make the swap? Thanks for spending the time to help me guys. I really appreciate your input!

On an unrelated subject... The last 4 documents I needed for my application for Italian citizenship came in from New York today. On Friday I have an appointment for them to double check all my documents before I officially submit them. As soon as I get citizenship... off to Europe I will be! Good bye USA!
$\:D/$

glidercoach · Post by **glidercoach** » Mon Jul 19, 2010 5:12 pm

I found my spare stator. The ohm values are exzctly the same between the 2. Should I swap them?

JanBros · Post by **JanBros** » Mon Jul 19, 2010 11:25 pm

glidercoach wrote:I found my spare stator. The ohm values are exzctly the same between the 2. Should I swap them?

yes you should try a swap.

with KR1 stators you have the same : if you measure them staticly nothings seems wrong sometimes, but still they don't work properly

glidercoach · Post by **glidercoach** » Tue Jul 20, 2010 12:09 am

Cross your fingers for me!

Electrical issues are the worst!