fried TCI??

so i needed some work done on my car and was going to take the injectors from my car to a friend to have them cleaned. i hopped on the bike, fired it up and opened the choke a little, then it stalled. my start button doesnt work some times so i have to jump the solenoid, i did that and the connection to the battery sparked! it had come slightly loose and was making poor contact, so i tightened it up. then i cranked and cranked and cranked to no avail. i pulled one of the wires and cranked but there is absolutely no spark now. i checked my fuses and they are all good. is it possible i fried my TCI when the battery post to cable end arced? how can i test it to find out?

 

well the manual says there is no test but a member Cutlass### knows how. the manual says to check the resistance on the coils, pickup coils, spark plug wires first, if everything checks out then replace the TCI. I'm sure you'll get more feedback. if you need resistance values let me know

 

i've checked resistances before but i forgot what the specs are supposed to be. i find it highly unlikely that both coils went bad at the same time but its possible. all the tci does is take signal from the pickup and send voltage to the coils right?

 

i'm going to say i've narrowed it down to a bad tci. resistance between the red wire and the orange or gray wire to the coils is 2.5 ohm and from the red wire at the coil to the red wire in the fuse block is 1.06, which is kindof high but i think is due to old wiring. anyone have a tci for sale?

 

as far as i know there is no way to test the tci adleast thats what the tci guy told me. someone here should have 1 if you havnt go to the parts for sale and post a wanted to buy ad . your probbibly going to have to pull your tci so you can match numbers to the 1 your getting

 

on it right now....

 

i just went to yamaha parts lookup 81-83 xj all take the same tci all take the same one

 

We should have some good used TCI boxes available, but, I think you may want to check your pick-up coils resistance again, 2.5 ohms is way low, and normally when they go bad, their resistance shoots sky-high (rather than approaching zero):


IGNITION PICK-UP COILS:

One of the nice things about the stock XJ electrical systems is the transistorized (maintenance free) ignition systems.......no points to set or timing to adjust (except on 1986 XJ700-X models). All of those dreadful chores are handled for you, automatically, via the IGNITION PICK-UP COILS SYSTEM, and further down the line, via the TCI CONTROL MODULE. These components are generally very reliable, almost to the point of being bulletproof, and as mentioned, are truly "plug-and-play" devices that need no periodic maintenance once installed. However, they are quite susceptible to damage via electrical shorts or voltage surges (i.e. if you jumper the battery incorrectly, etc.).

Checking pick-up coils: the resistance across each pair of lead wires (at the TCI) should be as follows. NOTE: if both coils are out of specifications, suspect a pinched or shorted black ground wire, which is a shared ground for both of the pick-up coils on most models. It is very unlikely (although not impossible, especially in a case of improper jump-starting, etc.) that BOTH pick-up coils would expire at the same time!

A simple test to see if the coils are working, at all is to place a voltmeter (preferably an analog unit) across the Grey or the Orange wire to the Black wire. Energize the system and watch for voltage pulses as you rotate the reluctor past the pickup. This can be done by hand or with the starter.......we'd recommend using the hand method so that the pulses are slow enough to see. These "pulses" are what the TCI "black box" counts and interprets when "deciding" when to fire the ignition coils.


120 ohms +/- 10% for all XJ650 Turbo models, XJ700 all models and XJ750-X models, XJ900RK, RL, N/FN, and F models, and XJ1100 models.

650 ohms +/- 20% for all XJ550 models, 1982-84 XJ650 Maxim, and all XJ750 models.

700 ohms +/- 20% for all 1980-81 XJ650 models and 1982 XJ650RJ models.

 

i was going off of SQLGuy's ignition troubleshooting post, line 6 here

 

Make sure you have 12v+ at the TCI as well (With the ignition "On" and sidestand up.)

 

thats good information on sqlguys post follow it after reading it it all sounds 100 percent correct. he is a much better typer then i am it would of taken me hours to type that much. they should have that in its own little section it will help out alout of people with ignition problems

 

ive found one for an 84 model, the numbers are identical, but everyone keeps saying its different from the 81-83 model. but im looking around and do not see where a xj was made in 84

 

The standard TEST for No Sparks where a TCI is suspected of malfunctioning or not working at all, ... is to REPLACE the TCI with one KNOWN to be Good.

You ain't having the most fun you can have with a Yamaha Motorcycle, ... are you???

It's almost like the God's of Two Wheeled Fun have abandoned you.
And Murphy's Law kicked-in ...

You'll know how the Gods appreciate all the work you are doing when it finally fires-up and you take it out for a test run.

If it don't shift into Second, ... it's a curse!

 

Dumb question.... have you checked the obvious..... fuses and/or relays?

 

fuses were the first thing i checked. as far as i know, the relay works, i can turn the run switch off and on and hear one of the relays click, as it had before when it was running. but i guess i will find out when this ignitor gets to me...if it works

 

Unless you have replaced the OEM Fuse Paned with a Fuse Panel which accepts ATO "Blade-type" Fuses, ... the problem still might be the Fuse Panel.

The OEM Fuse Panels self-destruct.
The "Clips" lose their grasp.
The clips break.
Resistances develops until the Circuit quits.

 

i had already done that a couple of months ago, and that was my problem with a no-start condition at that time

 

it's been a while. there was a mix up in shipping with the new tci. after plugging it in and still not getting any fire, i went thru the ignition troubleshooting guide with a fine tooth comb and realized i skipped the step about the kickstand safety switch. and alas, there lay my problem. many a nice day i have missed riding because of my half-assed troubleshooting. so, now i have an extra igniter if anyone ever needs one.

 

Confucius say:

Keep spare TCI for rainy day.
Sell TCI today. Need TCI tomorrow.

 

yes, and as things are going with my daily driver, that would probably be my luck