xj1100 no spark, dumbfounded

ok, so I have a 1982 xj1100 maxim. Worked great, rain got to it while I was at work, next day cylinder 1/4 no spark. Removed coil had it tested.. worked.. reinstalled, and now all 4 cylinders no spark.. replaced pick up coil, and found wire in pickup coil harness that is hot when not plugged in, other wise dumbfounded at what the issue could be.. also replaced tci unit, still nothing.. please help

 

Have you tested the sidestand saftey circuit?
Is the batery fully charged? A weak battery will turn the engine but will not have enough voltage to fire the TCI.
Is the fuse box on good condition? The original fuse box is known to give you odd electrical problems.
Lets start with the simple things first. We don't want to replace parts because we think they are bad. Lets prove what part is bad.

 

i havent tested the sidestand circuit yet. the issue was when i was riding, cylinder 1/4 not firing, rode home, replaced all plugs.. 1/4 burnt obviously.. did notice wire from sidestand was not in holder.. maybe i could try that.. already have new ignition switch on the way.. old bike so replacing some parts that are obviously known to go out

 

If it was firing on 2 it's not the sidestand, switch the connectors on the coils, see if 2-3 have the problem.

 

Doubt the ignition switch is bad. Check the connector for the pick up coils and remove the connectors for the coils and see if the terminals are corroded. Water gets in the connectors and turns the cheap brass terminals green.
You really should have a shop manual and a multimeter , you'll spent a lot of time and frustration guessing what the problem is if you don't.

MN

 

have a manual and multimeter, thats how i know the one plug from the pickup has one hot wire when the key is on and not plugged in.. no volts when plugged in.. we should have spark on 2/3 but all spark gone when i reassembled it. going to do more trouble shooting today

 

Ok One other spot to look there is a place under the tank where all of the grounds come togeather. Remove and clean all of those and use some dielectric grease when you put back togeather.Also where the coils mount to the frame should be clean so there is good contact.

 

Replace the Fuse Panel
Check the Safety Switches and "Mechanisms" to assure Circuits that need to be CLOSED ... are ... in fact ... CLOSED>

A very common problem is found at the Side Stand.
The "Activating Rod" that works the Switch gets stuck keeping the Switch OPEN.

 

Just looked at the wire diagram for the 1100. You must have measured voltage on the Black wire by the pick up coils. I beleive that is correct. When the coils pulse the TCI should fire the coils. I'm going to see if I can scan the information and put it up here.

If you had a bad pick up coil due to moisture it should show up in an Ohms Test of the coils. They should be 120 Ohms +/- 10%

Coil Test 2.5 Ohms primary and 11000 Secondary +/- 10%

I'm still thinking since it was ok before getting wet it sure sounds like a bad connection somewhere thats making trouble.

Remember that grounds on these bikes are very important and need to have good connections.

 

I know that mine is a 750 and I'm not sure they would be the same, but on my bike I had my son helping me one day that we were putting it all together and he had left the 2 ground wires off that use the coil bolts as a mounting block. As a result I had no fire or ground for many circuits. If you lost fire to the other 2 cyl. after having these lose, it may be that one or both of those ground terminals got missed when putting it back?

 

we fixed an issue with ignition switch, going to replace anyways, found that there is an issue with the emergency stop switch and it is sumhow out of timing, it backfired pretty bad and still no spark on 1/4.. im trying to stay away from a shop so im not paying $70/hr for them to fix an issue

 

Almost sounds like you have the connectors from the TCI backwards for 2-3 AND 1-4 if it's backfiring REALLY bad.

 

Well there goes the boost sensor. They really dont like to get a shock of pressure like that. Better put that on the list to check operation of when you get it running. Or please say you had the vacuum line off of it when it blew back.

MN

 

I have a similar problem. I have an xj650 and I switched the plug going from the cdi and the safety relay just below the cdi. Am I at risk of destroying my cdi?

 

it was just one pick pop when it backfired..