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Bobber minimal wiring questions

Discussion in 'XJ Technical Chat' started by mattdillon, Aug 4, 2015.

  1. mattdillon

    mattdillon New Member

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    Hi guys,
    I am working on a 1981 xj550. I have made it a hard tail now and am working on getting the wiring finished up. Well its basically done I'm just having a problem getting it to run again. I found a minimal wiring diagram on the web for xj bikes. The attached file is the diagram I used I followed it to the "T". All it has is the ignitor unit the regulator no kickstang switch clutch switch etc. We had it running when we stripped all the unneeded stuff off. We just had wires twisted together then. And it would idle high. And would cut off when i adjusted the main idle knob inbetween the carbs. But thats another question its self. When we butt connected and properly spliced everything together we cant get it to crank now. It got spark and fuel. I can pull a wire off and plug in an old spark plug and turn it over it has one maybe two bright strong sparks then the rest are kind of small and weak but still spark. Is this normal or did I miss something in rewiring or leave something out? Any help is greatly appreciated. I hope to have the bike running for the Thunder beach rally in the fall in Panama City which is only 2 and a half months away. And I still have to get it registered and insured. Thanks again for your help guys.
     

    Attached Files:

  2. wizard

    wizard Active Member

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    How good is the battery ? It can draw so much to crank over that the spark becomes weak.
     
  3. mattdillon

    mattdillon New Member

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    Wizard, now that you mention battery the original battery that was on the bike when I got it is bad. When we first got to to crank we used a car battery. Tonight when I tried to crank it I used the bike battery with a battery charger attached to it. It would let it charge on high for several minutes before trying to start it. Do you think the battery could be to weak to provide enough power to spin the starter and supply the coils?
     
  4. k-moe

    k-moe Pie, Bacon, Bourbon. Moderator Premium Member

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    Unless that battery is letting the TCI get at least 10 volts the TCI will not provide good spark. One other thing to consider is that diagram removes the headlight relay. Having the headlight off during cranking ensures that there is as much voltage as possible available for the TCI and starter.

    Get a new battery. Charge it fully, and consider wiring the headlight relay back in to the headlight circuit, or at the very least wire in a headlight switch.
     
  5. mattdillon

    mattdillon New Member

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    OK thanks I'll try a new battery an it doesn't have a headlight or any kind of lights as of now
     
  6. mattdillon

    mattdillon New Member

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    OK guys today I tried to start the bike with a brand new battery. It spins over fast and strong but will not crank. We got it to fire up one time and it ran for maybe ten seconds then shutoff. So we took the carbs off and cleaned the jets out and blew everything out. Then stuck them back on and tried again. Turns over but will not crank. I can pull the plugs out and its gettting spark to the plugs. I don't know if this has anything to do with it but the gas we put in it just to try and crank it is mix gas for a weedeater/chainsaw. We didn't realize this till today. The plugs have some oil on them so we clean them off and try again. After this we drained the mix gas out and put regular non mixed gas in it and still won't crank. The plugs are E3 diamond fire plugs. I can take a regular plug and put the plug wire on it and touch the threads to the motor and turn it over and it actually has a bigger better all-round spark than the E3s. At this point we (my cousin, the one who's helped me build the bike) are all out of ideas. I'm thinking I need to go through and make sure all my connections are good and secure. Or could it be the ignitor unit gone bad. I have all the wires in both plugins on the ignitor unit connected where they are supposed to go but there is a black wire with a white stipe that has a bullet connector on it that is not connected to anything. Where does it go? Sorry if this seems long but I'm so frustrated at this point. I just want to be able to ride this thing lol. Thanks for all your help guys.
     
  7. mattdillon

    mattdillon New Member

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    I also cleaned the contact points on the pick up coils. Could it be a bad set of brushes in the alternator, bad pickup coils or the stator?
     
  8. XJ550H

    XJ550H Well-Known Member Premium Member

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    here is how to trouble shoot youe ignition system. if you are using glass fuses replace them with a fuse box or at least inline blade fuses
    part 1.PNG
    part 2.PNG
     
  9. XJ550H

    XJ550H Well-Known Member Premium Member

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    Last edited: Aug 8, 2015
  10. XJ550H

    XJ550H Well-Known Member Premium Member

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  11. XJ550H

    XJ550H Well-Known Member Premium Member

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    it is part of the sidestand safety switch system. it is to be unplugged when testins ignition system so if you took out the side stand switch and relay just tape it up.
     
  12. XJ550H

    XJ550H Well-Known Member Premium Member

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    your wiring dia is fuzzy to me so i will ask this . do you have the brown and orange wire from pickup coils going to the tci? and both with a common black to tci?
     
  13. mattdillon

    mattdillon New Member

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    There is a orange and grey from the pickup coils going to the TCI and they do have a black also.
     
  14. mattdillon

    mattdillon New Member

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    This may be a stupid question but can the TCI unit be bypassed? From what I understand from reading it tells which coil to fire when one of the pickup coils is triggered. So why couldn't it be taken out of the equation and wire it so that only the pickup coils trigger the coils? Its just a though I had. It may just be a stupid idea. I have a lot of those lol.
     
  15. BigT

    BigT Active Member

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    I don't think the tci can be bypassed as it controls the ignition timing among other things.
     
  16. k-moe

    k-moe Pie, Bacon, Bourbon. Moderator Premium Member

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    Because of you do that it won't work. The TCI also controls spark advance. The TCI can't be bypassed without substituting some other type of igniter.
     
  17. mattdillon

    mattdillon New Member

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    I fooled with it a little bit tonight and come up with this. On the primary side of each coil I'm getting between 8.1-8.4. And on the secondary from both orange and red/white and plug wires and grey and red/white I get nothing. So does this mean my coils are bad? But it still has spark. Are the the Dyna coils that people are using?http://www.bikebandit.com/aftermark...s/coils-universal/dyna-12-volt-coils?m=147107
    If so do I get the 2.2 ohm or 3 ohm. Under "notes" what do I select to order
     
  18. XJ550H

    XJ550H Well-Known Member Premium Member

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    primary wires run from tci to coils 2.5 ohms+- 10 %
    secondary wires are the spark plug wires ohm between 1 and 4 then 2 and 3 should be 11k ohms +- 20% with out spark plug caps on wires
    spark plug caps should be 10k ohms
    remove gas tank to get to connectors you can test from right side connector on tci unplug it first then check at connector under tank at coils.
    check continuty from tci plug to connector at coils

    coil 1.jpg
     
    Last edited: Aug 11, 2015
  19. XJ550H

    XJ550H Well-Known Member Premium Member

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    i do not think those are the correct coils from bike bandit they have another set but say they are for cdi ignition
    these
    http://www.bikebandit.com/aftermark...s-universal/accel-super-cdi-coil-kit?m=147136
    len at xj4ever sells coils correct part
    HCP245 Dyna high-output green IGNITION COILS, set of 2 coils includes input (primary) wire terminals, screws, and nuts. Does not include any plug wires, wire terminals, or coil mounting brackets.
    $ 149.95

    remember after market do not just bolt on may be easier to get used stock coils from e bay
     
    Last edited: Aug 11, 2015
  20. Polock

    Polock Well-Known Member

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    those are .7 ohm coils, no good, the TCI won't last long. you want 3 ohm coils, other than 3 ohm the only other thing is they have to fit someplace.
     

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