Dusty is on the trailer

[BrettS]

Hey Jeff, checking the pickup coils resistance was only mentioned after the mechanic found that fault. It may be hard to imagine for someone that is adapt at a multi meter but I am seriously inept in the use of one? I don't even have one at the moment, the last cheap one I bought to learn on mysteriously melted?
I imagine after I found the broken pick up coil wire I would have been pulling my hair out at a much greater rate than before as to why still no spark. Seems even when the mechanic pointed to this it was hard for some to believe?
Some times I find I would rather put in a few extra hours at work on Saturday overtime and use that money to pay a professional. Hopefully not too often but some times that is more fun than pulling your hair out.
Hopefully in the near future I will have the electrics down to the bare minimum and even I can understand what everything is meant to be doing

[excess.11]

Brett.......it would nt of been that hard for you to have carried out the resistance test on the coils yourself...and saved the $280. The readings are in the manual as I previously posted. Don t hesitate to give me a call if your in a spot of trouble.
That's one of the reasons we are here.
I only charge $69.99 per hour. with a member discount of 100%

[BrettS]

Got the pickup coils and base from Eddy last Sunday, Christian threw in a TCI just in case. After the mechanic fit the pick up coils it fired up no worries. He said something about dropping from 12 volts to 11 volts from one end of the electrics to the other. Think that is why he tried the other TCI I supplied but that gave no change so original went back on.
I asked how he checked the pick up coils that was faulty and he did the same thing as I saw Christian do with those magical multi meters before I left with the replacement pick up coils, put one end on the wire and one on the coil. Reading was 0.75 and 0.74 resistance, mechanic showed me the pickup coil readings stated in the manual 0.7 and stated that one of the original pick up coils was giving a reading of 0.2
Well all this took the mechanic 4 hours but the boss must have thought this was a bit long as he dropped the per hour rate from $95 to $70  for the total bill of $280. I probably could have saved an hour or two if I had fit the pick up coils myself but with all the questions I figured I would let him check his fault finding.
Bike just needs a polish and oil checked before I go for a ride.
Loving it, 

[BrettS]

Since I could not even see the initial spark I jumped to the conclusion he had some fancy instrument that told him?
Remember I am passing on his comments in layman terms.
He comes well recomended by the locals and so far has shown to be very sound. It would have taken me some time for me to find that the pickup coils were faulty more so than just the wires.
I would love to quiz the mechanic for every detail but at some point I have to put some trust that they know what they are doing. At the moment all they have done is a fault find and I have decided to let them fit the replacement pick up coils.
Hopefully I will be riding it home Monday
Errol I am not one to throw money around but I am willing to give someone highly recommended a chance.

[Eveready1100]

Brett, we're only trying to save you from pointlessly throwing money at your bike, as it's rare to find a mechanic who has hands on experience with these old bikes.

Just need refreshing here. What coils are you running, and have you still got the ballast resistor in place??

[excess.11]

Aside from the wiggle test for broken inductor cabling.....your mechanic should carry out a resistance test on both at the tci unit.
It should be around 720 ohms + or - 20%.
I would be checking the ballast resistor and or its bridged out connections if its been removed...as well as a changeover tci unit.
When you release the starter button the ballast resistor is taken out of cct by the tci. The green wire behind the fuse box needs to be connected as well.

[excess.11]

If he meant a weak spark...just by observing it visually.....that is standard with the xs1100.....how did he measure the weak spark?

[BrettS]

Oh the mechanic did mention that there was a light spark at the start of turning over at the end. He said by the weak readings he got on the pick up coils he surprised it even had that

[BrettS]

I'm not sure how he checked the pickup coils. I think I annoyed him enough by joining the broken wire testing for any more and trying to start the bike, but if the mechanic gets talkative I will ask. Sorry I forgot about boosting the battery as well Errol but it was cranking over nice and fast as normal when fully charged.

[excess.11]

Brett....to generally assess the condition of the battery...... to follow up on Errols theory......did the starter motor seem to labour when cranking with a charged battery ?......or.....did it turn over freely as usual before you had this issue ?

[Eveready1100]

Brett, I'm curious as to how he diagnosed the pickup coils themselves to be faulty (unless they're cracked)

and BTW

Errol, maybe the bill I get from the mechanic will be the kick up the arse I need to learn how to use a digital meter

I didn't mention using a multimeter. All I wanted you to do was hook Dusty's battery up to your car using some jumper leads and try starting the bike.

Jeff, I have no spark at all except occasionally just as I stop winding the engine over.

That is a classic example of the starter motor dragging enough power out of a battery ( low cranking amps) to cause the TCI not to work until you release the starter button which then provides enough power for the TCI to work, hence the spark at the end of the process. It needs about 10.5 volts to operate, from memory, and a suss battery will drop well below that while struggling to turn the motor over.

[BrettS]

Seems it is not just the wires that are the problem and I need replacement pick up coils. Eddy to the rescue, meeting at Christians weekend house in Dapto on Sunday. Is that ok Christian

[BrettS]

I had planned to do a few little things before I took the bike to the mechanic. Check the compression, remove the coils and cdi box to have tested separately and also check those wires on the vacuum advance. But for some reason I decided to spend a couple of hours free last week to get the bike on the trailer and take it to the mechanic before I did any of these.
I figured if it was the wires on the vacuum advance I will be kicking myself for not checking. Got off the phone to the mechanic and he said the pickup coil base was faulty. Hmm, I have heard of that before I thought. Ok I will track that down replace it and we should be back on the rd.
then I had a phone chat with Steptoe, pick coil is where those wires are Brett. Oh? Well frig me!
Hopefully I will drop into the mechanic tomorrow arvo and show him the busted wire causing the pickup coils malfunction :/
Update again soon!

 

[steptoe]

DO NOT PULL YOUR ACTUAL MOTOR APART, taint nothing wrong with it,
this is what scarfeys talking about

[BrettS]

Jeff, I have no spark at all except occasionally just as I stop winding the engine over.
Eddie, if you mean you will be here on the weekend 13/14 of September hopefully the mechanic has diagnosed the problem and if it is a tic unit maybe it can buy one of you or possibly another part that I may need.  In any event drop in for a coffee 
Thanks Christian, I haven't gowned further north than Nowra yet but I will keep your offer in mind if I need any parts. Hopefully my first trip there will be on the bike in the near future.
Errol, maybe the bill I get from the mechanic will be the kick up the arse I need to learn how to use a digital meter but then again some times the expert saves a lot of time and frustration. I am only asking them to tell me what is wrong and they come highly recommended so fingers crossed early next week I will have my plan and parts list to be back on the rd ASAP