still not starting

[Barnsey]

The spark tester arrived today.  I'll look forward to trying that out at the weekend. 

[Barnsey]

The spark tester arrived during the week, so I have been trying it out, but it is only showing a very weak spark. I am sure it is weaker than with a regular spark plug.  Maybe 1 - 2 mm. Not much more.

 Jury rigging the new condenser didn't help.

   I cleaned the contacts with emery paper. 

  The coil is showing a primary resistance of 2.5 owms and a secondary resistance of or about 6.7kOhms, which is about right.   

[Barnsey]

While digging around I found a broken Green and White wire from the alternator to the rectifier. That could be it!!!

[DAVE BRADY]

Hi,

I remember rewiring an A65. Every wire replaced, yes?  Not quite. Not straight away but after several miles a misfire developed that gave similar symptoms as running out of fuel. So, reserve tap on and stop for fuel. All seemed well for a few miles and then the misfire came back.  After popping and banging home I started to think!!!!  I check all the wiring again and all was fine but the only wires I had not replaced were those between the EI stator and the EI control box.  A quick check for continuity and the problem was found.  When twiddling one of the wires there was an intermittent fault.  Problem solved.
So good luck with your broken wire.

Dave.

[rhyatt]

Can you rig up your battery charger to the battery to give you a good voltage whilst starting.
You have 2 ignition on positions.
1) I for normal battery powered ignition
2) if you turn the key the other direction , through the OFF position , to the E position.
This will allow you to start the bike when the  battery is flat.
Have you put your ohmmeter across the points to check if , when closed , they make a good contact across the cleaned points.
Preferably 0 ohms

[rhyatt]

The spark tester arrived during the week, so I have been trying it out, but it is only showing a very weak spark. I am sure it is weaker than with a regular spark plug.  Maybe 1 - 2 mm. Not much more.

 Jury rigging the new condenser didn't help.

   I cleaned the contacts with emery paper. 

  The coil is showing a primary resistance of 2.5 owms and a secondary resistance of or about 6.7kOhms, which is about right.   

You say that you jury rigged the condenser which didn't help.

1) the old, suspected condenser must be disconnected , but you can't do this as it firms part of the assembly

Did you do as suggested and lay JUST the end of the ht lead to the head to give you a 1/4" gap to earth.check the colour of the spark.

Not a plug in the plug cap , the plug cap may be high resistance

[Barnsey]

You say that you jury rigged the condenser which didn't help.

1) the old, suspected condenser must be disconnected , but you can't do this as it firms part of the assembly.

   I did manage to remove the original  condenser, and I connected the new one by one end only, with a short flying lead to the other end. 

Did you do as suggested and lay JUST the end of the ht lead to the head to give you a 1/4" gap to earth.check the colour of the spark.

Yes I did, but no spark at all, not that I could see anyway. Hence the proper spark tester, although proper is a relative term. It is pretty cheaply made. I am not surprised that I get a better spark with a proper plug, but the spark tester is showing a weak spark.

Not a plug in the plug cap , the plug cap may be high resistance

   I'll check that.  BTW, what resistance should the spark lead be?  I am guessing a few kOhm.

[rhyatt]

So, with the 1/4" gap from the end of the ht lead to the engine, there was no spark.
The ht lead should be pure copper and therefore nil ohms resistance
What is the connection like where the ht lead pokes into the coil

[Barnsey]

I've just been cleaning the HT connections between the lead and the coil with emery, both sides.  The HT lead itself is a couple of ohms.   The cap is about 7kOhm 

[Barnsey]

Further info, the plug cap is LB05F  an NGK  and 5k Ohm.  SHould I fit a non-resister type cap? 

[iansoady]

A resistor cap should be OK as long as the plug isn't a resistor type.

[Barnsey]

It turns out that the iridium plug which came with the bike is resistive, BR8EIX  5kOhm, in a 5kOhm cap. 
The one I bought is an NGK B8ES, so non-resistive,  although it still reads 200 Ohms.

  I have a non resistive cap on order.

[rhyatt]

5k is a normal ngk plug cap reading, screwed onto a copper core ht lead.
A non resistive b8es should be fine

So, with the copper ht lead to earth and you kicking it over there is barely any spark , or not a decent blue crack irrespective of whether the plug cap is screwed on or not.

What voltage is across the battery with ignition off

[Barnsey]

I'm getting a 2mm spark on the tester and that is it.  I just put a bit of charge in the battery before testing.

  The battery is a nice new Motobatt MBT6N6, and measuring 6.06V  open circuit. 

[Barnsey]

The path from the negative battery terminal to the coil reads about 2 Ohms and frame to coil positive is 1 Ohm.  The points read 0.5 Ohm when closed.