engine wont fire? and extra wire coming from coil

[irishluck]

Well my engine cranks fine, and i have gas for sure, carbs are filled with gas and all. And getting spark.....Sorta. I checked to see if getting spark and my right coil isnt. Its plugged in and connected but no spark. No i noticed this. the left coil has 2 wires going into its plug and 2 wires coming out of the plug on the wiring harness. No problem there. But the right coil is a little different. There are to wires coming from the right coil that goes into its plug. BUT the plug for that coil coming from the wiring harness has 3 wires....Im not fulling understanding why this is. the book shows that the right coil has 1 gray and a red/white wire, but it has 2 gray wires....and to make it more interesting one of the gray wires is cut, i dont understand why it has 2 gray ones and the book shows one....

anyone know why this is?

[FJmonkey]

Possibly a coil from a different bike?

[irishluck]

honestly have no idea... but its not the  coil with the extra wire, its the wiring harness. The plug that plugs into the right coil from the wiring harness has the extra wire....

[rktmanfj]

Doesn't the tach feed from one of the coils?

Randy T
Indy

[irishluck]

not that im aware of...... but the book doesn't show a 3rd wire coming from that plug, let me see if i can get a pic up here....

[irishluck]

Sorry for the not so great pics but once again im using my camera on my phone(broken camera) but you should be able to see the 3 wires coming out of the plug from the wiring harness that plugs into the right coil. Im looking at the book right now, and this is an 87 wiring harness, it shows coil for plugs 2 and 3 have a gray and red/white wire and yea it looks like that gray wire does connect into the tachometer. COil which controls 1 and 4 plugs had orange and red/white wire. Both going to ignitor unit. My problem is there is an extra gray wire coming from the plug on the wiring harness for the righ coil and i cant figure out what it is. Nad it goes through the whole harness....

[irishluck]

also so i know this but if only one coil has spark, will that in fact cause it to not start?

[Flying Scotsman]

It would still run on 2 cylinders.Test the coil if it is bad replace it.

[irishluck]

but whats that 3rd wire for... thats my main concern......

[Harvy]

Irishluck.........I wonder if the harness had a bad wire and the extra wire was a replacement circuit? Where does that extra grey wire go to in the harness? - can you find the other end of it....... if its a replacement for the original, it should be visible at the Ignitor box.

It may also have been a feed to an aftermarket tacho.

Harvy

[Travis398]

Doesn't the tach feed from one of the coils?

Randy T
Indy

if only more people would listen to Randy.


One goes to the Ignitor unit and the other to the tach.

[fj11.5]

Is the tach working, that would prove randy,s quote ,

[Travis398]

Or he could listen to Randy (and me)

the gray wire leaves the ignitor box goes to the coil  the factory doubles the wires together in the plug. Then the other one goes to the tach.

so no matter which gray wire is cut the tach shouldn't work.

If I'm wrong I'll buy Irishluck a coffee unless he wants to wait till he's 21, then I'll buy him a beer 

[irishluck]

Is the tach working, that would prove randy,s quote ,

well i have no idea if the tach works, bike dont turn on ha.

well i did mention travis that he was right, that the gray wire goes to the tach.

Harvy that could be right, im actually getting ready to check that.

but travis, you said one would go to the tach and one to the ignitor box but why doesnt the wiring diagram show 3 wires? thats what im lost about. I mean the book shows from 86 to 91, uk and us models, abs or no abs. With only 2 wires. Unless like harv said its a replacement wire.....

[irishluck]

well all i know is that there is only one wire going to the ignitor that is gray

update:   well it looks like the cut wire is the wire that goes to the ignitor which would explain why its not getting spark to that coil.

Idk this just weird that it has 3 different wires.