TOPIC:

Hi guys.
Pulling my hair out. Spent the past 12 months giving the Z1300 plenty of tlc to bring back to its former glory and all ok runing fine.
With winter setting in bike all coverd up and left. Just moved house and cover off to fire up and find that have no spark or should say an intermitant one but weak.
Manual out and checked all readings and all read as stated?
Have found that if I push the on/off kill switch a few times get a spark. so tested switch and all ok. All wiring checked with meter and all connections cleaned when bike given tlc. New battery was fitted, starter motor turns over fine. Have spent over 20 hours trying to sort out, hence pulling my hair out.
Any fellow members had this problem?

Have you explored the possibility that there is a damaged wire in one of the harnesses between the frame and the controls? If you have an intermittent condition sometimes just turning the bars makes a difference.

"Have found that if I push the on/off kill switch a few times get a spark." Just guessing here but could that the field collapsing within one of the coils when the power is shut off?

We'll figure it out. Keep posting.

Bill

It sounds like the coils. I had the same trouble with my 1979 KZ. I fitted an Accel coil kit, not cheap, but it cured my problem.
when I removed the originals I was surprised by how cracked and damaged they were, I'm guessing it's the heat from the engine that gets them.
Keep us posted.

Hoping you find the problem, but I just wish to say that your bike looks fantastic. Can you tell us what work you have done, especially regarding the paint and chrome?

Hi guys.
Thanks for info. And shall try to get to the bottom of the problem and report back in the future. As stated. Checked all voltages and resistance's and all as per manual. Just need to get a low voltage diode tester to check from pick up coils.

Re the bike, chrome and paint work. Paint work took months to sort. Got in touch with so called sprayers who promise the earth and never deliver and one guy buggerd the tank up big time. So took the aproach. If you want a job done right do it yourself. So done the front fender as a test case and turned out fine. The tank was a differet story and i buggerd it up more
So through a contact. The guy who does all my seat recovering on projects gave me a number to ring. A top sprayer who is into bikes so the perfect job was done and even sprayed the decals in.
Re chrome work. In the right place at the right time. Picked up a brand new exh system. Down pipes, collector boxes and a right hand new muffler + a new seat unit for £800. Crank case covers could do with rechromeing but are in good condition for the age of the old girl.
Still need the odd part to bring back to former glory. Such as a pair of handle bar grips? Any members got any Purchased many a part from Zpower and the guy in Germany who is very good.

Safe and happy riding to you all. And keep the info coming re no spark as testing out some of the forum solutions to solve the problem.
Do have some spares and shall list in future as just moved house and in a box some where.

Bad ground: loose and intermittently open or high resistance due to oxidization/tarnish (takes very little)

It is highly unlikely that all 3 coils went "Bad" over the winter period but a light oxidized tarnish on or within a connection is highly suspect as is any form of moisture which will lead to tarnish and corrosion.

Electricity has a mind of it's own. Depending on the anomaly within a circuit: You can get false readings with various loads. Hence your static readings appearing to be in the correct ranges but yielding poor coil performance when the demand is required.

Every electrical connection in that circuit will need cleaning, tightened, and known to be 100% viable & isolated. Then and only then are you in a position to identify, isolate, test and justify the need for (potentially) expensive components.

From experience: Pay particular attention to the electrical connections (plastic multi-pin MOLEX type blocks. I have gone as far as removing every wire one at a time from the respective blocks and cleaned each Male and Female terminal-end with 'Scotch-brite". It is important to ensure the terminal ends are latched into place when reinserted into the plastic block. Pull on them to be sure. I recently discovered two of 6 wires had somehow released from their latched positions within the connector so when the male and female halves were pushed together these 2 wires simply got pushed backwards and did not mate with their counter-part. They touched enough to give what appeared to be a good static reading but in fact were electrically useless.