Motorcycle Repair: 1975 Honda XL 350 single cylinder, honda xl 350, clymer manual

Question
Bill,
I have ignition problems, spark.I had the coil & condensor checked by a dealer and they are good.  I replaced the points, rusted.  The alternator assembley had oil in it when I opend the cover. Will it be ok wet with oil. I was told it may be designed that way? It gave good spark when  it was dry & clean but I checked the stator resistance with a volt/ohm meter & it looks low on resistance according to a clymer manual spec's.  The rotor pulls a screwdriver into it pretty good so I think it is good (still magnetized)but Clymer says you have to check it with a known good rotor.



Any help from here would be greatly apprciated, still no spark.  

Answer
Chuck, if the coil and condenser are known good, then either the points are not installed correctly or they have some contamination on the point faces or the KILL switch is getting in the way. If in doubt, wire around the kill switch. The ignition switch puts ground on the magneto ignition when the key is OFF. Disconnecting the ignition switch will take that component out of the loop, as a cause for problems, temporarily.

The stator is oil-cooled, so they are supposed to be that way. If the stator is shorted to ground then the ignition/charging system will not work. Check resistance to the stator case... should be infinite. Stator leads will check a low resistance connection to each other.

http://oldmanhonda.com/MC/WiringDiagrams/MCwiring.php  to check wiring diagrams for XL350.

Make sure that the rotor hasn't slipped on the end of the crank, due to sheared key or installation without one. Set points to open at the F mark alignment (compression stroke). If you put the point cam on the advancer backwards, it won't run.

Bill Silver