QuestionDear Mr.Silver:
I am a proud owner of a 1965 Honda CB160, which I purchased in 1970, and rode recreationally until 1987 when other interests, job changes, raising a family, moving, etc., "forced" me to no longer have the time to ride it. During this time, the bike never failed me, and gave me great hours of pure joy. I have kept this beautiful vintage Honda stored in my mother's garage since I last rode it in 1987. There are only 9,170 miles on it, and all the parts were original.
Recently, I had it trucked to my own home, so that I could ride it again after it sat stored for the past 17 years. The first thing I did was prchase a new battery for it, of course. The horn, neutral light, tail and head lamp work perfectly, as does the ignition switch and electronic starter. I sprayed a little WD-40 into the spark plug holes to free the cylinders up, first. I also cleaned out the carbs.
The engine turns over fine, and I'm getting good cylinder compression. However, the motor won't start because of NO SPARK. I have the original manual that came with the bike, and I recently purchased the Clymer Repair Manual (#M321) which covers this bike. I purchased a digital multimeter, did all the prescribed electrical checks, cleaned up the points, installed a new NOS condenser, retimed the points,installed brand new spark plugs specific to my bike, etc. The electrical checks on the ignition coil seem to be OK. All this...and still NO SPARK either at the plug, or plug wire. All wiring/coupling seems to be in tact.
I am at wits end. Any tidbits of info based upon your experience would be greatly appreciated as to why I can't seem to get a spark with the prescribed spark plug test where you take out the plug and touch the ground to to motor head with the gap about 1/8 to 1/4 inch away while cranking the engine, or installing a screw into the spark plug cap and doing same...still NO SPARK with either kick start or electronic start.
Please help! Keep in mind the Honda CB160 ran fine the last time I rode it, but it's been 17 years that it sat...and now (all of a sudden)----NO SPARK, even though multimeter readings are OK, as per Clymer's manual, etc. Thank you, kindly.
btszymczak@aol.com
AnswerBernard.... you need to trace the voltage readings along the ignition system path.
With meter on the points, they should read close to battery voltage when open and ZERO volts when closed.
If that is the case, then the points, which are just a switch in the ground path of the coil primary windings are okay.
Kick the bike over with the point cover off and watch the points to see if there is excessive arcing. If so, then the condenser is BAD (or the lead is loose/disconnected), even if it is new. Be sure that the little pigtails on the point wire is not grounding out on the point plate somewhere.
Go to the coil next... with the switch ON, you should have near battery voltage on the black wire (positive) side of the coil with the negative (point side) disconnected. If the voltage readings go to ZERO and the points are connected and OPEN, then there is a grounded wire between the coil and the points. If you have power in, being switched on and off by the points and no spark, then the coil apparently has failed. Fairly rare, but can happen. Be sure that the plug caps don't have any open circuits or are not more than around 5K ohms, if the originals were replaced with resistor caps.
Remember that both plugs have to be grounded for spark to occur at either one. It is a double ended coil and the current path for the plugs goes from electrode to ground on one side and ground to electrode on the other to complete the circuit.
Be sure to use clean plugs for a check, as they will foul rapidly when the get drenched with fuel and there is no spark there to clean them off.
Bill Silver
