Motorcycle Repair: 79 Honda cx500 ignition, honda cx 500, honda cx500

Question
My '79 Honda CX500 quit running.  Rt plug will spark-Left won't.  If I connect the Rt CDI box lead to the left coil, it will spark.  Do you think the CDI box is bad??  If so, any idea where to get another that I can trust to be good--Don't think they make new ones anymore.  What do you think would be a fair price for a used one?  Thanks.

Answer
Steve, you have to check the pulser coil leads to see if they both have about the same resistance values, first, before parts swapping. It does sound like the CDI box is defective, if you can switch leads and get spark from the formerly dead side.

http://rajamolor.blogspot.com/2008/06/honda-cx500-cdi-schematic.html
http://rajamolor.blogspot.com/2008/01/honda-cx-500.html

Good photo here with pin numbers and values.

http://cx500forum.com/index.php?/topic/6748-problem-with-the-ignitech/  with other tech tips on the site.

Ebay sellers have some listed here:

http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p3984.m570.l1313&_nkw=cx500+cdi&_s...

Note that the original CDI ignitions were replaced with a transistorized ignition which is completely different than CDI.

Bill Silver