QuestionHi chris, heres where we are. We got a new battery. It turns over good but know spark. we do not have lights in the speedo, but the high beam works, low beam doesn't. we figure that is the bulb. no turn signals. there are two wires in the headlight that do not connect to anything, but they are two different colors. any chance they would go together?
Now we did the thing with the spark plug touching metal with the lights out and we had no spark. there was spark in the points area.
would that mean a selonoid? or activator? I am not sure of the names of all those little doo dads, So thanks in advance for anymore info. Beth
-------------------------
Followup To
Question -
--Hi Chris, thanks for the quick reply, we have no lights anywhere. We tested the fuse with multimeter.It is right ahead of the solenoid. How many fuses should there be? we can only find one. supposedly this bike ran last year. We have a Clymer manual on the way. we have no horn. No spark with the spark plug when you try to kick start either. the battery is charging, it at first said charged, but we checked it with the meter and it only read 1.3v I guess we may need a new battery,can we do any testing with a 12v battery? guess that is it for now. thanks Beth
----------------------
Followup To
Question -
Chris, HI we just purchased a 1978 Honda Twinstar 185. It will not spark.. the lights and horn will not work. the battery is charged and the fuse is good. what do we do next?
Thanks Beth
Answer -
Hi Beth.
Did you manage to get yourself the repair manual? I hope so, because you will need it.
You need to trace the wiring. On a bike that old it is nearly impossible to have wiring that is nearly as good as it was when new. Let's start with what does work. If you have lights on the instruments (neutral light, speedo, etc.) then you have a good start.
You say that the fuses are good. How do you know? Are they fresh out of the package? If not, then test them with a multimeter (set on resistance -ohms-, there should be none when you test the fuse).
Have you found the main fuse? If not, then you may need a new one. Find and replace it with a known good fuse of the correct amps.
Have you checked all of the bulbs in the lights? Do so and make sure that they are all good. If you cannot tell for certain visually, then check them with a multimeter as well.
Now if all of the above is good, then you have a job ahead of you. Using the manual for reference, trace the wiring for the ignition and light circuits. test them for shorts with the meter, just like you did for the fuses and light bulbs. If any section is bad, then either replace the wire or splice in a jumper wire and cut out the old wires. If it becomes too difficult or there are too many shorts to fix, then you may be better off finding a used rpelcement wiring harness.
Alternatively, you could completely rebuld the wiring harness, using the old one as a pattern. There is a method to doing this, but is a bit lengthy for right now and may be getting ahead of things.
For now, just check the things I've told you about and get back to me if you need any additional help or the directions for rebuilding the harness.
Good luck and Ride safe
FALCON
Answer -
Hi Beth.
Do not check restsance with the electrical system charged (powered up) The fuses, you check for resistance. You will not get a voltage reading from them.
What does the battery say it should be? 12V or 6V. If you are not sure, then pullit out and look. It will be printed on the battery front. Either way, 1.3V is not good. My guess is that you may have a bad battery. There should be a date engraved on the battery. that date is the date that the battery was activated (acid added to the cels and charged up). If the battery is more that 1 1/2 years old, replace it with a new one. If the bike sat for a long time, then the battery could be bad even if it is only a few months old.
As far as fuses, there should be a fuse for each of the following systems (one fuse per system);
Ignition
Lights
Horn/signals
Brakes (sometimes this is part of the lights circuit, sometimes it is a stand-alone fuse)
Main fuse (this one is almost always stand-alone and seperate from the other fuses)
Depending on model and make, all of these fuses (except for the main) should be in a block together. either under the headlight, under the seat or behind one of the cosmetic sidecovers (left or right) below the seat. The fuse that you found sounds to me to be the main.
If they are under the headlight, then there will be one or two screws holding a plastic cover in place with the fuses behind that cover.
The repair manual will show the exact location of the fuseblock and all of the fuses.
The battery, if not new, can be checked in two ways. One is to check the voltage of the battery. Use the multimeter. If the battery is 12V, then you should be reaing 12V on the battery.
There is another way to see if the battery is good. Checking the voltage is good, but the battery has a chemical balance inside of it.
That can be checked with a small device called a battery hygrometer (aka battery tester). It looks like a large eyedropper with some plactic balls in it and a plastic tube that fits into the filler holes of the battery cels.
Do not use one from an autoparts store. It will not fit a motorcycle battery. Use one that you got from a motorcycle shop.
It comes with easy to use instructions and will tell you in very clear terms if the battery is good or not.
Make sure that the battery has a full charge when you use the tester.
If even one cel does not test as good, then the battery will not hold a full charge and is in need of replacement.
Let me know what you find.
Good luck and ride safe.
FALCON
AnswerHi Beth.
NOW we are getting somewhere. The headlight problem could be just what you think it is, a burned out bulb. Test the headlight with a known good bulb and if it works, great. If not then the headlight circuit needs to be traced down for a short. the instrument lights could be a short as well as the turn signals.
As far as the ignition circuit, the fact that you get spark at the points is a good sign. Now you need to check the wiring between the points and the spark plugs. It is likely that there is a short there. Now the ignition coils and the spark plug wires are permanently connected, so if the spark plug wires are bad, then so are the coils. If you have good wiring all the way to the coils, then replace the coils.
As far as learning the names of all of the doo dads, gizmos, whozeewhatsits and thingamabobs, the manual will have all of that information for you as well.
Good luck and ride safe.
FALCON
