Topic: Bad coil?

[Wis]

So, i'm out riding today...suddennly lose power, and limp the last  mile home. seems i've lost spark on 1 &4.....points seem ok.....pull all the plugs, and switch the leads from the coils...now no spark on 2&3. So i assume my coil is bad. do coils suddenly just die? or should i look for something else?

[cmorgan47]

could be. 

also could be a short from the points to the wires. 
or something nonobvious with the points(assume they're gapped nicely and don't look pitted?).

you can swap the coils entirely by swapping the mounting brackets or just switch the signal wires going to them to test.

[Wis]

switching the wires is what i did to test the coil. didnt know if there was anything else i needed to look for..

[dusterdude]

condenser?

[Wis]

dont think anything else is bad, since i got spark when i switched coil wires around. anyone got an extra set of coils?

[KB02]

So, i'm out riding today...suddennly lose power, and limp the last  mile home. seems i've lost spark on 1 &4.....points seem ok.....pull all the plugs, and switch the leads from the coils...now no spark on 2&3. So i assume my coil is bad. do coils suddenly just die? or should i look for something else?

So after switching the leads on the coils, is the 1-4 coil firing? If so, I would say your coils are fine and it's probably either a bad connection to the coil or bad pionts.

[OldSchool_IsCool]

I had a similar thing happen to me.  If your plugs are good AND the right ones (mine weren't) and your points look good (properly gaped and not pitted), then pull the plug caps off the wires and look for corrosion in there.  If you see green, clean the spike in the cap and trim back the wire a little at a time until u strike good copper.

Loosing the two cylinders fed from the same coil tho sure smacks of a bad coil, shorted or broken lead wire to the points, or inoperable points.

[Wis]

yeah, when i switch the coils around, 1/4 plugs get spark, and 2/3 go dead.thats why i think everything else is ok.

[KB02]

OH, okay. I thought you were just switching the leads around, not the actual coil itself. Then yes, sounds like you have a dead coil... just like me.   ..