Topic: Are the coils kaput?

[CB550Kguy]

Started with a question on continuity of the 2ndary windings and how there was none. You guys pointed out I had to have the muti-meter set in the 20K + range I think. Setting the meter correctly I got continuity. I have it both in the 2ndary & primary windings. So far so good. The bike has an aftermarket electronic ignition and most of the connections throughout the wiring harness are dirty and need to be cleaned. The bikes been sitting for 10 years. Just now I need to know if the coils need to be replaced. So I disconnect the yellow/blue wires going to the Elec Ign and the black (power) wires. Running a jumper wire directly from the batt (+) to the black wire, grounding the batt (-) to the engine/frame and then grounding the blue or yellow. Breaking that blue or yellow wire ground produces a spark on the engine case. Now shouldn't that induce a voltage in the 2ndary that should produce a spark when the coil/plug wire is held a spark plugs gap from ground. Even with the caps removed, still nothing. NO Spark  Can I conclude that the coils are bad???  Reading this forum taught me how to test the coils in this fashion. Put power to the primary and then breaking the connection should induce the the much higher 2ndary voltage neccesary to fire the plug right?   Once I get some good coils I can then go on to troubleshoot the whole ignition circuit and electronic ignition. I hope I didn't put anyone to sleep. Sometimes I tend to run onnnnnnnnnnnnn.  2 of the caps appear bad as they don't show anything. While the other 2 give 5 ohm readings.  THANKS in advance. I owe ya.

[dave500]

be carefull tinkering with electronic ignitions,,dont get any wires wrong,,half a second connected wrongly and its fried full stop!what ignition do you have?what your doing should make a spark,,be a man and hold your thumb on the lead end and see if its got any voltage at all.

[CB550Kguy]

Looks like a DynaTek Dave. But I'm not really farting around with it yet. It's disconnected. Just trying to ascertain if the coils are good or not. Thanks   There is a Dynatek sticker under the seat 

[dave500]

thats funny,when i lifted up my seat there was a fart under it!,hot wiring and disconnecting those coils should make a spark,,what coils are they?stock ones or other?

[TwoTired]

The coils with points ignition sorta need the capacitor to help collapse the stored charge in the coil.
  You may or may not get a spark by simply disconnecting the coil power.  It's not very reliable without the capacitor (condenser).  There is some dependency on the input voltage, as well the gap setting where you want to see the spark.

If you don't have a condenser to test with, then you'll have to try the Dyna trigger to get a spark from the coil.