RE: power to the coil

["royscorrigan" <rscorrigan@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The Virago is a quirky bike insofar as electronics...or, at least it's
engineered to be. ::grin::  You'll find numerous posts cautioning owners to
make sure all connections are good and tight (once had a grain of Florida
sand completely bollox up my signal system-it was stuck in a relay
connector), and that no breaks, pinches, or 'pulls' have occurred in the
wiring line harness portions.  That includes the area of wiring from the
stator to the rectifier onward.  I'm glad to be of a little help, even if
it's to rule out stuff.  And, if I hadn't said anything, I'm sure the rest
if the people on the list would chime in sooner or later.  Just keep askin'
questions.  Keeps 'em on their toes!
Steven

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-virago@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-virago@xxxxxxxxxxxx]On
Behalf Of Barry Carpenter
Sent: Sunday, September 28, 2003 8:21 AM
To: virago@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: power to the coil


Thanks for that chart Steven,
    It's still early and without sunlight, my shop is dark., so I'm waiting
for
the sun to come up. I haven't swapped out the TCI units yet. I put the newer
motor on the old bike frame. When my old motor went bad, it didn't die, it
just
started making a bad noise that indicated an overhaul. I found a parts bike
nearby and decided to go with a swap rather than an overhaul. That being
said,
I'm ASSUMING my old TCI unit is okay as the bike never actually quit
running. I
don't know much about the history of the parts bike. The engine turned over
by
hand and seemed to have good compression.  All I had to do was put the
rotor/stator from my old engine on it . I didn't get the timing set up right
on
it and bent a valve when I tried to start it the first time. Took it to a
mechanic and he pulled a good valve from my old head and relashed and
re-assembled the whole works. He said everything looked good. He was the
last
one to put the side case back on so I'm trusting he didn't pinch any wires.
I
won't rule it out, but it's going to be the last thing I check as I don't
want
to drain the oil, AGAIN...
Thanks again for the fault-finding doohicky.  And thanks again for
responding
to my posts. I don't know if it's how I word my questions, but it seems like
I
rarely get responses to my questions...

Barry (a very early riser, even on the friggin' weekend!)

royscorrigan wrote:

> The wires from the rotor/stator assembly come from the left side of the
> engine case.  They offtimes get pinched, stretched, or broken.   This
> happened to my bike, and basically caused the TCI to go to hell as well.
> Here's the fault-finding diagrams...:
> http://www.electrexusa.com/electrex_fault_finding.html
> If it's not this, it may well be the TCI that's giving you fits.  I
believe
> you said you had two TCIs-one from the old engine, one from the newer.
Have
> you tried with both, yet?  (Stupid question, I'm sure-just don't want to
> overlook the obvious.)
> Steven (who can't sleep)
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-virago@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-virago@xxxxxxxxxxxx]On
> Behalf Of Barry Carpenter
> Sent: Saturday, September 27, 2003 11:33 PM
> To: virago@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: power to the coil
>
> I did a visual check of the wires and cleaned them up at the connector. I
> got a
> bit of voltage on some of the contacts, but without knowing what the
> readings
> are supposed to be, I couldn't tell if this was an accurate test or not.
> Tomorrow I may remove the outer wire casing. I'm trying to avoid removing
> the
> right side of the case as I don't want to have to drain the oil. But if I
> have
> to I will.
> I know it's something simple, but finding it is going to be a bear!
>
> Thanks again,
> Barry
>
> royscorrigan wrote:
>
> > Did you check for a broken wire or short near the case itself?  I'm
still
> > thinkin' it might be a stator/rotor problem (or the wiring associated
with
> > same) in the 'new' engine.  You've got a good TCI to back up the
testing,
> at
> > least by your account of the one from the former engine.
> > Steven
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: owner-virago@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-virago@xxxxxxxxxxxx]On
> > Behalf Of Barry Carpenter
> > Sent: Saturday, September 27, 2003 7:28 PM
> > To: virago@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> > Subject: Re: power to the coil
> >
> > I'm getting power to the coils. The red wire on each coil shows voltage
> when
> > I
> > turn on the key. What would be the next troubleshooting step?
> >
> > royscorrigan wrote:
> >
> > > Barry, the rotor in the left ('driver side') half of the engine case
> > > supplies power to the recifire.  In my '82 750, the rectifier is
located
> > on
> > > the back of the toolbox, which is under the left airpod.  Sometimes
> wiring
> > > gets pinched between the two.  Check the wiring coming from the upper
> left
> > > rear of the engine case.  You'll have to trace it, as I'm not sure
where
> > > your components are...but if there's a short or broken whire (it
> happens),
> > > then there's no power juicing the coils.
> > > Steven
> >
>
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