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Old 01-09-2004   #4 (permalink)
cjiom
Still On The Kickstand
BTK Beginner
 
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: West of London, UK
Posts: 44
Default Ignition Problems?

druk,

Do you have a Haynes manual or a wiring diagram? This may give you a few pointers.

I have had some ignition problems with a GPZ500S D (EX500D) I would start with ZX's suggestions. Unless you have some posh test equipment its a case of working through things and ruleing them out. Start with the simple stuff.

The EX500A and EX500D/ER500 have slightly different ignition systems and I don't know which the KLE is fitted with. The EX500A (up to 93) has two pickup coils where as the EX500D (94 on) has just one and I believe it works on a wasted spark principal (fires every time the piston is at the top of its stroke).

The EX500D has 2 wires going to the pickup coil, the EX500A has 4.

Do you know which type is fitted?

If there is only one pickup coil then I would not suspect the pickup coil as one cylinder is working correctly.

If you have a tacho (rev counter) does it work normally when you have the problems? If it is like the one fitted to the EX500D it is driven from the CDI unit. A problem there would indicate a issue with the input to the CDI box or the CDI box.

The EX500A appers to have a tacho driven from the feed to one of the coils. (Cylinder 1) Appears to only be some models with this arrangement, some A models have a seperate feed.


I've had problems where I suspected were my CDI unit but they turned out to be an intermittent short in the wiring loom. Although I have read on ebay people saying the CDI units are "prone to packing up" people not selling them as spares seem to think they are very reliable. Also their opinion was that they either fail and stop working or work fine. Intermittent faults are "rare". Haynes says the main way of testing a CDI is to swap it for a known good unit. Not that easy to do unless you have a spare. They are not cheap Keep an eye out for one though you may find one on ebay going cheap.

You say turning off the ignition clears the problem? How long do you have to wait? Quickly switching off and back on while riding doesn't solve the problem (temporarily) does it?
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