Maintenance & Technical > KX500 Original

Spark problem

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Rick:
OK, here is one I can't figure out.  

Two weeks ago, while riding in the desert, I lost spark (I posted the story earlier, so won't go into any more detail).  After pulling the stator and cleaning the back, thought I had the thing fixed.

Round two:  A week ago at a regional desert race, I was pulling up to get tech inspected, and lost spark again.  I pushed big green back to the van, and started wrenching.  Forturnately, a friend had an extra KX500 along for the ride, so I pulled the entire electrical system and put on my bike.  Also, since the race start was delayed, I finished the swap with about 15 mintues to spare.  Worked great for the event, but had to give everything back after the race, so installed all of my old stuff.  During the week I pulled the stator again and cleaned everything with a dremel brush.  I also installed an NGK BR8EIX Iridium plug. Wow, what a difference in power delivery.  I have now switch from the platinum to the Iridium plug.

Rount three: I was in the desert practicing with my son yesterday, and after 40 miles, lost spark, again.  Just flat died on the trail.  We were setting up for the tow to the van, and I thought I would try and start.  Yup, you guessed it, she lite right up.  Ran for about 5 minutes, and lost spark again.

Since the dang thing won't just die, it is tough to know what is wrong.  Short of just buying a new electrical system, I'm looking for suggestions.  I have a spare KX500 in the garage, so I am going to swap one part at a time until one fails, but sure is going to be a drag towing the bike to the truck if it decides to die on another long ride.

Any thoughts?

Suicycle:
yamadog or and xr.  sorry i couldn't resist.  no idea here jsut looking  around.  good luck on finding it or help from other members.

Paul:
Hey Rick, might be a long shot on this one but I used to have a Ford truck that showed the same symptoms you're having and it was the coil spark cable (the one that looks like a spark plug wire). When the engine and under hood temps would get high enough the thing would just die. After it cooled down everything was fine.

Rick:
Good thought Paul.  That was kind of my reasoning with the stator.  Last summer, I dumped the ol' 5-0 in a river (twice)  :? while working out a crossing path.  Cost me 6 plugs, and about 2 hours getting it started again.  In the process, the stator got soaked, so I am a little concerned that this might be the problem.  Same goes for the coil.

My lead sponsor is buying the tester that Suziki (they have both the Suziki and Kawasaki dealerships) makes this week to check electrical components, so I will be running parts from the spare bike until next week.  I am a little concerned that testing will yield nothing because the problem is intermitent, in which case I will just swap parts one at a time until the problem goes away.  

I even thought about putting on a lighting system   :idea:  if I have to replace parts, as I get more bang for my buck this way (never had a light, but thought it would be cool.).  Does a lighting system require replacement of the stator and coil, or just one of the units?  

Thanks for the input.

Rick

moburki:
rick, i have had a bad ignition box that did this to me on a zx7 streetbike, although i'm sure youve already tried this.
mo

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