Cammy_1984 Posted February 4, 2008 Share Posted February 4, 2008 Hi everyone, Well Im in the need of some help. I bought a XS250SE a couple of weeks back. It has 418 miles on the clock wich is genuine! Im as supprised as you are! Its a 1981 model. I bought it off my friends dad and i know its been sat for a long long long time doing nothing! Basically everything works perfectly apat from one very large thing! Im getting no spark what so ever! Ive checked as much as i can myself and i have a funny feeling its the coils, but im not sure. (ive even held my hand on the end of the HT leads!!) Is it possibe to test the coils? Just as far s i can see they are a sealed unit. If possible Canany of you tell me how much my bike is worth? I was given an offer from the Scottish Transport Museum for it but i wasnt sure how much they offered me was right. Any help would be much appreciated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave C Posted February 4, 2008 Share Posted February 4, 2008 You can test the coils but you will need a multimeter, if you have a haynes manual for it that will show you how to test them. Value, not a clue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fosdyke Posted February 4, 2008 Share Posted February 4, 2008 Hi and welcome to the forum How handy are you with a voltmeter? You need to check if this is a HT (high tension) or LT (low tension) circuit problem. As you are not getting a spark I would start with the LT side - I am assuming that it has a CDI unit rather than points? If so you will need to trace the wiring back from the coil(s) to the cd unit, and test with the ignition on if you get voltage in either of the wires, you may need to turn the engine over. If you get a reading then the LT side is OK, if not suspect a faulty CDI unit, in my experience the CDI unit is more likely to fail than the coils - so check this first. If you get a reading from the voltmeter suspect the coil(s), if so - are these the 'old type' where the HT lead is removable - if so remove this and check. If not check the plug cap, again it is worth checking the the cap with a voltmeter just to make sure. Coils are more difficult to test, you can use a multimeter to test resitance but I don't know the readings. Let us know how you get on. Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cammy_1984 Posted February 5, 2008 Author Share Posted February 5, 2008 Hi and welcome to the forum How handy are you with a voltmeter? You need to check if this is a HT (high tension) or LT (low tension) circuit problem. As you are not getting a spark I would start with the LT side - I am assuming that it has a CDI unit rather than points? If so you will need to trace the wiring back from the coil(s) to the cd unit, and test with the ignition on if you get voltage in either of the wires, you may need to turn the engine over. If you get a reading then the LT side is OK, if not suspect a faulty CDI unit, in my experience the CDI unit is more likely to fail than the coils - so check this first. If you get a reading from the voltmeter suspect the coil(s), if so - are these the 'old type' where the HT lead is removable - if so remove this and check. If not check the plug cap, again it is worth checking the the cap with a voltmeter just to make sure. Coils are more difficult to test, you can use a multimeter to test resitance but I don't know the readings. Let us know how you get on. Good luck Thanks for the help! Got my Haynes manual on order! The bike as points and from what i could see, they were working perfectly, bearing in mind me opening up that cover put a massive grin on my face when evrything inside was still all nice and shiny! considering its 26 years old! I still cant get over it that its that old and not moved since 1983! Anyway, Imguessing its time to buy new coils! cheers Cameron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yoda Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 I suspect that the old plug leads have aged and cracked thus no electricity. Change the leads first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cammy_1984 Posted February 5, 2008 Author Share Posted February 5, 2008 I suspect that the old plug leads have aged and cracked thus no electricity. Change the leads first. The leads are part of the coils. Is there any way i can change them withou replacing the whole lot? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yoda Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 The leads are part of the coils. Is there any way i can change them withou replacing the whole lot? Dont think so but it might be possible to graft new ones onto a stub. Check and see if you have 12 volts to the coils first. If you have then its a replacement unit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cammy_1984 Posted February 9, 2008 Author Share Posted February 9, 2008 Dont think so but it might be possible to graft new ones onto a stub. Check and see if you have 12 volts to the coils first. If you have then its a replacement unit. ITS ALIVE!!! Well Kind of, It does run but...... I can get it to rev right or idle right, Ive took the carbs out becuse one of the floats was jammed so i sorted that and gave it a general look over, I never took anything else apart because if it was ok i didnt feel the need to disturb it. I put them back in and adventually after a good caugh and splutter it started, only thing was it was idleing with full throttle!! So i took the filters off and held my hand over the inlets and it let it rev a bit but hasnt cured the problem. So I bought a tin of Carb cleaner and put a bit of that down it and its helped the starting a bit but im still having bother with reving, It also seems sluggish if it does decide to rev. Could it be the petrol im using? Will I still need to use 4 star or LRP instead of unleaded? I hope ive put enough up on here for you guys to help me! Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator drewpy Posted February 10, 2008 Moderator Share Posted February 10, 2008 ITS ALIVE!!! Well Kind of, It does run but...... I can get it to rev right or idle right, Ive took the carbs out becuse one of the floats was jammed so i sorted that and gave it a general look over, I never took anything else apart because if it was ok i didnt feel the need to disturb it. I put them back in and adventually after a good caugh and splutter it started, only thing was it was idleing with full throttle!! So i took the filters off and held my hand over the inlets and it let it rev a bit but hasnt cured the problem. So I bought a tin of Carb cleaner and put a bit of that down it and its helped the starting a bit but im still having bother with reving, It also seems sluggish if it does decide to rev. Could it be the petrol im using? Will I still need to use 4 star or LRP instead of unleaded? I hope ive put enough up on here for you guys to help me! Cheers! carbs gummed up, you will need to strip or send off to a specialist for cleaning. I use normal unleaded Petrol Also high reving is due to the mixture weak, check inlets on carb for cracking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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