Sparks everywhere

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laurentdom

laurentdom

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Hi All,

The problem below occurs with a Pazon Sure Fire ignition, 12 volts / negative earth, dual output coil mounted with its heat sink, voltmeter showing 12,7 volts at the battery, brand new Champion N7YC sparkplugs.

When I perform the Pazon self test, I get a good spark at the sparkplug for the 2-3 first tries only.
Then, I get multiple tiny sparks along the ground electrode at the spark plug, but also sparks that I can hear and see between the COIL BODY and its heat sink!

Never seen that before.

Have you got an idea re: what I should verify?

Many thanks,

Laurent
 
No electro-Einstein here, but my guess is the coil has broken down and cannot handle the voltage the ignition produces.

Early Kawasaki H1 500s suffered a similar issue due to the spark plug wires not being up to the voltage produced by the CDI box and would display a spiderweb of tiny lightning on top of the motor, very visible in low light.

The system needs to contain the spark until it reaches the plug electrode. Yours is leaking.
 
Multiple sparks can mean a low battery or high resistance in the 12v feed to the black box.

If it’s a dual HT lead coil, you may have crushed the case with the clamp.

Or- do you realise both plugs must be connected and their bases must be making contact with the engine, for the HT circuit to be complete?
 
Thks for your replies.

I first suspected the coil, but the primary and secondary circuits show correct resistance (i.e. about 5 ohms and 17Kohms, which is OK for the Pazon Sure Fire).

I don't think that the case of the coil has been damaged. It's hold in place via 2 screws, not by a clamp.

The problem occurs also with non-resistive sparkplugs and caps.
 
Measure resistance from the coil leads to the case. It should be open circuit (infinite resistance). It sounds like the coil has an internal short.

I've seen the stock Lucas coils damaged by over tightening the clamp.
 
Yes, coil resistance can be fine, but the coil to ground resistance can change and is very hard to measure without proper equipment. I'd try another set of coils. Nice to have a spare set anyhow.
 
12.7 volts reading with your voltmeter is marginal, is this without the motor running while you are kicking with plugs grounded on the head? or at idle?
Keep the volt meter hooked up, raise the rpm's to around 2000 and verify that
the voltmeter is now reading higher into the 13's to verify the alternator is charging the battery. How old is the battery
 
Thks for your help Gents,

Concours: The heat sink is the piece of alloy sheet which is used as a base to mount the coil, in order to facilitate the dissipation of the heat generated by the coil. Mine was included in the Pazon kit.

1up3down: At the moment, the engine can't start and run longer than 1-2 seconds so I can't verify what you suggest.
But I'm pretty sure that the battery and charging system are not involoved in the problem. The battery is about 1 year old, and when the engine (is) was running, the voltmeter shows a tension between about 13 and 14 volts depending on the rpm's.

Laurent
 
Hi Laurent

Have you tried a direct supply from the battery to the ignition system in an attempt to bypass any potential high resistance switch problems?
 
Hello laurent
I'd try what Esme says but also check that earthing is all good. That is, earth connection from the coils but also from the engine to the frame. I recommend not relying on spade type connectors. An eyelet connector to a clean (filed/sanded) frame point is best. As standard there was an earth wire from the engine - middle (or any) bolt from the top engine mount on the cylinder head - to the frame. See https://www.accessnorton.com/NortonCommando/mystery-wire-ii.14681/page-2#post-209201
A poor connection once caused me problems with the Pazon module failing intermittently.
Worth a look.
Andy
 
Is the coil properly grounded? Or is the paint keeping the mounting bolts from properly grounding the coil? (Causing the sparks you see)
 
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