Voltage to points

Not having the financial resources to aquire an electronic ignition( TWO sons in college) I'm relegated to the original points ignition untill graduation(2010). I have the left cylinder sooting the sparkplug and in my diagnosis have found that I'm only getting about 5 volts to the front set of points (are these the ones that fire the left cylinder??). The rear set of points are getting the full battery voltage and that plug looks fine.(If it's for the right side plug) What could be the cause of the low voltage on the one set of points?

point voltage

Hi dmellish,
You didn't explain what you did to get your figueres.

The points are on the ground side of the coil, so, if a clean set of points is closed there should be no voltage at the points. When the points open then you should be able to measure whatever voltage is going to the coil at the points (just on the hot side).

Regarding your plug problem it could be that your condensor is going south. Fire your bike up in a dark garage with the point cover off. If the condensor is bad there will be alot of sparking between the points of the bad side. If its questionable just replace the condensor, they are cheap.

justa thought,
GB