got a 82 and it has no spark

[visionbobber]

Hey,
recieved an 82 xz550 as a gift...more of a headache than a gift!
Motor has no spark, I've dissected the wiring loom and could not find the short.
When hooked up to a battery--whether the key is in or not...the oil light would be on and same with the headlights but no neutral light.
Motor cranks but it's a little on the slow side and I have a new loom arriving this week.

Anyone know what kind of problem I'm up against?
I have 90 dollars into the bike as of now and that includes an oil change with oil filter...gas tank...and the wiring loom.
I'd rather have no spark than no compression...but in reality--I'd rather have spark and compression!

Any help would be great!

[Night Vision]

hooboy... I'm not great with electrons.. but:

might be the TCI? find one and use it as a spare if not

[dcsob]

Sounds to me like the p.o. might have tried to "fix" something and put it (wiring harness)back together wrong. If it was gifted to you ask the p.o. what was wrong with it that it just sat till you were blesssed with the "v".
Best course of action. Put the new harness in. Connect as per Clymer/Haynes/Yamaha shop manual wiring diagram. Step by step gets you there.
Work on bikes long enough and nothing surprises you.

[visionbobber]

I would love to replace the TCI but since it's roughly 200 dollars used...I'd rather go through the less expensive solutions 1st...The guy I got it from thought it had a neutral switch problem but he never changed the oil or did anything except cut the seat frame rails off and take the paint off the frame and break some of the fairings and cut the tank in half just to throw it out...

I should have the loom tomorrow or the next day and I'm going to put it in according to the haynes manual except the manual doesn't say anything about a grey wire?  I'm sure you guys know about the grey wire that is spliced under the tank on the left side....

My father has been riding for years and the kid I got it from went to MMI....my dad is taking it step by step with me and the MMI guy went all a%% backwards with it...

I may be biting off more than I can chew but I do have a 500 dollar budget I'm trying to keep...including painting...but I have all the paint here at my house.

[Re-Vision]

Let us know what the new wiring harness does in regard to the lights coming on without ignition switch being on. A bad ignition switch could cause the lighting problem you described. The gray wire is shown in the schematic as running from a coil to the TCI and Tachometer. I have a wiring harness that is off the bike and I can follow just about any circuit necessary, so don't get discouraged too quickly if everything doesn't work the way it should.    BDC

[Walt_M.]

Slow cranking and no spark, common. Your battery voltage is too low to fire the TCI. You need at least 10.6 V to fire the TCI.

[Lucky]

When hooked up to a battery--whether the key is in or not...the oil light would be on and same with the headlights but no neutral light.

Welcome!
you'll find me annoyingly picky with diagnostics, & i'll pick on the one thing you didn't check, lol  but that one thing you miss will always be the thing to trip you up...

did you check the switch for a short?  also do the keys match? (one key for all 3 locks)  if the tumbler has been removed, & the switch was reassembled wrong, it'll give you the above problem. BTDT...

--Lucky

[mdskinner731]

ok play around with your kick stand safety switch... sounds to me like its sticky!!! and not allowing your bike to start?? worth a try i would say

[visionbobber]

Thank you Re-vision, Walt_M, Lucky, and Mdskinner731.

The ignition switch could be the problem which the loom wouldn't really change but I'll know hopefully today or tomorrow.
Lucky, what are these locks you're talking about and the tumbler? 

As for the loom I have now, I have taken every clip / attachment off and cleaned them and also put di-electric (sp?) grease on all of them...  The only connection that is a little iffy looking is the one coming off the gas tank but I'll be able to fix that no problem. 

Re-Vision --How much would a new/used ignition switch be for the triple trees? 

Walt_M-  I know about the minimum voltage needed to fire the TCI but because of my short--I'm losing power somewhere within that mess of wires!

Mdskinner731- I do not think it is the side stand switch, I bypassed most stuff by taking an alligator clip to both sides of the starter relay while having a battery connected to positive and negative ends of the battery wires for the bike. 

[Lucky]

Ignition switch.

to find your short the easy way:

hook up your battery, pull your fuses, one by one untill the headlight goes out.  that's the curcit with the short.  if none of that does it (don't forget the fuse in the headlight bucket) then it's it's in the main before the fuse box or an unfused curcit (charging, starting, etc)

[visionbobber]

ok, I'm putting the new loom in but I suspect the old one was wired wrong...
For the rectifier unit...Does the 2nd connection (the one that isn't all white wires) come from the crankcase / neutral switch?

As I am putting it back together, I'm noticing that the TCI unit (3 wire connection) and the Rectifier (non white connection) have the same connection and it's really driving me nuts!  The schematic isn't helping me much because as the forum says, I am a newbie!

[Lucky]

the R/R connector with the heavy red & black wires goes into the wire harness. the 3 white wire connector goes to the stator (3 white wires).

the TCI connectors are the 4 wire(3) goes to the pickup coils in the stator case.  the 6 wire connector goes to the wire harness (orange wire, black/red stripe, Blue/black, etc)  DO NOT plug the stator 3 white wire into the TCI you'll fry it instantly...

[visionbobber]

ok so this may be a newb question but on the top of the TCI, which wires would be on the top?  the connectors can go in either way...I have a diagram that says "top" but it's written on the side and it could be misunderstood easily by people like myself.

[visionbobber]

also, do the 3 wires that connect to the other side of the TCI box have a different covering than the usual insulated plastic / rubber...kinda a clothy type of covering? 

I think the guy had it a$$ backwards and I wish I would have figured it out before! 

Or do both sets of wires with the clothy covering go to the rectifier unit?

[Lucky]

here, you need this: http://www.xz550.com/wiring.html  go by wire color...

both the stator wires and the pick up coil wires have a cloth covering because they originate in the hot harsh enviroment of the stator case...

3 white wires run from stator to R/R with a (poor) connector in between.  the only connectors you could plug in the wrong spots are stator & coil pick up.  but if you connect white to white, you cant mess it up because no other gang connectors will fit in the wrong spots...

[visionbobber]

so the the pick up wires go to TCI box or the R/R...that diagram is informative but I am not so acclimated with wiring...

[visionbobber]

actually that diagram is foolproof and me being a fool...i can understand it--thanks!!!

[Lucky]

pick up wires go to the TCI.

think about it..  pick ups send signal to TCI, TCI fires coils.

Stator sends power to R/R. R/R sends power to battery

[visionbobber]

When I got this bike..I knew how to clean carbs and get a Go Kart engine started (got a go kart when I was about 8 and if it broke, I had to fix it..)
Now I have all this knowledge and still at this point--I know close to nothing but I'm learning more every day.  I did not want to buy a bike at a dealership and no nothing about it when it breaks....Building a bike was something I wanted to do.

Thanks Lucky for all your help.  After I figure out which battery wire is which...which should be simple--I'll have her hopefully firing up tomorrow...who knows.  Then it's a mountain of work from there...

[visionbobber]

Now I'm having trouble finding the correct connection to the oil pressure switch and neutral switch...The diagram shows red / blue from the neutal switch / oil pressure switch to black / red & sky blue to the harness...but from the oil pressure switch / neutral switch the wires are not red and blue...
Is the diagram wrong or am I looking at something wrong...