Hello,

First the backstory....

Purchased an XL600R at mid-ohio vintage mc days last year. Had 20k miles on it. Ran when I bought it. After taking it home, looked to change the plug and found out it was severely cross-threaded. So time to pull the motor and head. After pulling top end, decided on a top-end rebuild (new weisco piston and valve job). Now its the new fall/winter project. Finally put it back togehter last week (with new chain/sprockets, brakes, tires, battery, etc). Got it together and it actually started right up (less that 10 kicks). Seemed to run well, so it took it to a friends house to show him the new (completed?) project. Was keeping it running, then decided to shut it off. BAD MOVE! After over an hour of kicking, cussing and pushing down the driveway to start it. I finally gave up and brought my trailer down to pick it up and take it back home.

Now the trouble shooting part....

Pulled the plug (looked light tan), and kicked it over to look for spark. None seen (was outside). Went into dark garage, a real weak blue spark. Then it was time to pull out the service manuals, look for similar problems on the tt forum, and get down to some serious troubleshooting..

Some Checks and results...

Coil:
Primary - 0.7 ohms
Secondary - 4.3k ohms (w/o cap), 30K plus to infinity ohms (with ngk cap)

Battery: 12.7 volts

pulse generator: 420 ohms

CDI (pulled the connector and cheked the cdi directly):

pc (blu/yel) to E1 (grn/wht) 10.1k ohms
(same reading with pc to E2 (grn)

other pins: no readings found (open or to high ohm readings??)

Stator:

Black/Red wire to ground (this is where it gets weird)
Initially, apprx 600 ohms. them decided to lightly tap the right side cover with a plastic mallet.

readings then went to 1500 ohms, (more tapping) then to 2000 ohms.

Just ordered a new ricky stator today.

Any other suggestions/ideas?? Thanks...

I had an '87 XL600. Very similar bike. I'm guessing it's either the pick-up coil (AKA Ignitor) or the Stator. The Stator is expensive, the pick up coil reasonable.
I did all the OHM readings .... and none were accurate and were inconsistent and spurious, even using a modern VOM meter. No idea on this. Even a pretty good shop Monkey could not get a
definitive answer on this.  Your Coil is most likely OK. Stators are known to fail on this bike. (HOT HOT HOT!)  Rickey Stator used to SUCK ... now? I used them over 10 years ago. Perhaps better now.
I'd sooner buy a used Honda Stator.

Good luck!

Edited by 54321, 12 June 2012 - 06:32 PM.