1984 KZ550

I plan to use a voltmeter to confirm this first, but I'm suspecting the solenoid is bad - battery has voltage, lights all come on, no solenoid clicking when pushing the ignition, and bridging the solenoid causes sparks and the engine starts revving.

Question is, where should I look for an aftermarket solenoid for this bike?

When I search the part number, no aftermarkets come up, and most of the results I find are just the relay at the top and not the whole unit - or is that all I would need to replace?

Thanks for any advice!

 

jumping across a coil is a Direct Short! Which causes sparks and such. I would be more interested in what voltage on the outgoing side of the ignition switch going to the solenoid coil.

 

Ok thanks. I'll let you know what I can find out. Might be a couple days until I have time to do the testing.

PS: I knew the sparks would happen, although was under the impression that a successful bridging was an indication of solenoid problems?

 

Hmmm, seems my meter is not up to this task; radio shack pocket-sized 500V multi-meter I had lying around, the leads are too big for the plug sockets, no exposed wires on the bike, and can't get readings anywhere. e.g. it gets nothing from the battery terminals while the bike's built-in voltmeter reads ~11v.

Do you have a suggestion on a meter that is good for Kawasaki bikes, preferably easy to get at an Advance Auto Parts or the like?

I tried changing the fuses on the left of the bike just for the hell of it with no results. Also there's a couple bigger (fuses?) plugs on the right side, one that's clear with some copper wire and metal in it reading 20V/22A and two that are all metal which say 12V on them. The clear one doesn't *look* blown but I'm not sure how to tell with that one. The metal ones are clearly old and I don't know what they are. Sorry for the confusion, I looked at the electrical diagrams in the service manual and don't really understand them too well.

Speaking of which, I can tell which of the cables from the solenoid goes to the battery positive, however the other two cables go into a big wrapped bundle that all the wires in the bike come out of. I expect one is to the ignition - the one that's on the solenoid terminal - but what would the other one be for? Ground?

 

Sorry, I miss-spoke I meant resistance of the coils. By the way....you mention a solenoid coil, do you mean the starter relay?

Primary winding 1.8-2.8 ohms, Secondary winding 10-16Kohms
An ohmeter cannot detect layer shorts and shorts resulting from insulation breakdown under high voltage however.

Per the manual check:

check for continuity between one primary winding terminal and one spark plug lead.
If there is any reading, the coil is shorted and must be replaced.


7mm arch distance measurement. (I use a standard plug in gauge for arc measurement and not the kawi gauge)


Coil for cyl #1 and #4- Red and Black wires
Coil for cyl #2 and #3- Red and Green wires.

The starter Relay: Black and a Yellow/Red wire is for the relay coil. One side of the relay contacts will be Red which goes to the battery positive. The other side of the relay contact will go to the starter motor. (Is this the jumpered comment from above?) If so, then yes you can jumper those two points only.

 

This is the tool that I use for checking spark arc distance.

 

Yes, i meant the post on the starter relay (the part connected to the solenoid correct?)

Thanks for the info. I'll try to get some tool from an auto parts store when I have time, since this one seems to be useless for the job.

I'm not even getting to spark on the plugs when i push the starter button, so I'm not sure how useful that information will even be.

And yes the jump comment was about the two terminals on the relay on top of the solenoid. And bridging those two terminals caused the engine to rev - didn't hold it on there long enough to start - which is why I suspect something with the solenoid/relay and possibly the wiring to it or that the clutch doesn't know that it's squeezed.

I'm still learning this stuff, so definitely willing to suspect anything.

 

I got a meter made for automotive tasks, and was able to get some (little) information; the plugs at the ends of the wires are still giving me fits though, I don't think the probes work properly in them - either that or they are legitimately getting 0s.

And I haven't gotten an arc measurement tools yet, so my apologies for not having that. Haven't had any time to deal with all this.

What I do have:

Battery:
-Tested by Autozone "100% fine"
- No-load test : 12.81 V
- Engine draw off battery current test : 0v (?)
- Ignition turned on : battery drops to 12.09 V
- Pressing engine start button : no change from ignition turned on

Engine start button:
- Checked that circuit is being connected inside switch when turned on (start switch is also engine kill switch - side-to-side button), and when button pushed in.

Fuses:
- Fuses in box on left side are good
- Fuse next to solenoid is good
- is there a fuse somewhere else? Can't find anything in the repair manual if there are any more.

Solenoid:
- Unable to get any readings off solenoid for some reason
- Resistance in solenoid does not seem to read when using ohm meter
- Tried to determine voltage to solenoid, but I don't think the probes work in the wire plugs. Otherwise, there is no voltage.

This is all with the clutch pulled in and the bike reading neutral of course.

 

per the manual and stated earlier.....
not sure on your last response of voltage to the plugs.....

Your test question statement:

I am abit lost it seems with where you are at on your statement.