is there any way to test an ic ignitor box to know if it truley is bad before i spend $400 on a new one or $150 on a used one?

 

as i said in the other thread:

the IC igniter is not servicable and should last the life of the bike. to test it you can do one of two things.

one: take it to a kawa dealer and have them test it.
two: find another ex-500 that runs fine and swap its ICI onto your bike and see if that fixes the problem.

 

have you checked other areas of the ignition system to make sure they are functioning correctly first?

the IC igniter should be the LAST thing you check. its pretty rare for them to fail.



to check the ignition system you need:

a multimeter. buy one, or borrow one from a friend. you can get them at autozone, wal mart, ebay... pretty much anywhere that sells tools should have these. they are not very expensive. for what you will be doing on the bike, one that costs 20 bucks should do the trick. if you have an advanced degree in electrical engineering, you can buy ones that cost upwards of 1500 US dollars. the 20-30 dollar range ones will work great here.

an 18mm deep well thin wall socket to get the spark plug out. i got mine at craftsman (i think its part number 44423... at least thats the number stamped on it.). i didnt have to modify it to get it to fit, it fit like a glove the first time i think it was like 4 bucks?

a spark gap tester. for this, you can just use a spark plug, but i think its better to build this one. reason being, the spark plug gap is .6 to .7mm. a healthy system should be capable of jumping 6 -8 mm (1000% more distance) depending on your model. makes it much easier to see. also, you can have a weak spark that will jump half a mil, but not 6 mm. you can see the color of the spark better too. it costs 30 cents and takes 15 minutes. you may be able to build it with parts you already have in your garage.

Spark Gap Tester Instructions
take piece of wood about 3"x3"x1" or so. size isnt really important, but you dont need it to be huge. drill a hole about 1" in diameter in the middle. screw an alligator clip onto one corner. take two nails and put them in across from each other, such that the tips of both screws meet in the center of the hole you drilled. make the gap between the two tips as specified below for your model. you can use small carpeting nails or something like that. cut off the head of one of the nails so that it is flush with the wood, and make sure the other one sticks out a bit. it needs to stick out far enough that it will get all the way up into the spark plug cap.




gap should be 6mm for EX500D models, 7mm for EX500A models and 8mm for ER models.

now to the troubleshooting:

Spark test

step one is make sure that you are getting a spark to your plugs.take the spark gap tester i described above, and clip the alligator clip onto a good ground. i find a valve cover bolt works well. take the spark plug cap off of the plug on whichever cylinder you are working on, and stick it onto the longer nail.

if you are just using a regular spark plug for whatever reason, just take the cap off, and use another plug.

whatever you use LEAVE THE PLUG IN THE CYLINDER HEAD . if you take the plug out of the head and just let it dangle there, when you crank the engine, gasoline will spray out of the plug hole, and combined with the sparking from the plug, you could cause a major fire. if you leave the one in there, you alleviate this potential hazard. make sure the tip of the plug is not touching any metal as well, because you wont get any spark that way, it just goes straight to ground.


another caveat: do not shock yourself please. when doing these tests dont touch the spark plug wire. dont touch the spark plug. dont touch the gap tester. its best if you do not even touch the bike, except for the start button. if you touch the wire, plug, gap tester, etc you could, at worst, BE KILLED (as in no more! ceased to be. expired and gone to meet your maker. a stiff. bereft of life. rest in peace. if you hadnt been nailed to the seat, youd be pushing up the dasies. your metabolic processes are now history. off the twig. kicked the bucket. shuffled off your mortal coil. run down the curtan and joined the bloody choir invisible. AN EX PERSON ) and, at very least, be knocked on your a$$ and your arm tingle for an hour (ask me how i know). just use common sense and dont electrocute yourself.


now whichever option you've chosen, you got your plug wire connected to either the gap tester, or another plug and are ready to check the spark. push the start button. the bike may start and run on the other cylinder. you should see a fat blue spark jump between the gap of the tester you built. now turn your bike off.

if you see the spark, then your ignition system is working correctly. consider renewing your plugs, and look into fuel and air delivery, because your problem, most likely, does not reside in the ignition system.

if your spark is weak (orange) skip down to the ignition coil section. if you get NO SPARK AT ALL then you need to check for poor contact at the plug cap and ignition connectors. repair any that are damaged and recheck for spark.

if contact is fine then unscrew the plug cap from the plug wire and check the resistance with your multimeter. set the meter to k-ohms (k Ω). stick one prong in where the wire went in and stick the other prong in where the plug goes. if the multimeter reads infinity, get a new spark plug cap.

the cap resistance should be 3.75 to 6.25 K-ohms on EX500D (94+) models. my manual says that the information for the pre 94 models is
not available.

next thing to check is make sure all the other connections are clean and tight. (coil to lead, coil terminals, etc) check wires for fraying, burning, shorts etc.

check thewires where they connect to the ignition coils. its not unheard of for a wire to break off near the connector but leave the shielding intact. basically it looks like your wire is fine, but its broken inside. this will drive you freakin nuts trying to figure out why your bike wont run.

if everything checks out and you still have no spark, check the operation of the following switches: a) neutral b) ignition c)engine kill

if they are broken, replace and retest. if they are fine, continue on to the...

Ignition Coils

you need to check the primary and secondary resistance of your ignition coils. with the bike off (key and switch), here is how to do it:



M is your multimeter
1 is the primary resistance
2 is the secondary resistance

you want your multimeter in the ohm setting for the primary.

if the primary is as specified, then check the secondary. put the multimeter in K-ohms for the secondary.

if the secondary is not as specified, unscrew the spark plug lead and retainer from the coil, detach the lead and check it again. if it is now within specs, the lead is broken internally. if not within spec, the coil is probalby defective and should be renewed.

SPECS:
EX500A:
primary: 2.2 to 3.9 ohms
secondary: 10 to 16 K-ohms

EX500D and ER:
primary 2.3 to 3.5 ohms
secondary 12 to 18 K-ohms.

if everything here checks out you move on to:

Pickup Coil

the pickup coil wiring harness is located here:

http://www.ex-500.com/gallery/241_04_04_07_4_51_44.JPG

you need to take off the front sprocket cover to access it.

follow the pick up coil wiring harness from the point where it leaves the alternator cover to the electrical connector, then disconnect the connector for the pick up coils. 500A models have two pickup coils and the connector will have four wires, whereas 500D and ER models have a single pick up coil with two wires leading to the connector.

set your multimeter to ohms. measure the res

 

ok thanks
first thing i have a multi meter,when the bike starts and runs,,the spark will jump about an inch or so and strongly, when the bike is throwin its fit,not wantin to start, i get one spark and its very weak looking. we tested the continuity of the wires, all were fine.

thetrouble is this problem isnt constant, its intermittant and can not happen for several days then bam im pushin the bike 4 miles in 100 degree heat lol to find out once home the bike starts and purrs perfectly.

i have the bike at a friends house for the time being (more shop tools and room + a/c a big plus) i will try to make out the rest of what u took the time to type out to help, and im very appreciated for your help in this matter. i did read a couple different places where ppl describe symptoms very very close to whats happening to me, but i will take the time to test those things before i pop out 150-400 bucks.

once again ty for ur input on the matter will get back as soon as i know something

 

Have you had your battery tested? Sounds like you have a dead cell. I had the same problem on my chevelle, I would barely get any juice out of it, then suddenly on a random turn of the key the engine would roar to life. Get it checked... it's free at the parts places.

 

+1 to checking the batt and if that isnt it, idcheck the coils. esp. the wires that plug into them. make sure they arent broken or frayed. especially near the terminal where it plugs into the coil. my bike was running like crap. couldnt figure out why. the coils checked out, but once i got to the wires, i found that one had disconnected from the terminal, but was still being held on by the rubber wire shielding.

 

battery is fine...im just gonna sell the bike as is ..its my second bike. i now have spent 5 grand on 2 bikes ..ill just stick to my camaro...thx to all

 

Right on, let it sit for a couple days and cool off some. The answer will come to you.

Nice write up dragknee. I use this little tool for spark gap.

Not a good pic, but here it is.

 

im sorry to hear that



[8D]

 

thanks, but honestly i cant really take much credit for it. all that information came straight from the haynes and/or chilton manuals... all i did was type it up and draw some pics in MSPaint lol

i used to have one of those, but somewhere between loaning tools to people and moving three times, it has since vanished.

i also seem to have misplaced my vernier caliper