Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech Survey: what is the resistance of your coils?

I am troubleshooting a persistant problem. I am getting proper resistance on the primary windings of both my ignition coils. Both secondaries are reading infinity (open), yet the bike runs fine (mostly). I cant find the proper spec anywhere, so I thought id ask those here to post what they get. One bike tech I talked to said it is normal. If not normal it is strange that both are bad. I figured a range of 8-12K ohms would be normal. So, if you have a multimeter and wouldn't mind checking id appreciate it. My bike is an 05 TBA. Thanks!

What is the bike doing when it is not mostly running fine? Falling on its face, running on one cylinder, dropping dead on the highway?

Nevermind, I just read the other threads.

For those not familiar, what I'm asking for is the HT resistance, which is the spark plug wire connection. If you have a multimeter, the ohms setting should be the 20K range, but try all ranges if you don't get a reading. In my case, I get no reading on any range, indicating 'open'. With the bike not running, disconnect the plug wire from the coil and the (-) primary lead (the other end of the coil) and put one test lead on one and one on the other. Try the other primary lead as well for consistency. Also, both coils for consistency. Unplug one primary at a time if you are worried about reconnecting them backward. I'm going to take some light steel wool to my HT leads; maybe some oxidation is preventing a proper reading.

This is a pretty simple and fast test that may tell you something about your own coils too, so anyone who wants to do it and report back that would be great. If mine are bad I'm going to get the nology pro-fires, so anyone with those who wants to report resistance go for it, just identify if you have nology or gill (stock) coils.

PS - if you aren't going to do this because you don't have a multimeter, for $20 it's a tool worth having for bikes, home wiring, hobbies, whatever.

Thanks!!

Anyone?...Anyone?...Bueller?
(Extra thank you if you get the reference)

What is the air speed velocity of a laden swallow?

I don't know why we care. Next chance I get I will measure my 2005 for you. I have no idea why? If my bike is running fine, and I get two different readings is it broken?