Cranks...but no spark.

[Farstryder]

Good Afternoon All,
I've been putting off getting an 89 kat back together and finally decided to bolt all the pieces back together. It looks great, unfortunately, when i'm cranking it, nothing happens. Let me rephrase, i get a great cranking noise, but nothing else.
Oil change and new spark plugs. Ive pulled them and grounded them on the engine, but I'm not getting any spark. I'm fairly new at testing electrical gremlins and the other posts that I've read are a little above my level. read - novice. .
Thanks for taking the time to help a newb out.

Regards,
-Wil

[steves]

Bad CDI? Bad Wires? Bad connections to the CDI from the harness?

You're sure you aren't getting spark?

Neutral sensor? Engine cutoff switch? Everything is connected?
The plunger on the neutral sensor is in good shape?

[Black_peter]

A pre 98 isn't going to crank at all if the clutch/neutral/side stand stuff isn't right.
It can be hard to get a good enough ground on the bike to test spark plugs. One way I do it is to wrap a lot of heavy wire around a plug (tightly) and then clamp the other end under a clean frame screw.

[Farstryder]

A pre 98 isn't going to crank at all if the clutch/neutral/side stand stuff isn't right.
It can be hard to get a good enough ground on the bike to test spark plugs. One way I do it is to wrap a lot of heavy wire around a plug (tightly) and then clamp the other end under a clean frame screw.

Thanks for the quick replies, fellows. I'm going to go wrap some wires.

[steves]

If that doesn't work, you'll probably need to find yourself a multimeter.

[md86]

I'd start with getting a manual , then checking how to test coils , then OTHER electrical components .

[The CyberPoet]

I'd start with getting a manual , then checking how to test coils , then OTHER electrical components .

+1 on getting the shop/repair manual.

From there, start with the signal generator test and see if it's giving a valid signal for the spark timing. Then test the coils, plug wires and connectivity to the CDI.

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

[Farstryder]

Mkay, so I have my multimeter...and my manual. I started following the directions on doing a signal generator test. This was about as far as I got.

<see attached picture>

The next directions are:

- follow the wires from the coil to the electrical connector...disconnect it.
- probe each pair of terminals on the signal generator.

I'm kind of lost as to which piece to remove, and where exactly I'm supposed to put the probes. Sorry for the questions, but I'm fairly new at this.

[The CyberPoet]

did you work through the chart on page 6-29 of the factory service manual?

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet