Hitchcocks Forum

Fitted the stock torpedo silencer back on the bullet today to replace the aftermarket custom pipe on there.
Tried to fire it up to hear how it sounded with the standard pipe, non start, whipped out the plug, getting fuel, checked for spark, thought I got a weak spark one one attempt but subsequent tries yielded nothing.
Tried a fresh plug I had, (an iridium, wrong size but just for spark), nothing.
Now electrics are not my strong point but am I right in assuming that I should get a 12V feed across the + and - of the LT connections to the coil with the ignition on?
Currently i'm getting nothing on them, ignition on and rotating kickstarter or not.
Been wracking my brains trying to think what i've disturbed electrically, I re-routed the clutch cable as it wasn't running cleanly, which was near the alternator wires but they're clean and well connected.
The only other thing is the 2 wire plug from the electronic ignition box to the magnetic breaker on the points plate, unplugged to re-route and neaten, otherwise nothing electrical touched.

Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated, thanks

I had a similar problem once on my Sixty5. Turned out to be a loose (broken) earth connection to the frame (behind the battery). Worth checking.

m1ks,
I dont know if you should have 12 volts across the coil but the most important thing is that you have 12 volts on the ignition side of the coil.Test this from the coil ignition side to the frame. With points, when the points are open you should have 12 volts on the other side of the coil, points closed nothing. I'm not sure what happens with the electronic ignition but I would expect you should have 12 volts both coil terminals to the frame as no physical contact is made with the electronic setup. If you don't have power on both sides of the coil, rotate the motor so that the trigger pickup is away from the cam and try again

The Boyer only completes the circuit to the coil when it is working correctly. The circuit completes the ground connection (NEG earth) via the WHITE wire. The coil connections are Red And Black back to the trigger unit...Suggest you read: http://www.boyerbransden.com/faultfinding.html

Thanks guys, that's given me more to check, (when the rain stops)
Les, my unit isn't the boyer, it's the same as the other unit in the hitchcocks catalogue so I don't know if the test principle is the same? Mine is branded eureka and uses a magnetic pickup which slots on the cam.

i also have the eureka on my 350,it sounds like your coil has packed up or the ht lead is not getting a good contact from the coil ,my coil went down in the winter just like that as tommy cooper said luckilly i had a replacement coil in my vast stock of spares all the best paul.

Still no chance for a proper look, the bike is outside under a cover and the weather all yesterday and today has been alternating between wet and hail!
Had a very brief dry spell for a quick look today to see if theres anything obvious I may have disturbed while I re-routed cables, wires and swapped exhaust silencers, the earth behind the battery box looks good, clean and tightly bolted and I don't see anything obviously amiss, just as the hail started pelting me again, I noticed a wire with female bullet connector hanging astray, giving it a wipe, (everything is caked in oily grungy residue back there), it appears black with a red stripe, possibly dark green? but no obvious sign of the other end that fits it.
Oh well, another thing to look at as soon as this weather abates slightly, then I'll get the multimeter out and check the feed voltage to the coil and whatnot, (I hate electric fault finding, it's awkward when you can't see it, at least with the other bits, if it moves and it shouldn't or vice versa you know what the problem is!)

I guess you've checked the "kill switch"? If it has one.

It does but I believe isn't wired in, the bike has run with it in both positions, but that is another on my check list as soon as we get some dry.
It is feasible it's wired and faulty and has just stopped working.