Dyna Ignition Problem

[presidentcamacho]

My R80/7 would not start so I looked at the typical culprits...fuel and ignition. Fuel looked fine so I checked to see if I was getting any spark. When I tun the engine over I get two sparks then nothing...after a few tries, no spark at all. It is the same situation on both sides. Any suggestions? Has my Dyna III give up the ghost? The ignition isn't very old but the bike got pretty wet during the last storm.

[Kurt in S.A.]

If you think it might be wet, might be a good idea to open up the timing cover (remove the battery ground first) and be sure it's all dry. Then go find the coils and do the same thing.

When checking for spark, are you laying the plug threads down on the engine fins so that a good ground is created? It's important to have continuity between threads and the engine to get proper function.

Kurt in S.A.

[presidentcamacho]

Yes, I was grounding the plugs on the fins. I opened the timing cover and it looked dry. Coils did not appear to be wet either.

[Kurt in S.A.]

The Dyna pickup backing plate is subject to corrosion problems...it should have a good contact to the engine case. It might be worth pulling the plate and checking to be sure there's no issues between it and the engine case.

The Dyna system is nothing more than a fancy switch...the points/condenser system is a not-so-fancy switch. If the donut is properly in place, it should create a spark when the one spot on the donut rotates into view of the pickup coils. The Hall effect creates the necessary change to make the spark. Of course there's a "black" box in the system...it could be malfunctioning.

A major pain to do, but switching back to points to see what happens would tell you if there might be something wrong with the Dyna system.

Kurt in S.A.

[presidentcamacho]

Thanks for the advice, I will check the backing plate. As far as switching back to points goes...unfortunately, there was an electronic ignition on the bike when I bought it. It went bad and I put the Dyna on about 5 years ago.

[Davebell]

I just got a 77 r100/7 that still has points. Being 66 years old (me not the bike) I know how to deal with points. Would I be well advised to switch to electronic ignition? if so, which one?

[Kurt in S.A.]

Dave -

I think most would say "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." Points are somewhat easy to deal with, especially in a roadside situation. One thing you might consider is something that I think is called a Dyna booster. It greatly helps the signal from the points and reduces the arcing across the points...it does nothing to help with the wear on the rubbing block, though.

But an EI can offer benefits, such as fine tuning the firing on each cylinder so that the bike smooths out as well as selectable advance curves. Popular EIs are the Dyna III which uses the original advance unit and the Boyer which replaces the advance unit and uses a built-in computer for the advance curve.

These are both cam mounted systems. There are newer crank-mounted ignition systems which move away from the wasted spark system and provide another level of smoothness in the firing per cylinder.

Kurt in S.A.

[Major Softie]

The only really good reason to go to electronic ignition is if you have dual-sparked your heads - then it's pretty much a necessity. Other than that, a lot of money gets you a minute improvement in running, reduced maintenance, and the slight possibility of an on-road failure that can't be repaired on-road.

[Kurt in S.A.]

Another reason is if you snapped off the tip of the camshaft...the Boyer takes care of that issue.

Kurt in S.A.

[Duane Ausherman]

Another reason is if you snapped off the tip of the camshaft...the Boyer takes care of that issue.

Kurt in S.A.

Kurt, for years now a kit has been available to fix the broken off tip.