'06 TE510 - no sparky

I'm new to this group, but do recognize quite a few handles & monikers from other/past groups as I poked through the postings - yo yo UberKul!!!

My '06 TE510 was all prepped for a ride last weekend, and about 5 miles into the ride (on pavement getting out the trailhead) while powering around a corner - the bike switched off with no warning.

Had the crew chief (wife) come and get me - how embarrassing. This is the first time the bike has stranded me ... not a nice feeling at all!

I should mention that this motor had the bottom end rebuild 16 hours ago (main sprocket bearing took a dump which caused other issues - long story) and had a new piston and crank about 120 hours ago - that happened before I bought the bike (engine seized for semi-unknown reasons - presumed to have been run full tilt for an extended period of time with a too-lean setup).

So ... although it has a sorted past, it has been a great ride - lots of power - no real complaints. Without a the extended warranty though, I might feel differently ...

Back to the issue at hand - the bike has no spark. It turns over with the e-button, the headlight will pulse on while the motor is turning, the main 15A fuse next to the battery is OK, the Fusable Link (I think that's what it is) there is OK ... I've got power coming through all the connectors there next to the battery ... so what am I missing?

Is there another fuse for the ignition circuit in the wiring loom somewhere I don't know about?

The other helpful info I'll offer up ... is that the night before the ride I did do some wiring work on it (I know - a cardinal sin fiddling with your scoot the night before a ride!).

1) The wires to the flasher unit (at least I think it's the flasher unit) behind the headlight were badly frayed and exposed. It has a hangie thing in the body which broke a long time ago so was flopping around and damaged the wires. I did a very nice repair to that, and then cable tied it up in a way that the wires were supported better.

2) I installed an aftermarket horn (thanks to Ann & Dan at MotoXotica) as the stock horn mount had broken which I'd welded up, and it eventually broke again - so just wanted to put something different in there. The stock wiring worked fine as-is.

3) I'd installed a TrailTech Vapor 6 months ago (after going through the third stock dashboard POS) but had only taken the time to hook up the speedo pickup, and was running it off the coin battery which wasn't working very well as it would die and reboot multiple times during a ride ... so I decided to finish the install. First, I wired and sleeved the power cable back to the fused connection at the battery - BTW it uses only 35mA of power to run the backlight which does turn off 20 minutes after use. Second, I worked on the tach pickup which I struggled a bit with as at the time I incorrectly identified the Condenser as the Coil. So I'd tried a few test connections (erroneously) to the Condenser which (obviously) didn't work, after which I ended up coiling the red lead over the spark plug wire as shown in the installation manual which worked, and held that in place with some e-tape, and grounded the other lead to the radiator mount which is right there via a ring terminal. That wire-pair was also sleeved for protection on back to the dashboard.

(no - I've not yet installed the water temp sensor, but will do as Motosportz illustrated in his recent post)

BTW - I've mounted the Vapor dash with the optional top-mount protector arrangement and installed that with longer screws to the handlebar saddle-mount ... the screws towards the front, so it is located right where the stock dash POS was originally. Minor annoyance is that the front brake and speedo cables come up/over the display area ... can't do anything about that I guess.

I dressed all the wiring nicely there behind the headlight with cable ties as needed, strapped the headlight/fairing back on and put the bike to bed. I'd started it a bunch of times during that work session - no issues.

The next morning, the bike started up first time as it always does (using the e-start) - then 5 minutes of riding and then dead in the water as I previously mentioned. There were no hiccups or other symptoms ... just dead.

At the road side I checked the fuse, and disconnected *all* the connectors to the Vapor dash, and even the horn ... all with no effect.

Is it possible that I damaged the Condenser when erroneously attaching the passive tach pickup wires to it? In my experience when a Condenser "goes" it's more like a you are running out of gas sort of feeling and doesn't just stop working all at once.

Since it stopped all at once, I'm assuming that this is not a gas related problem - but an electrical one. I did open the drain screw just for grins on the carb, and there was plenty of gas that poured out.

I did pull the spark plug wire and attached a spark plug externally, grounded, turned the engine over and no spark was there.

Oh - I should mention that I do not have the stock ignition module on this bike, but have an aftermarket Vortex X10 CDI unit installed. Sadly, I do not have the stock ignition module to try/swap out - in case it's the Vortex unit that took a dump.

I've not yet pulled the coil out to measure/test that per the manual as I wanted to get some feedback from y'all first. Sorry for the long post but thought it important to relate all the relevant poop on this issue

So what say you, honored list members?

1Adam12 from Dragnet or the spinoff series? rhetorical.

You've got more than a few variables to deal with...

When you say condensor do you mean coil? I believe the coils are pretty tough, but the connector(s) tend to come off all too easy, make sure the crimped connector is snug.

no spark is the path I'd follow. Stator could have shorted, or CDI died. I'd test stator output per manual. Ferrous material can build up between flywheel and poles and cook. Cover should be pulled and wiped off from time to time to prevent (every few oil changes).

P.S. I grew up in Placerville, close to Coloma off Cold Springs Rd.

Im with lairpost.

3 most common issues would be

1) metal gunk buildup shorting the stator
2) CDI, they do occasionally go out.
3) check the spark plug boot and connections.

I bet its #1.

The part I fiddled with that I now presume is the condensor, is hanging horizontally underneath the top-tube. It has only a two-lead connector going to it. The coil is tucked further up towards the head-tube, sitting more in a vertical orientation with the screw terminal top & bottom - if I'm not mistaken.

Yes - I'm aware of that issue, and have cleaned that area up in the past. Since the bottom end was rebuilt a short time ago (only 16 hours) - I presume that buildup has not occurred yet - could it?

I will check that though - thanks for the reminder.

I did check that the terminal screws on the coil were tight ... but didn't really inspect the wires/connectors themselves - I guess I could pull that all out to check.

Yes - I know it well I'm playing around mostly in the south county area around Omo Ranch.

Calling 1adam12, 1adam12 come in, did you sort out your problems? Find the root cause?

I'm waiting on a replacement coil to arrive, bike has been acting up, tested coil and it's far beyond spec resistance between pri and sec coils. Rare for them to fail I hear.

had mine crap its pants today... turned out to be nipped wire (ign) between trees and frame.... sorted with some tape and yee haa whoa boy ! (60HP AND 70KG = FUN !)