Wrong cap? UPDATE

[schrader7032]

Can't tell what the range is you've selected, but your meter looks exactly like my freebie I got at Harbor Freight. Looks like you've selected the 200K range, meaning it will read up to 200K ohms. So you're getting 1.0 ohm...that's pretty darn small. You're probably just reading surface resistance between the two probes. Even if you were to be reading 1K ohms, I wouldn't consider that horrible. Higher ohms makes it slightly harder for the spark to get to the electrodes. Some ohms in the cap does help with radio noise suppression. But unless you're engine is marginally tuned, I don't think it's too much of a problem.

Ok, I got to thinking...dangerous...maybe 1.0 on a 200K scale really 1K. Now I'm not sure how to read the meter and scale. If set on 200K, why are there only digits for xx.x? Does that mean the highest it can read is 99.9K ohms?

But still 1K isn't all that horrible.

[2wheelhobo]

Like Kurt mentioned, the scale you have your meter set to, is questionable. I would set the resistance scale to the lowest on your meter, then short the probes together, and see what value you get. It should read close to zero ohms.... then I would take your reading of the cap.
I hope this helps.
Pete

[skyler.robbins]

Thanks guys...
Yes my scale is set to 200k
When touching the probes, they go to zero.
No matter what scale I set it to, touching the probes gets me to zero.

Now touching the ends of the plug cap, the lowest reading I get is 1.0
This makes me think that it is 1k resistance?

I swear I checked these when I first bought the bike last Summer, but maybe not.
The bike is really hard to start in the Winter, and after double triple checking my points/timing, on a hunch I checked the resistance on the plug wires/caps.. and what'da know.. 1k.

I know these bikes have a low spark while kicking, and since my coil is original, I ordered a new Emerald Island coil last week.
I just ordered new NGK no resistance caps from my local motorcycle shop.. they were only $1.75 each, hahaha

Hoping this will give me the big blue spark and an easier Winter start up

Thanks again everyone!
Rob

[schrader7032]

Pete had a good idea. You should set the range to the lowest that you can that you think will still cover the expected results. I think you're expecting 0.0 ohms, so set it to 200 which is the lowest. What does it read? If it reads "1" but it's way over on the left, then that's "over range" and the actual reading exceeds 200 ohms. Go to the next higher range on the meter and remeasure. Keep doing this until you get real numbers which will not be an over range situation.

[R68]

...that your testing is a resister cap of the type used after about 1960, originally made with a metal cover used for radio interference suppression. The metal cover has been lost on your example. The non resister cap used before that time is also brown plastic (?bakelite), did not have the metal cover, but has "BMW" on the top. In my experience and with a well set up motor both caps work well, but the earlier "BMW" non resister cap looks cool? A well publicized fella in California says the metal cap can short out the cap and that's maybe why your's lost the cover? If you don't want to spend the money on the BMW non resister cap, Bosch also made/makes a non resister cap.

[skyler.robbins]

When touching probes together..
2000k = 000
200k = 00.0
20k = 0.00

Here's what I get when testing across the spark plug caps..
2000k = 001
200k = 1.0
20k = 1.00

I'm not sure if I understand all this, but I do have a bunch of other caps from other projects and some have the 5k resistance, some have 1k and one of them reads zero resistance.

I put the one that has zero resistance on one of my spark plug wires and kicked the bike over to see if the spark was crisper and blue.
I didn't see a huge difference if any at all.

Tuesday is when I get my new zero resistance caps and coil... I'll check spark with new caps first just to see if that makes a difference.

[skyler.robbins]

Here's the cap I bought from my local motorcycle shop but for only $1.75 each...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/NGK-LZFH-non-r ... 1541595755

I know they won't look original, but they'll do for now.

Thanks again everyone!

[skyler.robbins]

Hey Gang,
Our bikes are suppose to have zero resistance spark plug caps right?
This is what I get on both of my caps...

[skyler.robbins]

Just an update..
Received the new zero resistance plug caps.
All good there.

Decided to pull the old coil out.
I measured 15.1k ohms across the terminals.



Checked the new Emerald Island coil before install..
28.5k ohms



Got it all installed last night with new plug wires.
Hardest part was dealing with the small screws while laying on cold concrete, hahaha

I honestly don't know if the bike started any easier, but will give it a good try today when I get back from work.
But so far, feeling good about updating everything!
Action photo..

[schrader7032]

Is the safety gap between the ends of the spark plug wires and the small ground points correctly spaced? It's supposed to be 10mm or so.