New CDI ignitor?

VMAX  Forum

Help Support VMAX Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

TCHILDERS

Active Member
Joined
Jul 9, 2008
Messages
38
Reaction score
1
Location
Oregon
Hey peoples. I'm pretty sure I have a bad channel on my ignitor box. I have a 2002 with no spark to one cylinder. I've spent a good deal of time checking into it. Heck, Mark even wasted the best part of his night on the phone with me last night. I haven't yet pulled the thing apart to look at it, but I know that all coils, plugs, and plug wires are good. So, this is where I'm at. I'm wondering if this is the issue if any one has had any experience with cold solder points on them or blown diodes, etc. If so, what was it. If you have an extra one that you might want to get rid of as well, I wouldn't mind hearing about it. I have internet access for the rest of my work day (up until 3:30 PM pacific) otherwise I'll have to wait 'til Monday. I've been screwing around with this bike since I bought it last summer and I'd really like to stop beating this rancid dead horse. Whatever you have for me will be appreciated.

-Travis.
 
Travis, no worries...it was no bother. You have my cell number so feel free to call if you have more questions or just want to shoot the shit.
 
If anyone does have any experience with this personally though, I wouldn't mind hearing it. We have a pretty adept electronics department here where I work so if I do have a blown diode or something of that nature I can probably fix it. I really would love it if someone had a list of the parts on the igniter box (components and their specs).
 
i had a similar thing happen a few years back on my 97. was traveling back to vt from the nascar race in richmond when the bike just died while i was cruising down the interstate at about 85. luckily another rider just happened along and he was able to catch up to the car that was pulling my trailer. pushed the bike for about 2 miles and put it on the hitch when i reached the car. brought it to the shop and found the cdi had no spark. i tried to take the old one apart and it was a total bitch. its totally sealed and removing the screws is only a formality. depending on how old the unit is, the plastic can be real brittle, mine broke in a couple places and cracked in a few others. for reliability sake i would just buy a new one and not take a chance. christ, if that other biker hadnt of stopped-i might have had to push her all the way home lol. interested in how it turns out

good luck
odieoh24
 
i had a similar thing happen a few years back on my 97. was traveling back to vt from the nascar race in richmond when the bike just died while i was cruising down the interstate at about 85. luckily another rider just happened along and he was able to catch up to the car that was pulling my trailer. pushed the bike for about 2 miles and put it on the hitch when i reached the car. brought it to the shop and found the cdi had no spark. i tried to take the old one apart and it was a total bitch. its totally sealed and removing the screws is only a formality. depending on how old the unit is, the plastic can be real brittle, mine broke in a couple places and cracked in a few others. for reliability sake i would just buy a new one and not take a chance. christ, if that other biker hadnt of stopped-i might have had to push her all the way home lol. interested in how it turns out

good luck
odieoh24
One of my favorite activities, motorhiking. Best done after dark in west Texas where it's uphill for miles. :bang head:
+1 on the replace with a good unit
 
I had trouble on my 98 running on all 4 cylinders and thought I eliminated all components but the CDI, so I took mine apart by taking out the screws and finding out the cover is glued tight like Jeff's. So I took a dremal tool with a cutoff wheel and cut/melted the cover off. Couldn't find anything wrong visually, but to see the other side of the circuit board, I had to unsolder the connection to the pins that go through the side of the box. I resoldered the board back onto the connector pins and glued the box top back up with gorilla glue. Still had problems of course since I didn't really fix anything, so I did another check of the spark plug wires and put in a fresh set of plugs and went through the charging system wiring connectors, cleaning that up. Something fixed it up right, I think a connector wasn't up to snuff, cause I gained charging voltage. I put in a bigger battery like Sean described, too. Anyway, I'm glad I didn't buy a $400 CDI part and still have the problem.

Hope you find your's, but don't be afraid to get into the CDI.

Steve
 
If you have just one dead cylinder I would be looking at the coil, plug wire, plug, etc for that cylinder.

I fixed a guys 02 a while back that was running on three cylinders. It was his first vmax and it had kirkers on it. He thought it was running on all four until I rode with him one day.

Someone had wired in a T-boost which was connected to that coil. Did a shitty job of it and the connection had pulled out under the tape. Funny thing was that he had taken it to two different Yamaha dealers and they kept screwing with the jetting thinking the problem was with the Kirkers etc. It took me 15 minutes to fix it. You should have seen the smile on his face after he took it out for the first real ride. I think he had ridden it like that for a few months.
 
Well, I DID ride mine like that for months. Ignorance is bliss....... it's also very embarrassing, (but since I'll probably never see any of you in person, I'm ok with letting you in on my idiocity- BIG word huh). Since I'm blabbing on without talking about my bike problem, you may have guessed that I've fixed it. You guess correctly!! I found that the orange wire from the ignitor to the right left (#1) coil was open (3 Mohms!) I had the CDI off and I was about to bust the cover open (that sucker is on there!) and I thought I'd ring out the wire for continuity. I guess it was the electrician in me that made me want to check the wire. After finding the open condition on the wire, I quickly jumpered around it to check the CDI box. I jammed a spare piece of wire into the connectors on both ends (at the CDI and at the coil connector. I held the plug against the valve cover and what do you know? I had spark!! A couple butt splices, a few wire ties re-assembley, and a final carb sync. Let me mention... It is MUCH easier to do a carb sync when your bike is running on all four. Okay, stop laughing now. I mean it, knock it off. I've suffered enough grief from my buddies already. We're supposed to be a brother-hood (feel each other's pain- that sort of stuff ya know?) Well anyway, I just wanted to cap this whole drama off and let people know how it ended so that if this arises again with someone else, we know another possible scenario. And besides, a couple butt splices and a chunk of wire are MUCH MUCH cheaper than a new CDI box!! (That's what has me stoked). I'd love to go on and on, but I have a lot of asphalt to tear up. Thanks for everybody's help and attention (especially Mark). Take care and be safe! Now that this thing's running right, "be safe" takes on a whole different meaning to me. Well, that's it I'm going to finalize with ebonics-
Peace out sucka:confused2:
-Travis.
 
Back
Top