pinbill

After I cleaned the points the spark plug started working and the bike fired up.

We've got spark!!!! It runs too!!!! I got it to fire up and idle. The top end sounds real good. No piston slap or anything like that. Thank you guys so much for helping me with this. I really didn't know how a magneto ignition system worked before this. I have learned a lot. That wiring diagram looks like the right one. Thanks again. I am going to get some non ethanol gas, change the oils in the crankcase, and take it for a ride. I am going to get the lighting going too. I don't have it hooked up yet, but the yellow wire was putting out 4.5 so I think I can get it working. Is the brake light a stock item or was it aftermarket? It is missing the lens so I may use a bit of red tape to start. Does anyone have a lens laying around their shop?

Hey Guys, That is a lot of good information. Thanks for the diagram.I looked a bit and couldn't find one that looked right. Most were in Spanish or German. haha. In the first post I said the green wire was sparking when it was grounded. That was confusing, sorry. I meant that the green wire itself was sparking when I touched it to the frame. Not that the spark plug was sparking. Sorry for the confusion. I was surprised that a ground wire would have power running to it. I will remove it from the connector block and ground it directly to the frame at the coil. I was using the test light to verify that the magneto was at least making some power on each of the wires. I understand now that it doesn't apply if the points are not grounding properly. I watched a few videos about cleaning and setting the points yesterday. This is my first time trying to diagnose a ignition problem with a points system. I feel have a good understanding now of how the system works. I will have plenty of time to dig into it this afternoon. I am going to get a new plug and spark plug boot today as well. Thanks again for the help, Bill

Hey Guys, Thanks for the responses. I did some more testing this morning. The green wire from the engine goes from the connector block and grounds out at a resistor near the air box. The ground tested good, but the green wire is getting power all the way from the motor, to connector box, and to the resistor. If its a ground wire should it have power? When I test the black wire at the connector block with a test light, it doesn't have power when the coil wire is attached to the connector block. If I unplug the coil wire from the connector box the black wire from the engine will light up. Motorcycle electrics are not my strong point. It seems like the coil has a short because the black wire loses power when the coil is hooked up. Bill

Hello, I just bought my first Bultaco its a 1973 Alpina 350. I usually don't buy non running bikes, but this one was in such good shape I went for it. The PO was an older guy who was the second owner. The first owner was his long term friend. I remember seeing spark when I bought it and the compression seemed good when kicking it over. I rebuilt the carb and was hoping to hear it run, but now it doesn't spark. I attached some pictures, because I know you guys like pictures. It has a headlight, taillight, brake light, and kill switch. I don't know if they are stock or aftermarket. My first move was to clean and tighten the wires going to the wire connector block. The white wire going up to the headlight was loose. It looked like it was grounded to the screw holding the wire block in place. To narrow things down, I disconnected the green wire to the headlight, the yellow wire to the headlight, and the grey wire going to the kill switch. Then I cleaned the wire connector block. At this point I got a lit test light on the green wire that goes to the motor. I also got a light on the black wire to the motor but only with it disconnected from the terminal block. When I connect the black wire from the motor to the block with the coil connected the test light doesn't go on. I couldn't get a light out of the yellow wire. I put my ohm meter on the coil. It was reading steady 3.6 from the plug wire. The measurements were jumpy from the black wire to ground but it would settle in at 1.1. There is no spark plug boot. The PO jammed some wire in the spark plug and wrapped it around the plug. Maybe that killed the coil. Who knows? I read about the condenser getting hot and going out so I decided to check the points, condenser, and magneto. It turns out the PO had a spare condenser and magneto puller. Maybe he monkeyed around with it at some point. The insulation was a bit frayed on all the wires under the side cover. The yellow wire was a total mess (no wonder it didn't work). I changed the condenser, taped up the frayed wires the best I could, and put it back together. The test light is way brighter from the green and black wires. I am getting a faint light from the yellow wire. I know the black wire is the key to getting this running but I can only get the light when the coil wire is disconnected from the connection box. I read that the green wire is supposed to go to ground the coil nut. When I touched the green wire to ground and it sparked. I am thinking the coil is shorted. Does anyone know what type of coil I can put in it?