Thoroughly stumped at the moment SPARKLESS

[rmreid]

1976 Cyclone 440, took her out for a great hour or so ride with absolutely no problems, started fine cold and ran the rest of the ride. Got to the barn and shut her down, 5 minutes later, go to start and nothing....no spark whatsoever. How can this be? No issue in the past. It was getting to cold to mess with it so it was dragged in the barn.Tried the next morning and still no spark. Now that it is below zero I don't have the inclination to work on it but wanted to just get some thoughts on it. First stop on my list is CDI.


Thanks for any thoughts,

Randy

[harleysportster]

Randy,
If your Liquifire still has the original Prestolite CDI box and the original stator, it is a very common failure. One of two things happened. The low speed windings died or the cdi box has failed. Check this out.
http://www.jdsleds.com/community/viewto ... ?f=5&t=289

[rmreid]

Thanks for the help Harley, do you know if the stators from the Liquifires will work in the Cyclones? 440 or 340 make a difference?

Randy

[lwb140]

stators from the cyclones and liquifires are the same , the 76s had different plugs than the 77 78s the 76s had a square cdi plug and the 77-78s had 2 round plugs the stators and cdi units were the same and are interchangeable just had different plugs wade

[rmreid]

Thanks Wade. Can you put a 76 connector on a 77-78 CDI unit without any difficulties? I have one with the round connectors but need the square on there.

[lwb140]

yes that works fine just match up the colors ! yellow-yellow , blue -blue the 2 greens don't matter as they are making ac make sure its around 2.5 k ohms on the yellow and 72 ish on the blue to the core . wade

[harleysportster]

Just to add, the stators are the same, the length of the wires are different on the 76 Cyclone and 76 Liquifire with the rectangle connector. Just cut the pig-tail long enough to splice into the round style plug.

[rmreid]

Thanks for the help. I'm looking at the shroud and it is looking like the engine has to come out to get to the lower shroud bolt. Am I mistaken? Can replace stator without removing engine? By the way, it measured zilch on the ohm meter, so I would say that was the problem.

Thanks once again,
Randy

[harleysportster]

You should be able to do it in the frame. I think the tin engine shroud can remain, you only have to take off the fan housing. It's been awhile and I don't have an engine in front of me. There is a bolt on the back side in the area of the starter blank-off plate that is tough to get to. Same on the other side.

[rmreid]

All right, I have conceded for the day. Can't get to the lower front fan shroud bolt so I began to remove engine mount nuts and bolts. Maybe I'm missing something but the rear two mount bolts are spinning when I try to loosen the nut, you can't get to the backside of them so how do you get them out? I don't think they are supposed to spin, I thought they were like permanent studs that the mounting plate slide down on?

Thanks for any help.

Randy

[JDT]

I believe one of the bolts that holds the starter blank off plate in place also passes through to the fan housing.

[harleysportster]

You need to remove bolts # 5 in crankcase picture and bolt # 22 in the fan housing picture.

[harleysportster]

you may find someone to help in the chat room.

[JDT]

A 12" extension on your 13mm socket will get that pesky last bolt out from the clutch side.

[luvzvintage]

hi!
i've got a 76 340 cyclone that suddenly lost spark about 2 hours after its last ride.

http://www.jdsleds.com/community/viewto ... ?f=5&t=289

i did the ohm checks and all check out good except for the lighting coil.....i get 150 ohms instead of the listed 0.5 ohms. So i ordered a new CDI aftermarket/direct plug in and still no spark!

Where do i look now? any other ground points to check besides the CDI black wire to engine and the braided ground wire? They check out good for continuity.

thx

Lloyd Neufeld