Suzuki Beamish Rl250 1979 Black Engine Model.

[johnc]

Picked up an old Suzuki Beamish RL250 1979, Black Engine Model and am in process of rebuilding but am having probs with ignition!

Electrics not my strong point!

Old CDI unit on bike has no 32900 (can't read rest) but I assume it's -30511 and it aint working. Appears to be a Suzuki RM250 unit with brackets bent to get it to fit on frame!

According to book mine should be 31900-38020 but I've tried three with their own coils and no spark, so looks like the correct units will not work, got them off ebay as working and I hoped that at least one of them might be working but there is a chance they could all be kaput of course!

However I also aquired another old 32900-30511 with a different coil and this does produce a good spark. However the connection to magneto is the same as one from CDI unit (three pin,two male 1 female) and so wont connect! The only way I can get it to work is by only using 2 of the male/female connections and leaving a male pin on each wire bare which are apparently not needed to get a spark. Not a major prob as I can change connection though.

Will bike run ok with RM250 unit or will timing be out?

Hope my rambling are clear enough to understand.

Any help much appreciated,many thanks!

Progress on bike so far.....

[stork955]

Gday, timing will be majorly wrong for trials with the RM unit. All sorts of problems - the RL motor is way different too so there may be engine damage down the track also. My parts cross reference says the RL had a unique stator/magneto/CDI unit, obviously set up for trials. I guess the closest unit would be from an early TS 250 or similar, with tamer curves to suit. The flywheel is probably heavier on the RL also. The Beamish's probably used their own ignition but I have no idea about that really. Good luck!

Cheers,

Stork

[monoped]

John C, contact Jim at the Beamish Owners Club, he will sort you out www.beamishownersclub.co.uk

[johnc]

Thanks for replies.

Already contacted Jim at beamish owners club with no joy,like me electrics not his strong point but he has already been a great help with other parts!

Have also posted on Beamish Yahoo Group.

Will inspect correct units that I have again and see if I can suss out what problem is.

Cheers!

[johnc]

Further to my ongoing problem...connected one of the correct CDI units (31900-38020) to the wrong wires from magneto (deliberately!), held on to both wires which go to ignition coil and kicked over engine and hey presto I got a shock so it appears CDI unit is working! Tried three different ignition coils but no spark though. They could be knackered or not working because CDI unit is not wired correctly,will try and get another ignition coil to try!

This however does not solve my wiring problems though!

Stator plate appears to be original with 4 wires from it (which match the 3 from the CDI unit) ignoring the red/yellow one which is for lights and is working!

The three B/W,B/R and R/W when connected with corresponding wires on CDI unit.....nothing!

When connected wrongly R/W ( stator plate) to B/W (CDI)....B/R ( stator plate) to B/R (CDI) this leaves B/W ( stator plate) with R/W (CDI) both unconnected, I am then getting power through CDI unit for some reason!

Could there be a fault in the primary coils that is causing the problem?

Any Black Engine Beamish owners out there that can help,it's driving me nuts!

Cheers,

John.

Edited May 2, 2010 by JohnC

[stork955]

Gday John, these early Suzuki CDI's are all similar in operation. Connecting the wires as per colour coding should produce a result. You can check your stator coils (they are the most likely to fail in the entire system anyway). I have no actual specs, even for my PE's. Using rule of thumb you should see around a couple of ohms between the R/W and B/R wires. The same or slightly less between R/W and B/W. You should see the sum of each previous test between B/W amd B/R. B/W should be zero to ground (no resistance to the stator plate or some good earth point on the motor. ) Test again with the B/Y disconnected -this is the kill switch - to check the entire system. The actual ignition coil should read around 2 ohms across the primary side to ground and around 5000 ohms across the secondary side (between the primary terminal and the plug cap). It shouldnt have a resistor plug cap, if it does remove this and fit a normal one, and recheck. Also, double check all connectors and check continuity of all your wires between each component. They can fail under the insulation and still look OK from the outside.

Hope this might help,

-Just found some specs for you from a PE owners manual -

R/W to B/W - "Several hundred Ohms", B/R to R/W - "several ten ohms".

Cheers,

Stork.

[b40rt]

Gday John, these early Suzuki CDI's are all similar in operation. Connecting the wires as per colour coding should produce a result. You can check your stator coils (they are the most likely to fail in the entire system anyway). I have no actual specs, even for my PE's. Using rule of thumb you should see around a couple of ohms between the R/W and B/R wires. The same or slightly less between R/W and B/W. You should see the sum of each previous test between B/W amd B/R. B/W should be zero to ground (no resistance to the stator plate or some good earth point on the motor. ) Test again with the B/Y disconnected -this is the kill switch - to check the entire system. The actual ignition coil should read around 2 ohms across the primary side to ground and around 5000 ohms across the secondary side (between the primary terminal and the plug cap). It shouldnt have a resistor plug cap, if it does remove this and fit a normal one, and recheck. Also, double check all connectors and check continuity of all your wires between each component. They can fail under the insulation and still look OK from the outside.

Hope this might help,

-Just found some specs for you from a PE owners manual -

R/W to B/W - "Several hundred Ohms", B/R to R/W - "several ten ohms".

Cheers,

Stork.

Hi Stort

Interested to know what difference resistor plugs/caps make .

Thanks

Ross

[johnc]

Gday John, these early Suzuki CDI's are all similar in operation. Connecting the wires as per colour coding should produce a result. You can check your stator coils (they are the most likely to fail in the entire system anyway). I have no actual specs, even for my PE's. Using rule of thumb you should see around a couple of ohms between the R/W and B/R wires. The same or slightly less between R/W and B/W. You should see the sum of each previous test between B/W amd B/R. B/W should be zero to ground (no resistance to the stator plate or some good earth point on the motor. ) Test again with the B/Y disconnected -this is the kill switch - to check the entire system. The actual ignition coil should read around 2 ohms across the primary side to ground and around 5000 ohms across the secondary side (between the primary terminal and the plug cap). It shouldnt have a resistor plug cap, if it does remove this and fit a normal one, and recheck. Also, double check all connectors and check continuity of all your wires between each component. They can fail under the insulation and still look OK from the outside.

Hope this might help,

-Just found some specs for you from a PE owners manual -

R/W to B/W - "Several hundred Ohms", B/R to R/W - "several ten ohms".

Cheers,

Stork.

Thanks for that ,gives me something to work on!

Looks like normal plug caps on coils in fact I'd never heard of a resistor plug cap!

Had to google it to find out what you were talking about LOL!

Will let you know how I get on. Thanks for your help.

John.

[stork955]

Gday John, resistor caps increase secondary ignition coil resistance and can cause coil and CDI failures when used on things that were not designed for them in the first place.

Cheers,

Stork