Well thats weird.

[thovda]

So Ive Lost Spark On The Kz400. Finally Checked Resistance On The Coil, Thats Good But Havent Checked For Short From Redyellow To Coil Core, I Dont Know Wahat Is Meant By Coil Core. So I Cheked Points, Nice Little Crackle There And Know Arcing From Condenser. Pulled The Plug And Was Checking For Spark And It Gets Weird BecauseI Get Awesome Spark As Long As I Hold Plug A Tiny Bit From Grounding It. It Sparks To Ground And On Tip Of Plug? Does That Give Any Ideas On What Problem I Have? Spark Immediately Quits When I Ground it.

 

[SONICJK]

I would say check your condensor

 

[hillsy]

Dead plug?

 

[thovda]

If The Condenser Is Bad Would I Get Good Spark At The Points? Any Way I Can Check It? The plugs Are Both New. But Ill Get Another Set And see.

 

[Sonreir]

The condenser is there to keep it from sparking too much at the points. Bad condenser = lots of sparks. There will still be some sparking with a good condenser, but it will be minimal.

I would second the statement about the plug though. I'd replace the plug first, worry about the condenser second. The condenser is there just to extend the life of the points and has little to do with whether or not you bike will actually run.

 

[thovda]

Thanks for the ideas. So the points have minimal sparking, at first I didn't think it was sparking and when I dimmed the lights I could see it was consistent.
I'll get new plugs at lunch and throw them in, I sure hope it's that simple. I didn't think to check the plugs because they're only a few months old.
Can anybody tell me when the workshop manual I have tells me to put one end of the ohms meter to the coil core, what part of the coil I'm supposed to hook it to. Would it be the brown wire coming from the coil?

 

[Sonreir]

The core is the big chunk of iron sticking out one side (usually grounded to the frame via the mounting brackets).

 

[thovda]

Perfect, thanks.

 

[thovda]

New plugs and all is well! Thanks for the help. Gotta remember to think basic, how the few month old plugs went to shit will always boggle me. Now to tune the carbs, super high idle, and one super hot left pipe.

 

[hillsy]

I've had dead plugs straight out of the box before - had me scratching my head for a bit when I'd just changed the plugs on a Katana and it started running on 3 cylinders.

Yep - best to follow the KISS principle with bikes (Keep It Simple Stupid).