Kawasaki KE 100 no spark

A neighbor has a similar bike, he has to keep "filing" the points to keep it running.

Usually not. Be sure the kill switch wire is disconnected and does not go to ground anywhere. If it is CDI there will be a trigger coil, a magneto ignition coil, and a lighting coil on the stator.

You can get parts breakdowns if you type in the VIN number at this site:

Jim

Not a KE100 expert, but if it's CDI I'd say it needs no battery or points. Could be a wiring problem? Check kill switch. Maybe bypass as much of the original ignition wiring as you can with temporary new wiring, to see if you get a spark. If all fails fit a replacement "black box".

I have a Kawasaki KLT250 that needed a new black box - $400. Ouch!

Yes there are battery/points versions of CDI, but it's unlikely your KE100 is like that. No motorcycle has ever been fitted as standard with points-triggered CDI afaik, and only very early Kawas needed a battery to energise the CDI. It's more likely you have a high-voltage winding in your flywheel AC generator to charge the capacitor. I don't know that Kawasaki combined the HT coil with the "black box", as some European makers did. I wish I was near you, I'd take the bike off your hands!

Hi. If you didn't do so, then go through the drop down boxes to select the year and engine size, then it will give a few 100's from that year and choose the KE100. You can see the parts diagrams then. For example:

My generic experience, as a bottom feeder in the technology puddle, is that there are only a few things that can go wrong. Wiring is the most common find. Check it all. Look for worn through insulation and check each run of wire with a meter to see that conductivity is good. I have found more than a few wires that were broken inside the insulation. Nothing like replaceing a couple hundred bucks worth of parts only to have a well crimped lug come sliding out of the lead with 4 inches of bare copper attached, to make you start kicking things!

Check for stupid stuff. Did the rotor/flywheel get installed on the crank without the key in place? You pretty much have to pull it to check the wires running in behind anyway. Seen it.

Check through some of the similar manuals, if you cannot find the correct one. There should be some values for resistance checks on the coils. IIRC near zero on the primary, 8k to 20k ohms on the secondary were in the last couple coils I checked. Nether side should leak to the other. Remove the kill circuit from the works and install a short bit of good wire in an accessable place (ground it against the chassis or engine to kill) that eliminates the tracing of that system, at least for the troubleshooting.

Trust not the repairs of others!! Peel the tape back and check the joints!

Got a bike wrecker or small engine place you can scrounge up a box? graft in a box from pretty much any similar machine.

As a last resort, a little bit of screwdriver mechanicing should be able to allow the grafting in of an electronic ignition module as used by the larger scale model airplane guys. Even if you just stick it on a bracket where the hall effect sensor can get hit by the flywheel magnet (or you glue a small one on for the use of), you can at least see if the motor is in fit condition to be worth further investment.

Remember, it's old, it probably does not need new OEM parts. Not when the dealer wants more than the bike will sell for, anyway.

There's my thoughts, anyway.

Cheers Trevor Jones

Mostly true, but sometimes oddball things happen. I just fixed my Kawasaki that refused to start. The problem apparently was that it swallowed a small piece of the foam air filter and that screwed up the valves, spark, etc. The solution was to force it to fire by feeding it pure oxygen and carb cleaner, after it fired a few timed it started to clean itself out and within a minute was working well enough to cut off the O2 and rev it up.

Normally batteries in vehicles are used for starting the engine and have no other involvement in the functioning of the vehicle.

Normally.

The problem is that all manner of funny games are played when designing small single-cylinder vehicle engines. I had a couple Honda S90 motorcycles in my youth. They would not run without a battery, but would run quite well with a large electrolytic cap in place of the battery. That is, until the coil burned out.

The battery both filtered the pulsating DC from the alternator/rectifier and limited the peak voltage so as not to destroy the coil.

The problem was that your S90 had no regulator as such, and the battery's ability to smooth the alternator's output could not be replicated by the capacitor that replaced it. Even fairly large motorcycles used that method, such as Honda 250/305 twin and Laverda 750 twin. You can still use a cap, but need to add a regulator if running without the battery. That's all assuming a permanent magnet alternator.

I have an old KE-100 that did not give me a spark when I took the plug out and layed it next to the head. When I tried a new spark plug it came to life,

It does have point was given one too with no spark