Electrical... I hate electrical...

1982 Yamaha seca xj 750. One day I go to work on my bike. A few hours later I get on it to go to lunch and it won't start. It turns over and occasionally fires of for the briefest of seconds before dying again. Later, when I have time, I take it apart, check for spark, and find cylinder 2 and 3 have good spark, and 1 and 4 have one spark sometimes when I let go of the start button. I check all my wiring to see that I have continuity and good ground. All is well. My neighbor, an experienced mechanic, says it's the starter solenoid. I purchase a cheep one online that will be here at the end of the week, but I don't think that's the problem. I checked both ignition coils by swapping the plugs that connect them to the solenoid. The problem switches cylinders, so I know my ignition coils are good. I take the pick-up coil cover off and take off the magnets and rearrange them to try and learn something.
(I have two magnets on either side of a piece of metal that turns with the crank shaft. One on top with a gray cable and ground, and one on bottom with an orange cable and ground. Both gray and orange cables go to my IC ignitor unit. Orange goes to the ignition coil with plugs going to 1 and 4, while gray goes to the other.)
No matter how they are arranged I have spark on cylinder 2 and 3, but not 1 and 4 unless they are both put back to their normal positions. Even when I took them both off I still had a little spark on 2 and 3 once when I pushed the start button.

I've done every test I know how, looked through the service manual and talked to everyone I know that has any knowledge on mechanics and electrical. Once I swap solenoids I'll know that the problem is either my pick up coil or IC Ignitor computer thingy witch is almost 80$ for a used one. That's more then 1\10 the cost of the bike. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

FB 62
You asked the guy for help and then you start playing with everything else...now if its not the starter who's to say if you were right all along or if you messed something up by playing with it? The KISS Theory is a real good theory to follow ...especially if you don't know for sure. Either follow his advice or don't follow his advice. Respectfully

Good Luck

Aloha...Mike

Yes I know my format wasn't great but was tired and cranky when I wrote it king.

I did follow his advice but he didn't spend much time looking at the bike and thought because it got some rain on it the solenoid would be the only thing to malfunction in humid conditions..

I did get the new one today and swapped it out but the problem is still not fixed. When he has time my neighbor said he'd come over and take a closer look at it. I believe it's the pick up coil (or one of the magnets on the pick up coil) that's causing the problem. I know it's either the pick up coil or the IC Ignitor but I swapped the orange and gray leads where they plug into the Ignitor that come from the pick up coil but the problem followed. I had good spark on cylinders 1 and 4 but not 2 and 3.

Once my neighbor looks at the bike and depending on what he suggests I'll look for the a pick up coil assembly at an old motorcycle scrap yard notorious for having ridiculously priced rusty old parts.

OK...If you had good spark on 2&3 and the only change you made was switching leads from the pick up and then you had good spark on 1&4...I'd have to say the pick up is the bad part....

That was the first thing I thought of when he described problem. I wouldn't put in an old one though. A new one doesn't have to be for that exact model. Almost any Yamaha coil for a 4 cyl. will work.

Well i've looked into the parts and it seems that they don't make them anymore. Afraid used is the best I can do.

On top of that it might just be the pulser pick-up gone bad. If that's the case I found a fairly cheap set with rough looking cables. But as long as the pick-up still functions I should be able to fix or replace the cables attached to them.

I'll try and let you guys know once I've fixed it.

Fixed today, took a 3 hour lunch and got the new pulser pick-up w/ cable in.
ROCKFEST TOMORROW!!!!!!