The New And Improved Unofficial R65 Forum V2
Technical Discussion => Misc. Technical Discussion => Topic started by: oldbiker on July 25, 2026, 02:48:14 PM
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Hi all
Here I am again after a long absence. I regularly read the posts on the forum and have had no major breakdowns for along while. Unfortunately my r65 ls has refused to start. Thankfully it decided to misbehave at home. I t has never given any trouble electronically so I am at a loss as to where to go next and not very proficient with electronics. I am 76 yrs now. The bike is 1983 r65 ls. I have no spark. When I switch ignition on and off I get sparks at grounded plugs. Battery is fully charged.. Where do I go from here? Many thanks and best of health to all members.
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Do you have an ignition coil that is black and grey??
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Sorry, I forgot to mention that I replaced coil with a Dyna coil from Rick through this forum. My problem is to isolate the fault without too much pulling apart. In other words could it be the ECU or Bean can?
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Having read a lot of posts here I feel it is the dreaded beancan that has failed. An expensive repair so I have decided to layup my R65ls and use my R80. I prefer the r65 but that is life.
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One quick test you can do, is remove a spark plug or use a spare plug .
Plug it into one of the ignition leads and turn the ignition switch on and off .
You should get a spark, if not it could be the ICU .
,.
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With nothing to lose I have removed the bean can. I have spark on grounded plugs when I earth .centre pin on harness to ecu from bean can. No spark with bean can reconnected and rear wheel turned. When I removed bean can I noticed that the rivets holding the sensor were loose and the gate wheel was touching the magnet.
My question . Would this type of contact cause the sensor not to function?is there an easy way to test the sensor now that I have access?
Thanking you all
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I had day off and p?ine the sensor to base plate. Put back in place again again. No spark so it seems I have a faulty sensor
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Euro Motoelectrics has remanufactured bean cans, and replacement sensors plates .
https://www.euromotoelectrics.com/category-s/1691.htm
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The spark on switch-off narrows the area of inquiry.
As a further test leave the bike switched on and flick the kill switch off and on.
If you still have a spark each time you operate the kill switch the good news is that your coil and the Ignition Control Unit ICU are alive and what you are lacking is a triggering pulse from the bean can.
Open, clean and close each connector to the beancan - we are dealing with very low current so surface corrosion invisible to theeye will stop proceedings.
Put it back together and see if it works.
No - you need a beancan.
Options.
My personal favorite - a complete Wedgetail system. This is the gold standard for airhead ignitions, the drawback is the price.
A refurbished beancan. I used to do these myself using the HKZ101 Hall Effect.I don't do this anymore as the last 5 beancans I have opened had significant wear in the mechanical advance/retard, you can't buy parts and my eyesight and patience are no longer up to fabricating new ones. Your mileage may vary.
The Australian tri-spark system seems to get mostly good reviews, i have never handled one but it ishard to disagree with happy cusomers.
Various crankshaft triggered systems.Never tried one, i have fixed one and was noot impressed. YMMV.
Revert to points using an early points beancan. This is not as silly as it sounds as there are a few points cans floating around that were removed from service and replaced by electronics years ago.
Boyer Bransden. I have 2 bikes with BB ignitions. One of them will be replaced by the Wedgetail I have waiting when I get around too it. Boyer are cheap-ish and they do work but I would refit points before fitting another.