Coil wiring

[Soeren]

Hello BMWR65.org

I am having some wiring problems, but hopefully it’s only due to my lacking knowledge and is easily resolved.

Last fall I bought a R65 RT from ’82, I drove it for a month before I took it in for the winter. When I got it inside I started to check up on some things and found the fairing to be damaged, some of the mounting bolts that are molded into the fairing where ripped out of the fairing and it was not bolted securely to the frame. I decided to remove the fairing and in the process install LED turn signals (with the fairing gone the front turn signals where gone too) and an LED turn signal relay.

When I remove the tank I was surprised by a wiring harness that had been removed and reinstalled in a horrible way. When I turned the handlebars to the right I would pull the whole harness forward and even engage the throttle. I decided to take the harness out and reinstall it probably. I labeled all ends and had no problems getting everything back in except the ignition coil wiring. My coils were shielded but I was told the shielding was unnecessary and I decide to remove the shield to get some space for cable management.

Now I’m left with two ground connections, a female spade connector and a resistor from the shield housing.

I snapped few quick pictures and hopefully someone can tell me where what goes, and if the resistor is needed at all. [ch61514]

Picture album: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/571cla97g0q18oy/AADahlTUVk2kCXnOhGcgXbdNa?dl=0

Thank you in advance.

[georgesgiralt]

Hello Soeren,
It seems you own an R65 TIC for law enforcement people. As these guys use a radio, everything making interference mus be isolated. Hence the box to hold the coil.
I suppose you did not got the radio ?  So you can/may remove these housing.
Plugging the coil is pretty straightforward.
You have a green/white double wire coming from the switches (positive) and a black double wire coming from the ignition unit and going to the tachometer. All additional wires are for the housing (brown wires are meant for grounding on DIN parlance) and can be disregarded, if I'm not mistaken.
Last but not least, you appear to have one of the infamous Crak-O-Matic BOSCH coil which will crack and fail sooner or later (at first, noticeable in rainy days). So may I suggest you go to a car wreck place and ask for a double coil. Bring a multi-meter with you and measure the resistance of the primary. The Grey Bosch coil has around 3 Ohm primary resistance, and the Bosch expensive replacement has a 0.5  Ohm resistance. So anything in between is good. It will cost you a few Euros for a couple and some effort to devise a suitable mounting contraption. I bought a couple from a Fiat Punto for 10 Euros the pair... with 0.8 Ohm resistance going strong on my 1982 R65.
Also check the insulation of the battery positive wire (the thick one) which get mangled by the central fairing support and can cause a fire if unchecked...

[Soeren]

Thanks a lot George

I wired the coil according to the clymers manual and ignored the left over cables.

But my R65 will not start. All lights turn on fine and the starter motor runs but the plugs don't spark.

Any ideas?


BTW: I have a yellow cable running to my ignition switch, where does it go? Clymers tells me its only for UK models?

Picture: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/41474748/BMW%20coil%20wires/bmw%20r65%20ignition%20sw/IMG_20160422_185859.jpg

[georgesgiralt]

Humm,
I would say that if it is yellow, it is for lights.
And it should go to the main switch to power the headlight.
For now I can't tell the spade number on the switch but it should be on the wiring diagram.