Kawi2strokes.com Forum

Thanks Jim,
That picture I posted with the meter reading of 1 was with the condenser lead removed from the points. The red probe from the tester was to the condenser lead and the black probe was grounded on the condenser case. If I drop back to 2uf I get a -1 reading.

I don't know the specifics of that meter, and the instruction sheet doesn't explain the meaning of "-1". It says "1" means the capacitor is out of range. It also says that a shorted capacitor will read out of range (1) on all ranges. maybe it's shorted. Is anything on the terminal end of the capacitor touching the capacitor's case?

Do all three capacitors behave the same way?

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If it surges, that's normal, upshift.

All three the same.

Could be the meter.
It was pretty cheap.

I doubt if all three capacitors failed, but anything is possible. Can you measure a couple other capacitors of random types and values and see if the meter appears to work?

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If it surges, that's normal, upshift.

Good thought. Not sure where I would find them. At time like this I miss the local Radio Shack!

Scrap the oxidation off the cap
Zero/short the leads
Measure again
.18-.33uF is range for those

The caps not only reduce arcing at the points for longer life, they provide a clean break of current to the coils.

In the daze, we matched caps to coils for best resonance.
Best spark at plug and near zero metal transfer of tungsten points.
A sharp/fast change in current makes the coil work better.(ala CDI)

Thanks Auto-man,
So this just occurred to me:
On the S2A, when I disconnect the lead from the condenser to the points, there is still a lead (soldered to the end of the condenser) that goes up to the coil. There is no way to isolate the condenser unless I unsolder the lead, therefore is this what is preventing the meter from giving an accurate reading?

I'm not sure I understand why that wire is soldered to the condenser but one end of the condenser has to have nothing connected to it for the measurement. You could remove it from its mount and make sure it's not touching anything so it's not grounded and then make the measurement if you want.

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If it surges, that's normal, upshift.

Well I'm always disappointed when someone starts a thread like this and doesn't see it through to conclusion so....
I bought an NOS condenser.
I did confirm that the soldered lead from the condenser to the harness running up to the coil must be unsoldered and disconnected to get an accurate meter reading.
With the meter set at 20uf the old condenser measured "out of spec" at .40
The new condenser measured "within spec" at .17
With everything hooked back up, the plug with the new condenser seems to have a slightly fatter spark. I swapped plugs from another cylinder and it still seems a little fatter.
Based on all of this new found knowledge, I'm going to go ahead and replace the other two