Suzuki tc 125 electrics

gunna-1, Sep 21, 8:01am
I have an early 70s tc 125 with no wireing loom, i have hooked the coil up straight to the points its in a ts185 frame that is late 60s early 70s but it still has a cdi unit, i have no cdi unit hooked up and it seems to be makeing a current but only buzzing when earthed out on the motor and not sparking, i cant easily sorce a cdi for this bike or any parts, i cant see a reason it wont spark properly as it has a points system, any idea whats happening.

kazbanz, Sep 21, 8:57am
I didn't think they were that advanced. As in ran points/condenser/charge system . Only reason for the battery was to run the indicators/lights.

tamarillo, Sep 21, 12:46pm
With kab, should have a magneto and be able to run without battery. Points system may be the failure. Is it sparking at points? Are leads good?

kingfisher21, Sep 21, 1:24pm
Yea, as above, but need pics, if it has points it wont have a CDI unit.

gpg58, Sep 21, 1:44pm

bigfatmat1, Sep 21, 2:59pm
I had a ts of that era think I used black wire from points straight to coil. Points behind flywheel?

gunna-1, Sep 23, 12:36am
Hi just checked back in on this thread, thanks for the replies, yea it has some points behind the flywheel, i cant get the flywheel of so i cleaned them up as best i could in place, i,me glad it shouldn't need a cdi unit, the engine was locked up from sitting when i got it, and when i got it unsiezed and i got the barrell of it was like a new motor, no bigend play, it was like the bottom end hadent been run in yet, it was the tightest twostroke bottom end i have seen in a while, could the issue be with something dead in the electrics behind the flywheel? maby thats what killed it originaly, when i kick it over with no plug and the lead touching the head it only jumps a spark while its being rubbed on the alloy leaving a gentle gap, and it constantly buzzes, and dosent spark, what would cause something like that to happen? the coil on the frame was fine with the ts 185 motor, which was running when taken out, it has a hole in the crankcase, but that is the coil the engine wireing is hooked up to, maby the coil is wrong for this motor?.

gpg58, Sep 23, 11:25am
Stuffed condenser? (capacitor)
Assume its behind flywheel unfortunately, like the 100cc model.
http://suzukits.informe.com/gallery/Suzuki+TC100+Manual/10+-+Suzuki+TC100L+_1974_+Flywheel+Magnito+Assembly+Exploded+Diagram.jpg.html

gpg58, Sep 23, 11:45am
Note, never hit flywheel hard, or like i did once, you can demagnetize it, and will never get spark again.

gunna-1, Sep 23, 12:09pm
I did something worse to this one, after some failed attempts on the gear puller and some light hammer work i decided to whip the barrell of and get the piston moveing more freely, it was binding due to stuck rings, so i put the nut back on it and used a breaker bar and blocks of wood under the barrell to get the piston to slide out of the bottom of the barrell, and just as it was about to come it locked up and the nut was tightening, its that moment where you know you should stop but you keep going because you thought you had it, and it felt like the nut had eather stripped or the shaft had fractured, and it finally came of, to reveal a bottom end that was like new, i thought bugger i could have made some money on that, i dont want it to end up in someones mint classic for the flywheel to come of at great speed, so its going in a rat bike, and i will flogg it till it dies, once i get it sparking, the motor came with a ts 250 so it owes me little or nothing, and the crank was the best part of the motor, looks like i will have to invest in some better tools and try the condenser, the 250 is to fire up, just have to get brave enough because it will make a racket, the pipe is half rotten and its built up useing half a t 250 lol hope i dont get to carried away or i might get into trouble.

yz490, Sep 24, 5:03am
Looks like magneto ignition & if so, then simply hook the wire from the points to the plug coil under the tank direct. Just make sure the throttle is shutting off so ya don't end up heading out the gate like a flag hanging onto it runaway. Doing this 'one wire' has the points condenser & source coil in the mag all joined together. I'll go back & read ya story later & not sure where a cdi box crept in unless the 185 frame if a later TS185 or [TFmudbug 185] has a left over cdi box hanging there. Early "70's TC185's were electric start [dyna start type starter generator]. Till later & sorry if you're all sorted--well good if sorted. By the way, [i'm yamaha] think Suzuk's had a black/white tracer from the points, where yamaha have black only.

https://www.cmsnl.com/suzuki-tc125-1972-1973-1974-1975-j-k-l-m-usa-e03_model16272/partslist/85487.html#.X2vDidSF6t8 https://www.cmsnl.com/suzuki-tc125-1972-1973-1974-1975-j-k-l-m-usa-e03_model16272/partslist/#.X2vDy9SF6t9

bwg11, Sep 24, 5:35am
As others have said, the late 60's early 70's TS/TC 125 just had conventional points ignition. Have a look at this:
https://trademe.tmcdn.co.nz/photoserver/full/1406845799.jpg
I've only got an A4 scanner so a bit is missing, but the yellow/black wire goes straight to the ignition coil. I had one as a farm bike back in the 70's, the dual range gearbox made them most suitable for farm work. From memory ignition timing was only adjustable by altering the point gap.

yz490, Sep 24, 9:09am
Yellow Black yep, not blackwhite sorry. if anything blackwhite would kill the ignition.

yz490, Sep 25, 7:54pm
If ya still using the TS185 coil under the tank it'll be a CDI plug coil as TS185 was CDI. Doesn't mean it won't work though & i've used both with mostly success. Am talking yamaha though which only have a single wire 'in' type plug coil for magneto or cdi although could have a slightly different primary resistance but could still work. I know enuf to get myself right in the Sh-? & sometime manage to climb out of it unscathed lol.

gunna-1, Sep 26, 12:03am
I hooked up a 6 volt battery to the engine wires to get the points sparking and it sparked on the plug when it earthed out on the frame, and rocked the flywheel, so i hooked it up to the black wire comeing out of the motor and the yellow one, and it sparked, but it wont spark when disconnected, no idea what im,e doing lol, there is a green one aswell not sure where that goes, i had the back one hooked up to the coil and the yellow to the power wire to the coil wich was blue and white on the ts coil, is it only the yellow power wire to the coil and no black one hooked up to the coil? i had the battery hooked up to the black engine wire - and the positive hooked up to the yellow one and only the yellow one going to the coil and it seemed to work, but it died as soon as the battery was disconected.

yz490, Sep 26, 4:10am
Wow, don't do that. Its not a battery powered system [which is dc] Its AC powered by one coil down the bottom. Just identify the wire from the points that will combine the source coil & condenser & follow that up the loom from the mah then hook that to the top coil. If the top coil has two wires & you will only have one from the bottom, then hook it to one wire [maybe black/yellow if a ts185 coil] then earth the other wire which could be black. Thinking about it that black might have a braided short wire coming off it at the coil which is screwed to the mounting screw to the frame, so might not have to earth 'that' coil wire. Keep the battery well away from it. Explains the buzzing noise i think you mentioned somewhere. Any other wires from below are just lighting & charging & possibly neutral light--but leave them well alone. Ya only looking for 'one wire' be it black, maybe black/white or maybe black/yellow or yellow/black, whatever, it's the odd one out compared to the rest. Need some good news please.

bwg11, Sep 26, 4:35am
Do as yz490 says, No Battery.

gunna-1, Oct 1, 10:31am
Got it correct, its still a weak spark but its sparking, more tinkering with the points i think, cheers for the help, i will let you know if i get it fired up.

gunna-1, Oct 1, 12:51pm
I think i might have had the chargeing wire hooked up to the yellow one aswell, the last time i did it was in the 90s so i made a right mess of it, the points are sparking now with no battery hooked up just turning over with a hand tool, just need a better points file, and the black coil wire is earthed to the frame, no wonder the flywheel was doing odd things with the battery, lol i wont make that mistake again, only the yellow hooked up from the motor now, to the power wire on the coil.

tygertung, Oct 2, 3:44am
I have had a bad coil on one of these before, it created a spark strong enough to idle, but not to rev.

yz490, Oct 2, 6:45am
Expanding the wiring pic up that 'bwg' put up in post #14 yellow is lighting coil. [Get away from those wires] "Beside that is a Black with a Yellow Stripe" [this is from the points]. Connect this one straight to the plug coil.

gunna-1, Oct 4, 11:48am
Its sparking beauty now, its hooked up to a coil of an old scooter that only had one wire going to it screwed to the back of the frame on an old bolt, the other wire got it going, it hasnt fired yet, just needs some engine start, i think the crankcase is still abit flooded with oil from unsizeing it, but the spark is sorted, works sweet.

yz490, Nov 10, 12:02pm
Ok, cool. Hope to hear she runs soon then.