No spark. Pamco Ignition Failed?

TheSovereignMan

TheSovereignMan

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Location
Gold Coast, Australia
I have a no spark issue on a CB360G.

PO had fitted a Pamco EI, not sure when and I have no contact with him. I’m getting power to the coils but no sparky sparky on either side.

My wife was riding the bike at the time and it just “lost all power”. I have inspected the EI for physical signs of “I’m dead” but aside from that not sure how to test the unit.

Anyone have experience with these things?

As an afterthought, could it perhaps be the kill switch (off/run) and not the EI? I didn’t check this at the time.
 
check all the wiring to and from the hall effect sensors. Pamco has some very fine gauge wiring and that I think is the main weakness in the system.
I would take a multimeter and test for continuity in all the wiring at the sensors and also the e-advance unit (if yours is equipped with one)

BTW... Pamco is defunct. Pete has retired and is no longer in business.
 
76Twin said:
check all the wiring to and from the hall effect sensors. Pamco has some very fine gauge wiring and that I think is the main weakness in the system.
I would take a multimeter and test for continuity in all the wiring at the sensors and also the e-advance unit (if yours is equipped with one)

BTW... Pamco is defunct. Pete has retired and is no longer in business.
Click to expand...

I’ll pretend I know what those things are and go google a diagram.
 
These are hall effect sensors (red) and the blue box is the e-advancer

pamco.jpg


Open up the blue box and check for any broken or loose wires. Then check for continuity to see if you have a break somewhere in any of them.
 
76Twin said:
These are hall effect sensors (red) and the blue box is the e-advancer

View attachment 4126


Open up the blue box and check for any broken or loose wires. Then check for continuity to see if you have a break somewhere in any of them.
Click to expand...

I can’t see any broken wires.

I get continuity from the Hall effect sensors to the e-advancer. I get continuity from the e-advancer to the coils.

I do NOT get continuity from the sensor side of the e-advancer to the coil side of the e-advancer EXCEPT for the black wire from the sensor side to all four wires on the coil side.

I am now officially way above my pay grade. Where to from here?

b2e40d6c80837018c45ce3f2ac9f92e6.jpg
 
Not familiar with this unit at all but is it a possibility that the plug end connectors are bad? I've seen lots of cheap male/female connectors that are good for one time use, second or third reconnect and they don't make a good connection anymore.
 
I don’t know fully how the e-advancer works. Can I bypass it, leaving everything else intact, to see if I get spark? That would in my mind confirm it’s the issue, right?
 
Main question I will ask is does the bike still have the stock charging setup? Pamcos have been known to die if they get more voltage applied than they are regulated for. It was suggested to install solid state regulator/rectifiers if you plan on moving to E-ignition to keep voltage spikes down.

If not, there is a good chance the entire unit is fried.
 
You cannot bypass the e-advancer since that is responsible for sending the signals to your coils to spark.

Take a look at under the e-advancer board and see if you have any burned connections or solder joints.
 
I’ve found a guy local who can diagnose and potentially fix the unit. His speciality is Printed Circuit Boards (PCB’s) and although he’s never seen one of these before he was comfortable taking a look just on the photo I sent him. He’s also had a comb through some Pamco threads he found online to get an idea of what it does. Seems like a possible solution depending on cost.
 
if he has the tools and equipment to test the board and components it should be fairly easy to fix I think.
The parts aren't anything specific to Pamco so I think you should be able to source them or compatible repacements.
 
So I’ve found the problem!

f606893bac7d88a1205b929e529c5836.jpg


I did not see this until just now.

I’ll still take the unit to the electronics guy because my soldering is not good enough to replace that wire anyway.
 
There may still be hope, unless that grounded bare wire caused something to fry. Good luck with it.
 
Yeah best to take it to someone with the right equipment and skill to fix that. Those wires are tiny and I mean tiny. Fat fingers can botch that repair job and makes it worse.
 
Even if there are parts that are fried. You should still be able to replace them easy enough.

This is the ONLY part of that board that cannot be replaced since it requires programming. This is essentially the brain (microcontroller) of the electronic advance.

pamco_brd.jpg
 
Nothing appears “fried”, but that doesn’t mean it’s not I guess. Will know for sure today.

Can’t believe I missed the break in the wiring! I was so focused on the board and the pickup sensors.
 
That's why I said to do a continuity test early on. Just because the wiring looked fine on the outside doesn't mean there isn't a break somewhere inside the sleeves.
A continuity test with a multimeter would confirm.
 
Hey I know this is an old thread but did you ever figure out if components on your Pamco advancer or sensor were fried? I have a very similar issue, right cylinder not getting spark and troubleshooted it down to the Pamco ignition.
 
Ted1375 said:
Hey I know this is an old thread but did you ever figure out if components on your Pamco advancer or sensor were fried? I have a very similar issue, right cylinder not getting spark and troubleshooted it down to the Pamco ignition.
Click to expand...
OP hasn't been here since late 2021, not likely you'll get an answer.

We have some information on the Pamco EI, you should start a new thread in the DOHC Twins Electrical section.
 
I remember when Pete was developing that ignition, lots of back and fore on SOHC4.net early 2000's.
CB360 runs hotter than just about anything else as points housing is cast directly into head, 350/450 with separate bearing carriers ran cool enough for components to survive
Pete had to keep upgrading components on 360 until even military spec stuff could only just cope, made it uneconomical so he stopped doing CB/CJ250/360 units.
I don't remember when he stopped production 6~7 years ago?
 
crazypj said:
I don't remember when he stopped production 6~7 years ago?
Click to expand...
Seems easily that long or longer, and I heard that someone copied his schematic and had EIs made in China that got sold as Pamcos which was the last straw for him to retire.
 
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