[Jandrews]

I have a custom built motorcycle that sits a lot. Recently, it wouldn't start, so I immediately suspected that bad fuel had turned to varnish in the carb. I took apart and cleaned every single piece of the carb, several times, and still no start.

I then pulled a plug, and held it to ground while cranking. Seems like there is either no spark at all, or very, very weak. I tried the other plug (V-Twin), and it sparked very, very weak.

So, I am assuming it is either a bad coil or bad ignition module at this point. I would like to methodically test the system in a way that makes sense for tracing spark. The lifecycle of the spark goes battery, key switch, ignition module, coil, points, plug wires, and then plug. Is that right? If so, how can I go about testing the system end-to-end? Or will the fact that it might be sparking (however weak), make it difficult to find fault?

I can take pics if it would help someone provide assistance. No offense to motorcycle forums, but the guys there don't have the same communication skills as the guys here. I was reading one post where a guy was describing a testing procedure, and it went something like, "u gotta play telephone lineman to see who died at what pole. Put a wire on the + coil and put another wire on the battery and touch it to ground". What????

Anyway, I figured one of the guru's here would be able help me walk through step by step.

Thanks in advance (no pun intended)!!

JA