aftermarket TCI compatibility.

[Smallkat]

Fantastic news! You've done really well to persevere with this one and track down the extremely elusive problem. Hats off to you.

[Uncle Bob]

Great news, well done for getting it going, you must be a happy man!

I still think the signal disk in yours was correct though, but wrong ignitor! Here's the part from the parts manual which shows the 2nd type (labelled as 1993) in your image on the first page of this thread, so that is the correct one.

I have a part image of the one in my bike (needed to take cover off for repair) which is definitely a 1992 bike and even from that, looking at the tangs and rivet position I'd say the one in my bike matches the one in the parts diagram above.

If you've now got the first type as shown in your image then a Bandit signal disk with the Bandit ignitor and it works..? That might well show the Chinese ignitors aren't generic (which I know as the 250 one has a different rev limiter to the 400 (from another post)).

Whatever it's working and you can have some fun, and the best bit - at least you know the carbs are as spotless as a spotless thing

UB

[Smallkat]

My Chinese ignitor is marked GN77A, so definitely not generic.

[johnD]

Hi all.
If it appears that original equipment 'igniters' are failing, then we have to throw ourselves on the mercy of the Chinese aftermarket devices. I was going to buy a replacement igniter, but non available are advertised as purely GK77 compatible, they ALL claim to be direct replacements accross all the flavours of 400. That is why, and I will still be interested in, trying this igniter on a known, good running Kat. I can only state, with certainty, that the CDI-1 device, obviously, does not work with the timing rotor in my machine. If that is the OE rotor, then a few more unfortunates might be caught by this incompatibility.
With prices in the £80 range, its not a chance you want to take too many times!
But a standard Bandit rotor/starter clutch can be had for a few quid, I'm relieved to say.
My best guess is that the original igniter packed up, a previous owner believed the advertising, bought this igniter, found the bike was still not working and moved the bike on a quickly as possible.
Poor old Bill thought the same as I did, even spent a deal of money at various motorcycle emporiums, I can have some empathy with them..... What did throw me, Bill and all the others he trusted to sort it, was that the damn thing WOULD start, rough as all hell, smokey as a coal fired power station, but it ran.... All I can fathom is that, occasionally, the igniter would lock on a random rotor tang that roughly coincided with the signal it was expecting. I did find the on board CPU clock crystal was iffy due to a dry joint, maybe it was generating a spurious signal every now and again?
Still, a lot of head scratching, but odly satisfying to have cracked it!
Cheers and, once again, a heartfelt thank you to all who have helped/commiserated.....

[Tonykat]

Looks like I am starting a collection of units . Not easy to get into. Both replacements seem to be working, see how they work after a year or so.