Spark Problems

[mike11743]

So my blaster has been sitting outside in the 20 degree weather for the last minth. I pulled it in the garage last night to warm up, and it has no spark. My wiring is a nightmare becuase someone eliminated the key and rigged up aftermarket headlights. Anyways, I'm following my service manual, and according to it, my source coil, and my ignition coil are both out of spec (showing 0 ohms). Also, my sparkplug cap is showing 0 ohms of resistance Is it possible for both coils to go bad at the same time or is one controlling the other?

 

[scotj77]

this sounds like a problem for royalt. he'll chime in soon don't worry. he does his rounds every couple of days for unanswered posts and electricle seems to be his strong poing

 

[scotj77]

bump for a dude that needs some help

 

[mike11743]

After doing some more testing, the source coil is still failing the resistance test at 0 ohms according to the service manual, but the feed wire to the coil (orange one) shows about 2 or 3 AC volts when I kick over the motor. I assume that this means everything up to the coil is working fine if I am getting voltage to the coil, right??

 

[2stroke4ever]

be very particular about what sort of equiptment your testing with before you start checking things off good or bad, i'm not saying you have junk tools or don't know what your doing but i'm a prof tech and this is were i go with every electrical self diagnosed problem i see.......... what kinda meter and leads are you using and have you verified this equitment works on another source?

 

[km200]

Hmm I don't know sounds like ur coil might be toast I would do some more testing on stuff though for sure!

 

[mvyooper]

I tested two coils (one brand new) with a high quality tester and both showed .5 ohms which is well below what the manual shows as within tolerance. However, both coils worked perfect. I tested every single electrical component on the blaster and finally and with some luck pinpointed the problem to a bad/mismatched flywheel. My point? The manual gives you the textbook answer, which isn't always the right answer.

 

[88' blaster]

you need a flywheel? i got one its for an 88 Tho. i dont now if it matters

 

[km200]

Are we talkin about a stator or is that the word for flywheel lol!

 

[royalt67]

be very particular about what sort of equiptment your testing with before you start checking things off good or bad, i'm not saying you have junk tools or don't know what your doing but i'm a prof tech and this is were i go with every electrical self diagnosed problem i see.......... what kinda meter and leads are you using and have you verified this equitment works on another source?

I couldn't agree more. You must have a half-way decent digital meter at least. An analog meter just won't cut it when you are trying to measure small resistances.

Mike do you still have a problem? Where are you at on this? It sounds like you are following the manual, but give us an update if you still need help.

 

[Braaaptor]

Keep us posted! I like to lurk in the shadows and read more than talk B) but I can also help with electrical problems. If you are after good test equipment, many a questionable part has been poked by my Fluke meter with accurate results. Fluke meters are not the cheapest, but they work well in my experience.

Also, before condemning anything under the flywheel, hook everything back together which you may have taken apart, and pull the orange wire that goes to the ignition coil off its spade terminal. Get a 12V test light, make sure that it works, and attach one end to a good ground on the engine. Attach the other end to the orange coil wire and kick the engine over with the ignition 'on'.

If the light flashes with every revolution of the crank, you are getting a 12V pulse to the igntion coil from the CDI box, and it can be assumed that the coil is not functioning correctly. If the light stays dark, the problem lies elsewhere, likely under the flywheel where you have been looking.

Just a quick test to try....

 

[mike11743]

Well I just so happened to pick up a parts blaster basically for free earlier in the week, and it's source coil tested good so I began to swap stators. I tear mine on the quad all apart and there was rust everyehere. On the coils, the stator plate, and the inside of the flywheel. Probably could be cleaned up and fixed, but anyways I put my other stator and flywheel form the parts quad in and sure enough I have spark.

So I go to take it for a ride and it's fine for 10 mins, but suddenly died in the middle of powerband going up a snowy hill. Apparently I didn't tighten the stator nut tight enougn and it spun off because the stator wasn't spinning but the crank was when I kick it over. Basically I didnt have any spark at that point, so I run to get a socket and ratchet and tighten it up and my sparks back. Still wont start though. but the flywheel at least moves with the crank. So assuming I have spark, that would mean I didnt shear off my stator key right? I thought that the kickstarter felt kinda weak (like I can just let my foot sit on it and it will go all the way down) so I grabbed a compression checker and have a little over 105 PSI which I know is really low, but I was down way below that before my last top end and it still ran. The kickstarter kinda feels like it doesnt have any resistance until the very end of the kick most of the time, kinda like the signs of real low compression. Basically can a sheared key on the crank cause the motor to feel like it doesnt have compression (i dont think so, but I dont really know) or does it sound like I need a top end.

 

[royalt67]

No there should be no relation between the two. However, you most likely sheared the key. Retightening the nut will get you a spark, but not the correct timing. Hence, it doesn't run. At least it doesn't run backwards. That can be a shock.

3 bucks for a key at the dealer and you will be back in business. Most hardward store don't carry metric woodruff keys. I've heard of corrosion affecting things that way but not seen it myself. Thanks for the update.

 

[mike11743]

Well it does look like sheared off the keyway that lines the stator up on the crank. Wouldn't that require a new crank then? That would be excellent news if it was not part of the crank seeing that crank is only like a 6 month old hotrods crank.