help no spark 83 big red

[hregalado4]

I have an 83 big red it is getting no spark at all.changed the plug ,coil,cdi,kill switch,basically everything but the stator.any suggestions before i buy this expensive part? any help is greatly appreciated.

[tripowersport]

Test the ohm's Here is the manual and it tells you what they are, good luck. http://www.oscarmayer.net/atc/manuals/

[tripowersport]

If the stator is good check all the wires.

[hregalado4]

thanks tri your the man.

[tripowersport]

lol thanks,I hope that helps you tho.

[hregalado4]

well i ended up getting a 85 250 sx today with a few problems soo ......big red on hold for a min lol

[kb0nly]

Other than checking the stator with an ohm meter also check it for voltage while cranking. I have had them ohm out ok but the voltage output is low. It's AC voltage output, so set your meter to AC and put the positive lead to the wire from the stator and the ground lead to the frame and crank it and see what you get. 10-30v is what the service manuals seem to show, the faster it cranks the higher the voltage, so at starting speed you should see at least the bottom end around 10v or more.

[hregalado4]

thanks kb,just out of curiosity what causes a stator to go bad?anyone know?i recently replaced the front sprocket,which is complicated by the hi low, and is pretty involved. had a washer loose in there from the back of the starter gear where it meets the flywheeel,it ended up in the magnet around the stator,but i didnt drive it after i noticed the noise and took it apart and put it when it should have been.ran fine after this for a while.could this be the prob?could it have damaged the stator?no noticable damage when i looked at it.

[kb0nly]

It could have damaged it, but there is so many things that cause these to fail. To heavy of a current draw will heat them up and melt the enamel off the wire in the coils and cause shorts and low voltages. Also sometimes they get something in them that chews them up, this is because the flywheel is such a huge magnet that any loose metal in there just gets sucked in faster than donuts at a cop shop... LOL

[hregalado4]

ok soo i checked it out it says the resistance was like 230 same as my 82 soo that was ok checked the ac it jumps around yeah?the first reading was around 30 same as the 82 soo seems ok.im thinking its a freaking wire short or something.its driving me mad....lol...now i got the 85 i cant even think about her right now lol.thanks for your help man im gonna eventually rebuild these,and hand em down to my kids.

[kb0nly]

Just start chasing the voltages... This has been discussed on here a few times, but basically you need to check the voltage input and output of the pulse generator to make sure thats working then check for voltage from the pulse generator to the CDI box, then from the CDI to the coil. If you have voltage everywhere, about 10-30v from the stator to the pulse generator and then 10-30 output from the pulse generator, then you should see about 100v or more on the output of the CDI to the coil. If there is voltage everywhere but still no spark then ohm out your coil, and check the plug wire and plug cap, they get corroded where the wire screws into them. I fixed a couple by unscrewing the spark plug wire and chopping off a half inch off each end and putting it back together, this lets the screw in the coil and spark plug cap dig into fresh wire and get a better connection.

Also check your kill switch and make sure its not grounding the kill wire to the CDI. Go over every connection... And pray. LOL!! Seriously though, if you got voltage from the stator/exciter then your most likely culprits are a wiring problem, a bad CDI, or a bad coil/plug wire. It seems like there has been a rash of CDI failures lately on here and a few other forums i am on. All these older trikes and quads are running on 20+ year old CDI boxes, the capacitors and components in them are starting to fail with age is my bet. I put a new CDI from www.dratv.com on my 84 and wow what a difference! I did a writeup on here about my experience as well. Although the stupid search is broken otherwise i would say look for it that way... LOL

[hregalado4]

sounds like that is my next option following the path to the plug.has to be somewhere in there its gonna suck if i have to take it to some1 and they fingd a simple ground problem or something,and charge me an arm and leg.if i have to i will though shes a honda i know she is alive in there...lol.thanks again.

[hregalado4]

cool website too.not bad prices.