Need Help with my Kawaski KLT250A wire harness

[dwbishop]

Hey guys, I'm new here and I'm looking for help with my KLT250A. I have put the wire harness back together according to the wiring diagrams I've been able to find. I have power to my lights now, but nothing else... If anybody has a way to hot wire or trouble shoot the starter anything like that would be helpful. I'm honestly about the through in the towel and just but a new one but I need to know if my starter is good or not and if I need to get a new cdi box, solenoid, etc. Thanks again guys.

[ps2fixer]

To ignore everything else and just force the starter to have power to see if it cranks the engine over, you can jump the two big lugs on the starter solenoid. It will arc and such, try to keep it on the nuts and not the threads. You could also disconnect the battery, jump both cables onto one lug of the starter solenoid, and use the loose battery cable to connect the power, again arcing will happen.

The wire diagrams aren't exactly great, so I'm not 100% sure which wires to provide power and ground to to test/activate the solenoid.

Anyway, the above test only validates the starter works, if it doesn't spin up right away, check the battery cables to the starter. The starter is likely rebuildable, could take it apart and check the health of it, see how much is left for brushes and if there's any damage like burnt contacts, rust, bad bearings, etc.

You can also ohm the starter, positive wire to engine ground. There's no real spec, but it should be pretty low ohms, under 100, I'm thinking more around 1-5ohms. If it reads high ohms, it could be a bad connection, if it reads dead short, it's possible the starter was overheated and internally shorted out.

I've had a lot of people asking about klt250 harnesses lately, wish I had more Kawasaki harnesses on hand to really know the differences. I have Honda 3 wheelers covered really well, just not the other brands. Based on the wire diagrams I have access to, the power comes in at the ignition switch, and passes to the kill switch, one side goes to lights, the other side goes to the electric start circuit. It might be possible the handle bar controls are bad but I've never taken any apart to validate the design.

Should be a good start on the diag work. Do you have a multi meter for taking voltage and ohm readings?

[350for350]

Corey, you should have something laying around for this. I lent you the harness off of my 1982 KLT250 and you sent me a new harness back.

[ps2fixer]

Corey, you should have something laying around for this. I lent you the harness off of my 1982 KLT250 and you sent me a new harness back.

Sadly, in 83 the harnesses changed. I don't know what all changed. Also the P vs C/A seems to use different harnesses according to the wire diagram I have.

Here's a quick list of part numbers.

26001-4015 (82-83 KLT250 A)
26001-4018 (82-83 KLT250 A, 83-85 KLT250 C) - Note says frame number under 502800
26001-4026 (82-83 KLT250 A, 83-85 KLT250 C, 84 KLT250 P) - Note says Late production, probably means after frame 502800

Sadly, those interchanges don't really make much sense, unless the first part number is like the first batch they made, second is second batch, and the third is the final batch, and all 3 are exactly the same. It's not exactly clear. There isn't many listed on ebay, so not like I can try to find patterns there. Since this is one of the most confusing parts I've came across, I'm limiting myself to buying the harnesses with the part number intact and readable so I can really understand if there truly is a difference or not.

[350for350]

I believe that the early ones had a vacuum fuel pump while the later ones had an electric one. Other than that, I have no idea what may have changed.

[dwbishop]

Okay I will try that, I also have the engine and working harness separated from the frame. I thought I grounded everything out but just to make sure is there anything I might have missed?

[dwbishop]

I have the engine and wire harness separated from the frame and propped up on my bench. I grounded the harness like in the frame but just to be safe is there any other grounds coming off the wire harness I may not be aware of?

[ps2fixer]

The wire diagrams I have aren't exactly great, but you have the spark plug ground, neutral switch ground, starter motor (so the engine needs to be grounded), battery gets grounded to frame/engine, fuel pump has a ground and I think that's about it for actual ground points. Neutral light doesn't effect spark like some Honda models.