What did I do? No spark 1985 250es

[ahardwick]

Had my machine running ready for ice fishing. My stupid butt left the key on and killed the battery. I hooked to my 1.5 amp charger to charge the battery, Left it charging over night. Next day went out and started it. Well the battery must not have charged well because it went dead soon after. I charged it again, same result. So I went and bought a new battery, charged it up and installed it. Went to start it and could not get it to fire. Pulled the plug and seen I had no spark. The spark plug wire looked broke so I ordered a new coil with wire and boot. Just put it on and still no spark. Now I am wondering if I fried something. I happened to have an extra cdi box swapped it and still nothing. Where should I look next? did my charger fry something.

I bought this machine 5 years ago in pieces. I put it together and had no spark. The stator was burnt on one side so I replaced it. Cleaned out the carb and changed the oil. She ran. Since then it has nickled and dimed me to the point I am about done with it. All the plastic is good except the trunk lid, good tires, new plastic gas tank, was a strong running machine. If I have to drop another $100 in it I am just going to part it out or sell it outright the way it sits.

Any suggestions on components I can test?

[DohcBikes]

I would check the source coil and the stator. Also the fuses and use a new plug.

[ahardwick]

Is the source coil the same as the pulse coil? I have an extra one of those too.

[DohcBikes]

Yes, two names for the same thing. Also known as exciter or pulsar coil.

Remember that extra parts can be faulty as well, get the specs and ohm test the coils. There may be a live test spec for both as well. The test procedures will be out lined in the service manual.

[rdlsz24]

Does your green neutral light come on?

Rob

[tri again]

SILLY fuse down and aft of the cdi box.
Plastic box inside ribber boot. looks like a mini end wrench.
Do you have neutral light?
I have a couple that will NOT estart but will kickstart.
Some great threads lately on this topic.
Try search key?
Or you can call me collect.
do NOT give up on this great machine.

[ahardwick]

Does your green neutral light come on?

Rob

Yes it does

[ahardwick]

Checked over every fuse, swapped cdi's. Went and got a new plug. Still nothing. I talked to the guy at the motorcycle shop and he said there is no way I fried something just charging the battery. I'm going to have to get my buddy over here with a tester and start testing things because I do not have a tester, and I know nothing about electrical besides household 110.

[DohcBikes]

Still haven't test the source coil? The one that tells the CDI to spark in the first place.....

[ahardwick]

Still haven't test the source coil? The one that tells the CDI to spark in the first place.....
I do not have a way to test it, or the first clue how to test it. I figured I would look into the other suggestions before I roiled the side cover off. I have to have someone who knows what they are doing come over and test it for me. Or I could just swap it out with the other one I have while I wait.

[kebby28]

Just throwing it out there. Hows your kill switch on the handle bar?
I never use it so I kind of always forget its there. I hit it on accident once and sat on the trail scratching my head for an hour... lol.
I don't remember if it shuts the green light off or not.

[Flyingw]

Lets get the part names right. The Exciter coil is on the inside of the flywheel. When the flywheel spins, it induces an AC voltage and is sent to the CDI where it is stored. The Pulse coil is on the outside of the flywheel. When the small magnet on the outside of the flywheel passes by the Pulse coil, a small AC voltage is sent to the CDI telling it to discharge the stored AC voltage. That AC voltage is sent to the ignition coil where it is stepped up in the secondary side of the Ignition coil and used to fire the spark plug. Very simple system.

Since the Neutral light is illuminating, that says the primary fuse right off the battery is good. The green light is turned on by a ground that comes from the switch on the clutch side enabling the estart solenoid. It also sends that ground to the CDI telling it the motor is in the correct position to start. The run/stop switch is normally open to start the engine. Placing the run/stop switch in the stop position sends a ground to the CDI preventing it from storing any AC voltage that comes from the exciter coil. Lighting, ignition, and charging systems all work independently but do share common frame ground.

Follow the book. With the exception to the CDI, all other electrical components can be checked with a common multimeter.

[DohcBikes]

Lets get the part names right. The Exciter coil is on the inside of the flywheel. When the flywheel spins, it induces an AC voltage and is sent to the CDI where it is stored. The Pulse coil is on the outside of the flywheel. What the small magnet on the outside of the flywheel passes by the Pulse coil, a small AC voltage is sent to the CDI telling it to discharge the stored AC voltage. That AC voltage is sent to the ignition coil where it is stepped up in the secondary side of the Ignition coil and used to fire the spark plug. Very simple system

Thanks FlyingW, I should have thought about that longer before I said it was all the same.

I think the manuals and specs are available somewhere here on the site?:wondering

Keep us posted, if you need the specs I'll look them up and post them, Good Luck!

[Flyingw]

No worries Brother. It's all good.

[tri again]

Just throwing it out there. Hows your kill switch on the handle bar?
I never use it so I kind of always forget its there. I hit it on accident once and sat on the trail scratching my head for an hour... lol.
I don't remember if it shuts the green light off or not.
I've done tht too.
Hit the kill sw with my foot dismounting and didn't notice.

ON topic, I had a 200x with bad spark.
Turns out that the kill switch ground is ALSO the main ground for the CDI TO work.
..so it kills AND gives life.

[ahardwick]

It runs now. Salt does some stuff I wouldn't wish on anyone. My buddy came over and basically started pulling things apart and cleaning connections. Seems to be the kill switch was very corroded inside we think due to salt spray from trailering all winter. I only use it for ice fishing so it sees some harsh spray often. What I think happened was when I didn't start I pulled the plug. Noticed the plug wire was nearly broken in half. In the mean time of trying to get spark. I was flipping the kill switch back and forth and must have dislodged crap in there. Explained why when you turned the key on I got the neutral light, and the electric start worked, but didn't notice the headlight switch was also corroded.

My new plan is after the season is I am going to pull the battery instead of leaving it in there. And just go over all the electrical connections cleaning them and using dielectric grease. This should have came into my head because we have a lot of problems with trailer hookups after winter due to salt and corrosion.

So that's the story.