I a couple weeks ago I picked up 125M in pieces from a guy in town. The price was to help him get his ATC200 fixed. The 125M has a major engine issue that probably cannot be repaired without a new case, but it may be worth parting out.
So this weekend he brought me the '81 200 that he had bought non-running, wouldn't start and had no spark. First, we found the exciter coil was open. Took that apart and found broken wires where the coil connects to the ground lug. Scraped the coated copper wires and resoldered, and then we got the 200 ohms we expected to see across that coil. Incidentally, the book says 245 ohms, but both the 200 engines we checked measured around 200 ohms.
Figuring we had it in the bag, tried to start it, and still nothing. It would backfire once in a while, but showed no signs of actually starting. Checked the spark and it was there, but it still seemed weak to me. Replaced the coil, no change. Didn't have an ignition module to test. The CDI pulser had already been replaced, and both the old and new one measured the same, about 30 ohms.
At this point we sort of ran out of ideas and he went home, leaving it with me to work on it another day. Being the obsessive compulsive type, I took about an hour break, then was back at it again. I started focusing on the CDI. I noticed that there's a key that holds the centrifugal advance in the right position, but the actual rotor comes out seperately and can go in both ways! Couldn't be that stupid, could it? Yep, sure was! The rotor was installed "upside down", or 180 degrees off. The thing start up on the first pull and ran perfectly.
I might have spent more time fixing this than the 125M parts are worth, but it was worth it to put another trike back on the trail. The guy he bought these trikes from should be stripped of his toolbox and forbidden to work on three-wheelers ever again.
Originally Posted by fabiodriven
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