1981 Honda atc200

[spepple]

I just bought a 1981 Honda atc200 off someone I know for 80$. He did not touch it since he bought it. The previous guy pulled the jug and head and re-ringed it.The trike didn't run when I got it, wiring was half hacked, so I fixed all the wiring right. After I finished the wiring I never did have consistent spark. I pulled the coil off, cleaned contacts. I was able to get it running, but it's blowing oil out the exhaust. I know it could be the jug is too worn. but I'm thinking valve seals.

Since I got it running it has now quit and I'm lucky to get spark 1/10 times.

Any and all input is appreciated.

[tri again]

Hi and welcome.
Do you have a
service manual
?
Oil blowing may be muffler residue from old worn out engine or seals, as you said.
Spark?
Grounds x 10, clean 'em all. Some folks have changed entire wire harnesses only to admit the old ones were probably ok but simply by going through EVERY connection, they magically work.
or
search key for 'no spark'. you'll get tons of suggestions in one click.

I usually read all posts even if they don't apply to my machine.
200?
Look under the cover that says 'cdi'.
There's a plate that rotates with little return springs, as I recall and it gets rustdusty for some reason.
There's a pickup in there, I forget the name..trigger coil? kinda replaces the points.

Just be careful or you'll wind up with a garage full of trikes.
They're so loveable, even when on injured reserve.
ps-
nip off the last tiny bit of the coil wire so the spark plug cap has fresh copper to bite into.
Free and fast and has been known to fix the strangest intermittent spark problems.
New (not cleaned) plug?
Do you get spark more frequently when it's cold?
if so, hit stuff one at a time with a hairdryer, like cdi, coil etc.
Maybe try to ohm the stator coil?
I had 2 of those and was able to swap known working parts to the misbehaving one.
Drove me nutts for weeks.
Simply would not start with the e start (200es) but would fire instantly with 1/2 kick.( (sorry, 'pull')

Lots of great suggestions for these in the search key.
PLEASE let us know what you find.

[spepple]

I did nip off the end of the spark plug wire that goes into coil. Yes it's a new plug. I did try to ohm the stator coil. Wasn't able to get nothing out of it, however my meter battery is low, which might be the culprit there. and aside from valve seals causing the leak, what about leaky valve guides? Secondly. is there a way to get the flywheel off to replace stator instead of buying the removal tool? what's "free and fast"?

[spepple]

Also everything I've seen about the research I've done is the stators are pretty prone to going out compared to most other electrical issues.

[bikerboy]

what a great deal for $80!!!

[spepple]

well the guy I bought it off of didn't touch it, the guy before him that had it obviously was an idiot, he forgot to put the bolt back on the cam button under the cdi cover so it'd
pop out of the slot, reason for inconsistent spark...and I've got the oil situation figured out, so yeah it was a great deal for 80 bucks lol.

[spepple]

the guy that re-ringed it either didn't know what he was doing and didn't offset the rings, or its just from the fact he never changed the oil when he did so, so they never seated properly and it's getting a little blowby. Will update you guys this weekend when I pull head and jug to verify.

[bikerboy]

I'm a bit jealous of your bargain find

[kb0nly]

Thats a good deal even if you put some time and labor into it.

[spepple]

Thats a good deal even if you put some time and labor into it.

yep, i like working on toys.

[spepple]

so i pulled the head and jug tonight, i've got 28 thousandths ring gap on new rings. little slop in piston which is probably normal from lack of minimal gap spacing. whats your guy's opinions, bore it and put a new piston in?

[kb0nly]

Hard to say without getting some measuring done on the bore, but my guess is if they put new rings in it once already without doing a bore and hone then it likely was smoking bad before and they tried to save a buck by just putting in new rings... Which hardly ever works because the bore is worn out too far.

I would do a bore and hone and new piston and rings on it and make it last another 20 years!

[spepple]

yep exactly what they did and exactly what I'm doing.