help..PLEASE so frustrated

[f150mann]

theres been several times i get frustrated with things, and swear i am gonna burn it. well my darn 400ex has me so mad im CLOSE to really doing it. i really am lost guys hopefully someone can help me....

i tore the thing down to bare frame and redid it all, im in the very final steps and was trying to start it but i had no fire.. so i began troubleshooting. i had no live power going to anything! i have my solenoid and start button wired direct, but you need the key for it to have fire. but there isnt even power going to the key, so i searched and searched, cant find any live power!

where is the fire place that gets live wire on it?? i dont really understand how it gets its power.

i tore everything off so i can see every single wire, something ive found that seems really weird to me is, the "silicon rectifier" thing has ground coming into one side, and out of the other just changing the amount of current, right?? so theres a weak ground coming out of it, which goes to the solenoid.

but when you push the start button on it, it turns to a live! this boggled me severly, is this what is supposed to happen????

this wire is one of the small wires on the solenoid, on the left side is the same type wire which is live all the time, and this one is a ground that turns to a live when u push the start, can anyone help?

[DementeD]

i wish i knew more about these id definitely help you out..

but im unsure of the wiring on it..

however i do know the first thing the battery runs to is that lil box with the fuses in it..right infront of the battery...make sure the fuses arent blown and are installed firmly..

if i knew more about this id through out more things to consider..but i dont sry...good luck

[f150mann]

thank you, heres my problem though...no fuses or anything with fuses, the wiring was hacked and rewired without fuses from the original owner.. i had it a year and it worked great..now i am confused as ****

[m36indiana]

if you repaited it, ck ground on subframe where it meets main frame

[the Z Man]

Just for now, run a wire from the hot side of the selanoid to the key switch and try that.

[f150mann]

i was actually thinking that, but which wire on the key switch is supposed to have the power to it???

[the Z Man]

doesn't matter, one side in other side out.. ir it don't work right, turn them around./

[DementeD]

my honest opinion...buy a harness of ebay or something

a complete harness is about 100 bucks and would probably fix ur issue and give u peace of mind later on down the road

or if u can figure it out..im sure the more knowledgeable people will be able to get u going..

[tri5ron]

AHhh to heck with what everybody else says,
I like your idea better.

take off the gas cap, stuff a rag in half way, and start flicking matches at it:eek2:

But before you do that, check your ground wires.

[f150mann]

grounds are good checked em all. im gonna try running the hot wire to the key and see what that does. i would buy a new harness, except im actually selling it asap. so i dont want to sink anymore money into it.

2008 suzuki 450 coming at the end of the month

[imc188222]

I don't know exactly what wires you are talking about (I'm out of state and don't have my quad here to look at) but if you have a ground wire that you see power on when the circuit is energized, that means that the ground is not good, it can't flow as much current as the load requires. There is always power on the ground side when the circuit is energized, you can't see it unless the ground is bad because electricity takes the easiest path to ground and the only way it will travel through your test light/multimeter is if it is the path of least resistance. Hope this helps. Study up on electrical theory, it should make this child's play.

[f150mann]

well i grinded off everything that could be, grounds are all really good. still nothing


there is no live power anywhere! nothing going to the cdi or key, i ran a wire from pos on the battery to the key, there is now a live coming to and from the key, and they both run to the voltage thingy in the very back of the subframe, but then it ends, no lives coming out of it. im so damn confused, anyone have any idea????

where does the power go from the battery? big one to your solenoid, but thats it? theres gotta be something connecting to the battery so that the whole bike gets power right? what is it supposed to be!

[klutch]

What exactly is happening? Like when you turn the key an dhit the button? Does it do just like a little click or something?

[f150mann]

no, there is no power on this bike anywhere!

i wired up the starter button directly to the solenoid, with new wires, away from everything else, that is why it will turn over fine. i need power to everything else for **** to work!

[klutch]

Oh. hmm... all I could think of was maybe it being the Stator... but if the bike starts while connected to the solenoid I have no clue...
:ermm:

[01 400EXer]

I know this may sound stupid and you probably already checked.

Is you battery charged? It could have gone dead while you had the bike torn apart.

Just a thought.

[f150mann]

nope, it isnt something that stupid. i have a new battery and i had the charger on it.

[01 400EXer]

Do you have a volt meter?

[f150mann]

yes

[lawdog800]

power goes from positive side of battery into solenoid and into fuse block out of fuse block in a red/silver stripe wire and out to main harness.. also a yellow blue and yellow red wires come from solenoid up into main harness..

[lawdog800]

another

[f150mann]

yeah ive got all that, tht just makes it roll over, which it does fine

[lawdog800]

The red wire also goes then to the regulator and over to the ignition switch............

Also check something REALLY STUPID....(I did this before...) check the little red engine kill switch....I was going nuts when my new Arctic Cat DVX would not start..and I found the engine kill switch had been switched to OFF.....DUH...

[lawdog800]

SO it turns over but no spark to fire???

[f150mann]

yes

[lawdog800]

Are you getting power to the coil???

[lawdog800]

I can e-mail you a copy of the 2000 wiring diagram if you like....

[shallow518]

did you plug your coil in, and if you did you might have a bad boot, possibly bad coil.

[shallow518]

this is the coil plug

[f150mann]

i am not an idiot, it isnt unplugged. there is no power going to the coil

[imc188222]

I don't think anyone on here is calling you an idiot. Some of the people on here that take the time try to help people make their living fixing things and we know to start simple. The first thing to do is always to check the simple obvious things, everyone forgets things and how much of a fool you feel does not compare to how stupid you feel after checking everything else first and having it be something simple and obvious in the end. If you really want to figure this out you need to do definitive tests that completely eliminate parts not 'that should be good enough checks'. Make sure the the black/white wire at the ignition module is not grounded. If it is, the coil will not get any signal. Check you other thread. If you would just stick to one thread it would make it alot easier for people to answer you. If the thread gets buried just bump it to the top.

[shallow518]

maby try a diffrent cdi box. if you mave a bad cdi box it might ground power to your coil

[01 400EXer]

A friend of mine had an issue with his spark plug cap on a 2003 400EX to where for no reason he was not getting spark through to the plug. This was a matter of where his bike ran fine the last time he rode which was a week earlier and then all of the sudden no spark.

He luckly decided to take the spark plug cap off first and for some reason the coil wire to the plug cap was not making a good contact any more. So he stripped a little bit of insulation off of the coil wire and screwed the spark plug cap back on and he then had spark.

Stuff as easy as this happens, I have had it happen to numerous snowmobiles.

Can you test to see if you are getting power to the coil or at least before the coil where it plugs in?

Check and re-check all connections to make sure you are getting good contact.

Another thought is if you have any friends with a 400EX that will allow you to swap parts to maybe pinpoint the problem?