quad wont start

[uchi]

we were out riding today, i was on the pred and she died in themiddle of the woods. the kid i got her from had lost the ignition key and had put the ignition wires on a toggle switch. its a 4 wire connector and he had connecter 2 of the wires through a switch. its worked fine. this morning i found it was acting up a little but wasnt bad. then when she died i found out the switch was finished. it would work if held but not if i let it go. so me being dumb i went wheeling without my multi tool and had to pull that toggle switch out and splice the wires together to get home. i did that and it worked no problem. got about a km from hom and it died. wires still attached and no power going to the system. so we towed it behind my buddys quad i washed her off and just started to toy with it. i reconnected the wires and noticed the neutral light turned on, meaning shes getting power. i hit the start button and hear a slightly click from the battery area and the neutral light went off. so i unhooked the 2 wires, hooked them back up again and lights on again, push the button and just a click. and now the light isnt even coming on. there power at one of the wires and power at the battery. short of that im lost. im trying to find the fuses on this stupid thing but unlike my honda the rear plastics dont come off with the seat, they stay on. so right now im getting power to where the ignition switch would be and when i connect the wires theres no power anywhere else.

[uchi]

well it randomly lights up the neutral switch, but as soon as i hit the start button i hear a click and then it goes away. could this be the cdi box?

[storms400ex]

try one of your buddy's battery's in it, your old one might not be good

[uchi]

i think you may be right. i may pull the 400 battery out. the green light comes on now but it isnt always very bright. and i notice when i hit the start button itll click and then the light wont come back for a minute or so. but, when i put my battery pack on it she fires right up and will stay running even with the pack unhooked.

think you may be right though. oh well, i had a feeling this battery was starting to crap out. hope this isnt the start of many expenses to come, lol. thanks man

[Ryanwolfe911]

Either that, or the battery terminals are loose or corroded. If they are, it will light up the electronics, but wion't hold a heavy load, such as a starter motor.

Check the actual integrity of the battery cables themselves as well. I'd get a volt meter, and do a voltage drop test from one end of the other, with them unhooked on each end.

[uchi]

How do I test for voltage drop?
Cables look good. The volt meter shows the same readin at the battery terminals. Cables where they leave the battery and at the ignition switch cable. I'm starting to wonder something though. The ignition switch has 6 wires leading to it. Only 2 are being used now. What would the other 4 be for?

[Ryanwolfe911]

2 of the wires at the key switch are redundant extra wires for the kill switch, that's why you can use either the switch or the key to turn your bike off.

To test for a voltage drop, unhook your positive cable at the starter solenoid end, and set your volt meter to the milli amps scale. Put the red lead on the postive battery terminal, and the black on the unhooked end. You should see less than .50 milliamps of voltage on the screen (you need a digital DVOM for this) if the integrity of the wire is intact. SOmetimes you can't tell. The wire can look great on the outside, but be full of green dust on in the middle of the wire, and you'd never know it.

Alternativley, unhook both of the ends of your pos and neg cables, set the DVOM to the OHMS scale, and check resistance. It should be less than 1 ohm per foot. This is less reliable diagnosis however.

Also, make sure that the area where the neg. cable gounds to the frame is very clean. Doesn't take much to screw up that ground, as it's in a very susecptable location.

[uchi]

Perfect thanks a lot. That's this weeks task I guess. Ill let you know the results.

[Ryanwolfe911]

Glad I can be of help. If you ever have a question, let me know, I've been a Honda technician for 17 years now, and I've seen it all.

[uchi]

right on, i havent had the time to do the check yet but last night i couldnt get her to fire at all, not even with the power pack on. think the power pack was dieing and when i put the charger on the battery it got screwy, first read that its completely dead then charged to 13 volts fast then when id try to start it it would shut my charger off. real weird. so i put in the battery out of the 400. and she fired up right away, no hesitiation, no bull****. so im thinking thats what my problem was for sure. hoping to do a ride today, gonna stay close to home for a couple rides no need to get stuck miles away from here. thanks again for the help