No spark on my ex

[ridehonda400ex]

Okay its not on my 400ex but its my 300ex project my dad bought me to learn wiring, its a 1996 and the previous owner re-did the wire well it looked like crap and didnt start good but the engine ran fine and was rebuilt not to long ago. So now I re-did some of it and im using the battery off my sisters 300ex and it cranks good and fast put doesnt get spark. I got it to spark once or twice but now it wont. I also have a spark tester with a dial gauge and it would not move the needle at all. I tried an old plug from my 400ex to see if it would spark but it wont either.

What should I do next? I have a digital multimeter but I have no idea how to use because theres so many settings, Im gonna do some research tho about the multimeter to see if I can learn.

[honda400ex2003]

id def get a wiring diagram of it and work from there. theres either a short or it is grounding out somehow.

you can test voltage and amperage(ohms) pretty easy on it

you can use the amp setting to check to see if wires are broken, if there is resistance the wire is good, if not, it isnt. this is holding the wires with one at each end to go through the wire itself. this would at least show that the wire is good where it is sitting, not necessarily that it is perfect.

def learn how to use the tester, it will help you out alot. what kind is it?

steve

[ridehonda400ex]

The whole damn thing needs re-wired i just dont have enough stuff to do it.

And my meter looks exactly like this:

http://www.worldofstock.com/stock_photos/BTE2000.php

[ridehonda400ex]

Btw I have a manual with a wiring digram

[DnB_racing]

Originally posted by honda400ex2003
id def get a wiring diagram of it and work from there. theres either a short or it is grounding out somehow.

you can test voltage and amperage(ohms) pretty easy on it

you can use the amp setting to check to see if wires are broken, if there is resistance the wire is good, if not, it isnt. this is holding the wires with one at each end to go through the wire itself. this would at least show that the wire is good where it is sitting, not necessarily that it is perfect.

def learn how to use the tester, it will help you out alot. what kind is it?

steve Im sure you meant ohms for resistance,amps is for current, he wont be able to get a good amp reading with that meter for that he would need an amp probe, and there are better tests then an amp tests


with that meter you can only check a few things that will help(its a cheap one)to be able to check everything you would need a peak volt meter one with a min/max hold

but you can check resistance of the pulse generator, the coil, and stator, and you can check for dc from battery at least 13.5 and check auxiliary output from stator for the lites will be ac until the reg/rec were it turns dc

but to check the cranking volts from the coil and stator on the ignition side of the stator is were you need the peak voltage meter

[ridehonda400ex]

Okay guys i didnt figure out how to work the meter yet. But I got the tool that tests hot wires and lights up. Thats very handy btw. But i still cant get that dang thing to spark! Im getting angry. Ive been at it for the last five hours and its 2a.m. now. So heres what I did, I gapped the plug, cleaned the plug, cleaned all the grounds, Cleaned connections and looked over the wiring for any breaks and fixed anything i though would be a problem. The wiring is honestly a mess but Ive straightened it out a little. So its easier to follow but I just cannot get it fire!

[DnB_racing]

dont look at the wire harness as a whole harness... in other words think about it as two separate systems, one for the auxiliary circuits(lights) and the other for the ignition, they are separate wiring circuits

you can eliminate the reg.rec wiring as that's for the lights only

one thing to check is the clutch safety switch, if the harness has been cut they might have missed it.

once you figure out how to actually trouble shoot wiring you will laugh at how simple these quads really are.. take your time and dissect each part to understand it, and you will be glad you did it. dont get frustrated,

the ignition only has a few items and a few wires look at the wire schematic and try to understand what your looking at, the more you learn the better your questions will be and the better your answers will be

[DnB_racing]

I did a quick schematic to help show which wires are involved, sorry for bad quality it was rushed... i removed all the lite and auxiliary wires, and only left the ignition, this is all that's needed to run

but notice the clutch switch .. if its been removed, then you have to jump out the yellow/green stripe wire to green, to have a ground path for the solenoid. hope this helps some, but just take one step at a time check it and eliminate it

but if its turning over but just no spark, then it can only be a few things stator, cdi, coil, you already checked all connectors and the plug and wire and cap.. make sure your battery is full charged,the stator needs a certain rpm to produce a spark

if its just not getting spark then it has to be something that is circled and you can eliminate just about everything not in the circle

[ridehonda400ex]

Thanks DNB. Im gonna use that later on when i work on it. And I have the battery on the charger while im doing it

[ridehonda400ex]

DnB-could you label the components thats you have the lines directed towards? That would be very helpful and aprreciated as the words are blurry. And this is for a 300ex right? a '96 is what mine is

[ridehonda400ex]

I just went to save the picture to zoom in on it and its for a 400ex, dangit. Oh well thanks anyways DnB

[DnB_racing]

oops my bad!! I was just thinking 400 sorry,

but it doesnt change the components, still same ignition system, colors of wires might be different but the actual components are still in the same order of operation.. let me try and find a 300 and ill try to mark it up.. but i would imagine they are real close to the same, the 400 and 450 are real close so I would think the only difference is wire color

[DnB_racing]

ya i found a 300 im heading to my sons basketball game, when i get back i will mark it up..
they are close, the only real difference is the reverse indicator unit, and that isn't part of the ignition circuit..
so if i was you i would start by reading the resistance of coil , then the pulse generator and then stator, but on stator dont worry about the yellow wires, just read the 3 wire connector 2 wires for the ipg and one for stator.. on the pic i cant see the wire colors but i will help when i get home

[ridehonda400ex]

Thanks DnB. Ill wait to work anymore till you get the diagram cut and colored. Thanks again!

[DnB_racing]

get the resistance from these three items to ground,

for the coil you can check right from the coil itself, but for the pulse generator and stator, you have to unplug the connector that is being pointed to..

on your meter resistance is the ones with a upside down looking u.. let me know what you get for resistance for these three components and i will be able to tell you if any are bad

[ridehonda400ex]

DnB-I think my coil might be bad. But first off, when i use the hotwire light thing, i cant get it to light up on the either wire that plugs to the coil, i even crank the engine and still nothing

[DnB_racing]

Originally posted by ridehonda400ex
DnB-I think my coil might be bad. But first off, when i use the hotwire light thing, i cant get it to light up on the either wire that plugs to the coil, i even crank the engine and still nothing im not sure about what type of light you have, but remember that the output from the stator is AC most test light that I know of are for DC,
you should just check all your components for resistance

your battery and the dc voltage only turns the starter. its completely a separate circuit from the ignition,

look at the drawing, the only parts of the ignition are from the stator to cdi to coil and the time of the spark is controlled by the pulse generator..

dont get confused by the rest of the wires, they all have different uses, isolate each part of the system and it will make sense to you, dont look at it as one whole system but a few small separate systems

one for lights one for the starter and another for ignition