Hi everyone.

I have not used these forums much, but I am at my whits end on this problem. I have read most of the spark issues on this forum, but have not found much that can help, so I am fishing for better ideas. Here is what I have done so far to correct this issue:
- Checked resistance on all components (coil, exciter, ground, etc.) according to the repair manual
- Verified voltage on CDI
- finding that everything looked good, I determined that the CDI must be the problem. I have replaced this item, but it still does not have any spark, not even enough to shock me if I hold it.

I am trying to repair this for a friend, but I do not want to blindly keep spending his money on parts that are OK. All wiring seems to be in good shape, along with all conectors. After work tonight, I plan to start over again and try to determine the problem, knowing now that the CDI is not it.

Any advise on how to procede from this point would greatly be appreciated.

Thanks.

Oh, I almost forgot:
1992 TRX 300 4x4[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/img]

 

Does your neutral and reverse light work?

 

I am pretty sure that they do, but I will verify later tonight.

I am not having any difficulty with the starter button. I know that the starter button does not work if it is not in neutral, but I am not sure about the light. Normally I am able to locate and identify these problems quickly, as the multimeter is a great tool for this type of work, but as mentioned, this one has me stumped, so I am looking for the wierd and unusual to solve this.

I will check on the lights and post on that tomorrow. Thanks for the suggestion though.

 

If i understand you right, if you pull the spark plug, and reattach the wire, and hold it against the head, and spin it over,,,,you have no spark?

 

that is correct. I am using a new plug for that test as well. I have even held it in my hand in hopes of getting a tingle, nothing. It is driving me mad, mad I say.

Anyway, I will be heading home now to look at it further. I will try to log on from home later to check for new responses.

Thanks

 

If the lights are not working check the plugs behind the metal plate by the foot brake. If your quad thinks that it is in reverse or in gear it will not have spark.

 

Could it be the plug wire?

 

OK, still no spark. I worked with it for about 2 hours last night, this is what I found:
- Verified all wires with a multi-meter.
- Verified the coil resistance again at 0.2 ohms between poles,
and 9530 ohms from the spark plug wire,
- Verified the exciter coil resistance at 330 ohms
- Verified the AC pickup wire
- Verified that the reverse sensor and light works
- Verified the the neutral sensor and light works

I did find that the Voltage regulator may be bad as I could not get the readings that the manual says that I should get between Red, Green, and Black wires. But looking at the manual schematics, I do not see this preventing spark.

So far, only the CDI box has been replaced, but this did not fix the problem.

Looking for the wierd and bizarre solutions now. Any ideas, no matter how far off the wall they may be, are welcome at this point. I know that it must be simple as anything complicated would have shown up by now. I have to be overlooking something. If anyone has a test procedure different from the basic manual, I am willing to try that out as well.

 

Normally you are right about the reg\rect not effecting spark. However, on this model it can and I've seen it first hand. I don't have a diagram here, but I think you will notice a yellow wire, one phase of the AC goes to the CDI unit, as well as the reg\rect This is to help power up ignition in case of low battery voltage. What part of the reg\rect tests bad? One of the diodes maybe? Anyway, you may want to try a known good if possible before you buy one. You may also check that the ignition is powering up through the ignition and kill switch. You should have battery voltage on the black\white wire to the CDI with the switches in the run condition. If you do, that eliminates any chance they are the problem.

 

This may be the answer then. Looking at my wiring diagram, if I disconnect the regulator/rectifier from the system, would this allow the ignition to possibly work? I thought about trying this experiment early this morning, but I am not sure that it will help matters much. I have checked voltage on the black/white wire at the CDI. It does have 11.9 V with the key on in the RUN position, and I am pretty sure that it has no voltage in the STOP position. I will check this tonight to make sure that is the case. In order to swap test the regulator assembly, I will have to do some digging to find a compatible one. I have one from a TRX 200, 1986, but that is not even close to the same.

Here is a little history on the machine. It has had this ignition problem for at least the past 2 years. Until 2 months ago, everytime that the problem would show up, it would generally just start working again come the next morning. There have been a few times that it would stop functioning, but as soon as an attempt was made to track down the problem, it would start working again and stay working for many weeks. Even though I have been working on this for some time now, I still have not placed the battery on charge. It is still operating off of the last charge the battery recieved when it last ran.

There is a solution to every problem, and this is no exception.