My daughter's Peace ATV seems to be eating voltage regulators. The ATV is less than two months old and just recently refused to start. After replacing the battery to no avail I called Peace and they forwarded a new voltage regulator. Connected the new regulator and the ATV started and ran. I cut the machine off and you guessed it the regulator seems to be cooked. Help!

 

Sounds like you have a power wire that is shorted to ground somewhere. Maybe pinched in a clamp along the frame or something. Many times a wire has vibrated against a sharp edge and wore through the insulation causing a short........I find it easiest to remove the plastics and do a thorough visual along the wire harness.

Happy hunting

P.S. If this thing is brand new and under warranty from where you bought it, best to take it back and have them fix it though........if you start tearing it apart yourself, it may void any warranty you have....double check that before tearing it apart.

 

When you say the quad "refused to start", what does that mean? Did the starter crank the engine but it didn't ever fire up? Or did the starter not turn at all?

Why did you replace the battery? Was it bad, or just dead? How did you determine this?

So you replace the voltage regulator and "the ATV started and ran". This makes no sense. Voltage regulators have nothing to do with whether the ATV runs or not. They only keep the battery charged up once the quad is running. If you take the regulator out and throw it away the quad will still start and run fine. Eventually though, the battery will go dead because it isn't being charged back up. But then the symptom would be a dead battery - not a quad that refuses to start. And if you were to jump the quad battery to your car battery (using jumper cables) the quad would crank and start fine.

I hope you see why I'm a little confused...

And what do you mean by "eating regulators" and the "regulator seems to be cooked"? How are you determining this?

Maybe a better approach is to back up and start fresh .

1) What is the engine size on your quad?

2) Does your starter motor crank the quad?

3) If not, does your starter motor crank the quad when the quad battery is jumped to your car battery?

4) If your quad cranks the starter (and it doesn't start up), do you have spark? Do you know how to test for this?

5) How many pins are on your voltage regulator, and what are the wire colors in the harness that connect up to this part?

With this information we can determine where to go next ...

 

The battery was dead and would not jump start so I replaced the dead battery figuring there was an internal issue with the battery and this would take care of the problem. It didn't, I called Peace and they sent a new voltage regulator and CDI. Once the Voltage regulator was installed it started and ran. but after I cut the machine off it simply will not start back.
With the key in the on position the lights do not even operate.
Battery is reading a solid 12v.
Engine size: 110
Regulator Pins: 4
Colors: Yellow, Red, Green and White

 

Exact same situation with one I bought for grandson [110cc]. runs great for a couple off months .Then will not turn anything on [completely dead -no lights or cranking of engine ,[even with battery charger or booster cables]].Next step is to reach under plastic and remove melted voltage regulator and install a new one .Now we are good for a month or two until it happens again. Voltage regulator seems to melt after a while.They are cheap to replace[neighbour got a case of them] and cannot find a reason why they melt. Neighbours 110 quad does exact same thing ,but at different intervals.
I am not too worried about the problem,as we consider this quad as cheap fun for the grandson when he is over ,as he now has a can-am 90 at his home

 

Update: I can start the ATV by jumping the starter with a screwdriver and it runs. However, still will not start the normal way. Could it be the ignition switch?

 

Maybe. And maybe not.

You have jumped the solenoid and it starts, so that says your battery is OK. The solenoid needs to have 12 volts applied across the two small wires to get the solenoid to close and connect the big screw posts together just like you did when you jumped across those two same posts.

The power to the small solenoid wires (at least the most common way on 110cc machines) comes through the fuse, then the ignition switch, then the brake switch, and on to one side of the solenoid input (small wire). The other small wire is grounded all the time (or at least it should be...).

Check your fuse. The use a meter to check power into and out of the ignition switch.

Turn on the ignition. Step on the brake. Does your brake light light up? This is a clue.

 

Your symptoms about a melted regulator suggests that that you have a bad connection at one or more of the regulator pins. Since multiple regulators show this symptom I bet you have a loose connection in the wiring harness where it connects to the regulator. Look at the wires carefully. Is one of the wires in the harness connector more burn't then the other? What is it's color?

But melting regulator connectors have nothing to do with starting the quad using jumper cables. A bad regulator might undercharge, or overcharge, a quad battery. The battery will subsequently be wrecked over time under these conditions, and eventually you get a quad that will not crank because the battery is completely duff.

But this has *nothing* to do with whether your quad will crank with jumper cables attached. There is *nothing* a bad regulaltor can do to keep a quad from cranking unless the fuse is blown. But then reaching under the plastic and changing the regulator will not solve the problem of a blown fuse (or a bad ignition switch, or a bad wire, etc.). This part doesn't make sense to me....

 

No but the brake light activates normally once the engine is running. I'll scan the wiring diagram this afternoon and drop it to you. Lynn please send me a private message with your email and I'll send it directly to you.
Thanks,

 

it doesn't make sense to me either.the wires are not burnt or discoloured when I was trying to troubleshoot the problem[the fuse has never blown either].the first time it would not start i bought a new battery because i thought it had fouled and it would not start.then i took the plastic body off and could then see that the regulator was melted ,so i bought a new one.installed it and it fired up. i put the old battery back in and it still fired up.made no sense , but it worked so i stopped investigating. grandson is still riding it ,but not as often,as it is at my house.only rode about 2 hrs this summer and i have not looked at the regulator because it still starts and runs.
as you said it makes no sense but it seems to work,