OK, a little background on the quad. It's an older 110cc Coolster. I picked it up used knowing it had electrical problems. PO said it was running fine before the problems. I'm no stranger to working on bikes/cars etc, been doing it for 20 years but this one has got me stumped.

When I got it the voltage rectifier was fried, literally melted. I noticed the wiring harness was in poor shape in general bare wires here and there etc and figured this would be an easy fix.

Not so...

I bought a new harness and soon found out that it's slightly different than the old harness. The ignition switch is a 6 wire and the harness has a 4 wire connector. I make an inquiry to the place I bought the new harness from and they say no problem, just buy a 4 wire ignition switch.

So I got the new switch, get everything wired up, and realize I still have one connector that doesn't match up??? An extra 2 wire (Black/Blue) connector makes me think I'm missing something to do with the old ignition 6 wire switch?

Alright, I ignore that for now and say what the H and try to turn it on...nothing... I realize the fuse is blown. Maybe I don't have this connected properly. Disconnect everything but the Batt and the ignition switch, insert new fuse. Turn the key and the fuse blows again.

My first thought is this is the wrong Ignition switch? Wire colors match on both connectors. I'm not an electrical whiz but I don't think having everything disconnected will blow the fuse. Possibly a bad ignition switch?

I'm stumped here, any advice at all would be appreciated...

 

So far you have done things exactly as I would have done. We can figure out what the black / blue wires do later. First find the short....

Either the ignition switch is bad/wired wrong or the the switched 12V output side is pinched somewhere in the harness and shorted to ground.

What are the wire colors in your ignition switch connector?

The four wire functions are:

1) Fused 12 volts in
2) Switched 12 volts out
3) Ground
4) Kill Switch

The plan:

Once the switched 12 volt wire color is identified then its resistance in the main harness to ground can be measured with an ohmmeter while the ignition switch is unplugged. With all your connectors unplugged this wire should read open. If it is shorted then we go down the path of finding the short in the harness. If it is open then we look at the ignition switch itself with an ohmmeter.

 

Thanks for the quick response! I'll let you know what I find out after work this afternoon...

 

This is what I have

Red - fused 12v
Green - Ground
Black - switched 12v
Black/white - kill switch

Tested ignition switch with an ohmmeter. closed position there is continuity between green and black/white. Open position there is continuity between red and black. This seems to be correct to me unless I'm missing something...

I found a generic wiring diagram that's supposed to be for "most" 110cc chinese quads.

Here is the link. http://www.rpmfactor.com/motorzone/ATV_110manual.pdf

It looks pretty close but I haven't sat down and done a complete comparison yet..

 

That sounds correct, sort of...

Describing the switch as Closed or Open is a bit meaningless since the switch is actually two switches ganged together on a common shaft. When one switch is closed the other is open, and vice versa.

A better way is to say that when the ignition switch is "Off" the red and black wires are open while the green and black/white wires are closed (have continuity). When the ignition switch is "On" the red and black are closed (have continuity), while the green and black/white are open.

The manual in the link is a good one. The wiring diagram is one of the very few that shows the wiring of a remote control module.

So next, with the ignition switch unplugged doe the black wire show zero resistance to ground?

 

OK, didn't have time to mess with it over the weekend but after trying to do a pin-out on the harness I've decided that it's either not the right one or wiring diagram isn't the correct one for my Quad. There are some subtle differences that aren't matching up. I guess it's back to the drawing board and see if I can track down the right harness..

 

Even if you track down the wiring diagram (which I doubt you will be successful) the wiring diagram will probably be riddled with errors. So you'll have to work through it.

How much of your wiring harness mates up? 90%? 40%? If the connector issues are only "subtle" then maybe the best approach is to keep what you have and start rooting out the problems and fix them one by one.

You'll need a meter and some help, but maybe this is doable...

 

I came to the same conclusion at some point last night. Started going through the wiring in the old harness and cannibalizing the new harness for good wires and connectors. Couple hours and a few beers later I think I'm good to go I'm going to hook it up this evening and see what I get..

 

SUCCESS! Got it to fire up for a minute but it stalled out, think the carb is flooding, that at least is something I have great deal of experience with lol!

 

well. I think I have it figured? There's a thumb adjust on the left handle, just under the starter switch, adjust that a little bit and it runs like a scalded dog. I've never seen this kind of adjustment before, it's labeled <-S -- R-> Is this some sort of choke?