200cc lifan-no spark

[leo in wv]

i could really use some assistance, been going through old posts for 2 days now with no luck... found some info, in bits and pieces...

ok, i accidentally damaged my coil wire clip where it connects to the plug and ordered a new one. now i get no fire.

i disconnected the kill switch, and checked all the wires i could find for connectivity, no problems found. tried another cdi, no change. new plug, no change.

could someone drop me a link to a tutorial or some more info on troubleshooting spark issues on these engines? possibly with some pics of the specific things i should be testing. ground connection locations and so on...

the charging sytem seems to be fine, the battery was/is at full capacity.

[Weldangrind]

Agreed.


As well, what does your kill switch look like? Got a pic?

[leo in wv]

i have the kill switch completely disconnected (bare wire ends)
the plug wire seems to have connectivity from the cdi connection wire post to the plug wire end.

[leo in wv]

i suspect either the black/red wire, (which i think is constant power to the cdi from the battery)???
or the blue/white wire, which i think is the signal wire from the engine, (tells the cdi if/when to fire)???
i know saw a video on diagnosing them a while back, but can't find it now...

[rwl6935]

Run a meter to the 12 volt side of the coil and crank the motor over. You should see the meter rise and fall as the engine cranks. If you do then you know it's the coil or plug wire, if not then you know it's not the coil.

[rwl6935]

12vdc directly from battery feeds thru a fuse to voltage rectifier then from rectifier into magneto. Pluse from magneto feeds CDI which in turn sends 12vdc pulse to coil, coil steps up voltage to plug.

That should help you navigate thru the system to track the issue down

[leo in wv]

went in and shortened the plug wire 1/2 inch, looked like it was right in the wire. put the cap back, put the cdi back, started right up... ran less than a minute and died... no spark again. lol

it's a good thing i like working on it almost as much as riding it.

[rwl6935]

The wiring in these Chinese bikes are notorious for bad connector crimps, so you may have an intermittent issue with one of your connections.

[leo in wv]

just went through most of my wiring harness, took out most of the stuff from it's "enduro" days that it doesn't need any more, found several bad spots.

it starts up "sometimes" and runs smooth as silk, for a minute... and then dies...
i will try hard wiring those crimp connectors.

[rwl6935]

Out of curiosity I'd put a meter on the 12 volt side of the coil while it's running to see if the power drops off just before it dies. The only problem with that is that the meter may not be able to read the voltage change fast enough.

[rwl6935]

Here's a diagram for a hawk which shouldn't be much different than your bike. Same principle

http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab160/rwl6935/748211A9-DD49-41E2-8735-B98FDB2E2A5C.jpg

[leo in wv]

got those hard wired, and went through the rest of the harness. near as i can tell, the problem isn't in there. oh well, been planning on cleaning up all those dead end wires anyway.
wierd... it runs ok for a minute, then dies again. no spark...
can the magneto (if it's going bad) intermittently stop signaling the cdi to fire?

[Ariel Red Hunter]

got those hard wired, and went through the rest of the harness. near as i can tell, the problem isn't in there. oh well, been planning on cleaning up all those dead end wires anyway.
wierd... it runs ok for a minute, then dies again. no spark...
can the magneto (if it's going bad) intermittently stop signaling the cdi to fire?CDI's can go bad that way, and so can ignition coils....ARH

[rwl6935]

I just went back and reread your original post. What's the possibility of the new plug cap causing the issue here? I assume the bike ran fine before the original cap was damaged? Do you have any other bikes or power equipment you could borrow another cap from? If so, I'd try that.

... It wouldn't be the first time I've seen new parts defective.

Just out of curiosity, how did you damage the cap?

[leo in wv]

I just went back and reread your original post. What's the possibility of the new plug cap causing the issue here? I assume the bike ran fine before the original cap was damaged? Do you have any other bikes or power equipment you could borrow another cap from? If so, I'd try that.

... It wouldn't be the first time I've seen new parts defective.

Just out of curiosity, how did you damage the cap?

tried 2 completely different coils, and shortened the plug wire on the new one, same result. dead in 5... 4... 3...
i think i'm going to get a whole new kit. cdi, stator, coil, rectifier and all. i suspect that either the cdi or stator is getting hot and cutting out.
imho, i think the stators signal wire may be the culprit.

imho, that's the best part about these bikes, all that stuff is still under $25, including shipping. and having spares is always a good thing...

[Bruce's]

If you do get replacement parts ,and you can confirm a cdi issue ,you can throw them in the oven and sometimes they work again .Basically you are melting the solder and hoping the bad connections get re soldered when it cools back down .You have nothing to lose if it's already dead .

[JeremyC]

the term CDI suggests that there's an electrolytic capacitor under all that epoxy. If you heat one up, it's more likely that you're melting the crap inside of it and giving it a slightly extended life. Solder melts at higher temps than your oven. And no guarantees that it'll even work. I learned that trick from working on tube amplifiers.

[leo in wv]

i think i got it.
found a bad spot hidden in the cdi plug harness wires, and the chain guard had the wires from the engine pinned and did some damage there too.
fixed them all and fired it up, so far so good... wait for it..... still running! :yay::yay::yay::yay::thanks::thanks:
i replaced about half the wiring harness while i was in there, and trashed a few feet too. neat as a pin now.
i put on shiny new loom, all the way back out. not that anyone other than me will ever see it under there...

thanks for all the input guys, very much appreciated. just knowing some one took the time means a lot.

[Ariel Red Hunter]

i think i got it.
found a bad spot hidden in the cdi plug harness wires, and the chain guard had the wires from the engine pinned and did some damage there too.
fixed them all and fired it up, so far so good... wait for it..... still running! :yay::yay::yay::yay::thanks::thanks:
i replaced about half the wiring harness while i was in there, and trashed a few feet too. neat as a pin now.
i put on shiny new loom, all the way back out. not that anyone other than me will ever see it under there...

thanks for all the input guys, very much appreciated. just knowing some one took the time means a lot.Great! Glad you found the problem. Happy riding!....ARH

[rwl6935]

That's great!

[leo in wv]

so far so good, did a couple warm up/cool down cycles today. a few more successful trials, and i'll take it out for a real test.