Zongshen zs250-5 not running
 

I'm VERY new to not only bikes but also Chinese ones. I purchased the bike not running and I seem to have run into some problems. I was told that the bike is a clone of a yamaha xv250. I am getting absolutely no power from the battery. I replaced the starter solenoid with a new yamaha one and still no power. If I jump the terminals the bike will turn over. Could the new solenoid be bad also or am I just over looking something?

It sounds like you might have a bad battery. What is the resting voltage of the battery?

I had the battery charger on it and it took 15v on a 2 amp charge for aboot 2 hours. It's a brand new battery from napa when I jump the two terminals and bypass the starter solenoid the bike turns over but won't start. I didn't want to jump it too long to see if it'll start cause I didn't want to burn anything up.

Okay, I misunderstood. In your first post, when you said the bike would 'turn over,' I thought you meant it would start. ;)

You need to check if you have spark at the plug. If you don't have any spark, the problem is electrical. If you have spark, the problem is one of the following.

1) Fuel
2) Air
3) Compression

I'm really not so much worried as it won't start. I'm still getting no power to the bike from the battery. The only time I get and resemblance of power is when I jump the terminals. None of gauges no turn signals headlight nothing electrical. I'm really tempted to buy a new harness if I can find one. There is a harness from as zs-250 GS on eBay.

It's time to examine the wiring harness for frayed wires, broken wires, and electrical shorts. Also, make sure you have a good electrical ground.

Welcome!
To me it sounds like a harness problem! I have a United Motors Renegade which si also made by Zongshen all the problems you have I had when I bought it and then some! replacing the harness solved all of my problems! Also replacing the starter motor but mine upon opening it the copper was all green and crumbling away so no its a different scenario! I would suggest to take some time and check the harness with a voltmeter. Also if its any similar to my harness it will have a fuse near the positive cable so check that as well!

You all have been so helpful. Checked some of the harness today. I found the fuse and it was blown. Put a new fuse on and still nothing. So I then traced down some wires and found that a good portion of the harness is melted :( does anyone know where I could get a new harness? There is one harness for a 2006 zongshen zs-250 gs. Would I be able to use that harness from ebay?

I wouldn't count on it. :ohno: I suggest you trying searching the internet for Zongshen ZS250-5 wiring harness. For example, I found the following link.

http://www.china-parts.co.uk/acatalo...-5_Custom.html

I looked on that website and I couldn't find a wiring harness for the bike :( does anyone know of anyone parting out a bike? The market for these bike parts seem to be few and far between. Thank you again for everyone's help.

Zongshen makes a lot of parts for a lot of different manufacturers including United Motors (my bike) so maybe they're similar and can me modded. With mine I found few of honda and suzuki parts or generic chinese parts on ebay that with a little bit of modding worked well. Can you post a pic of the harness to see if it looks like something similar? Also you can check here http://www.martinracingdealer.com I did a search zongshen harness and found these:

http://www.martinracingdealer.com/SP...1271171780.jsp

http://www.martinracingdealer.com/SP...1261590700.jsp

http://www.martinracingdealer.com/SP...1302035990.jsp

maybe those are similar to yours?