Dear ATVC: I have a 2001 Kodiak that came into my shop that lost spark. I went through the service manual and got down to the point where it says “Replace CDI”. While I guess that would be the route I would go I hate throwing a $300 part at it to see if it truly is the cause of failure. The only info I have to go on is that this was the second time he used the new winch (plow.) The quad actually died while he was lifting the plow with the winch. I saw a post somewhere that a user had CDIs blowing due to a winch. I have never heard of this before. Is it a possibility and how would the winch cause it? It is a Kolpin winch, never heard of that either. Brinkkl2000
It is possible believe it or not but the fact that it’s a Kolpin winch has less to do with the situation than does the wiring hookup. The most common reason is a burn-out in the ground circuit. Do you know off hand if the ground wire was run back to the negative terminal of the battery or just routed to the frame?
There’s a simple way to bypass the CDI for purpose of diagnostics if you fear the $300 investment to determine whether that is indeed culprit:
Ground the wire coming from the stator to the motor.
Disconnect the main wires coming from the CDI box.
Attach a jumper wire from the positive battery terminal to the positive wire on the ignition coil. Attach a jumper wire from the negative battery terminal to a ground.
Observe: If the engine sparks, you have confirmed a failed CDI box on your hands. If the engine does not spark, your problem is not likely a burnt CDI.
