OK, long story short:
- Bike was running fine, then just suddenly died. Son couldn't get it started. I went out to check, and it acts like the ignition is bad.

- I have 13.4 at the battery.
- I have 12v thru the fuse.

I'm getting ready to head to work, so I haven't checked anything else. I'm guessing it's in the ignition circuit, as NOTHING works. I have looked for shorts to ground, nothing yet.

- kill switch has been removed and isolated.

What else should I be looking at????

 

if you have no measurable voltage anywhere on the bike, then it's either a bad chassis ground or a faulty ignition switch.

check continuity from the battery neg to the chassis with the ign on & off.

 

What am I looking for with the ignition, at the chassis?
Will the ground interrupt?

My guess is bad switch. I'm just looking for other ideas before I get started.

 

Turn on the ignition switch and set all other kill switches (handlebar and tether) to the run position. Make sure the quad is in neutral and the parking brake is set. Take a screwdriver and short across the two screw posts on the starter solenoid. It will spark a bit when you do this. This will hook the battery directly to the starter motor bypassing all the safety interlocks.

Does the starter motor crank?

Does the quad start up?

Also check your CDI. Does it have 4 pins (DC powered CDI) or 5 pins (AC Powered CDI)? If it is the 5 pin variety the entire ignition system does not have anything to do with battery voltage. It is self contained and runs on its own AC voltage generated in the stator when the engine is turned.

If your Tao Tao has headlights that run on AC (some do, some don't) then the only things that runs on battery voltage is the starter motor, the brake light (but not tail light), and the starter motor interlock circuitry. If the starter motor interlock is bad the quad will have the appearance of being dead in the water.

Assuming the quad cranks when shorting acros the solenoid, look to see if you can get the brake light to light up by fiddling with the brake switch(es). If the brake isn't engaged (in other words the brake light isn't on) the starter will not engage.

 

Ok, here is my update as of now:
- Starter cranks with direct power
- 4 pin CDI
- Brake/tailight does not/has never worked
- Security alarm is non exisient

I have narrowed it down to ignition or brake switch, but leaning towards ignition.
- I have traced the 2 brake switch wires(green/yellow and red/white) and re-soldered there connection. I assumed that was the problem, because bike turned over for a bit. When I wrapped everything up, it was D.I.W.

- I then started jacking with the ignition wires, and while moving those, with switch engaged, the engine bumped. I have tried wiggling the wires to no avail. I'm at a loss at this moment.

When I bought this bike, I received an extra motor, and full wiring set up.
I'd like to find a wiring diagram, and now the order of operation (for piece of mind)
I assume it's key on, brake switch closed, kill switch on(open), igniton switch closed, stater engaged, pulse timer to coil, coil to plug, and liftoff!

On a side note, the kids were playing in the mud/water, and 20-30 minutes later, the bike was out of commission.

 

those ignitions are junk- it's the weakest link in the electrical system, I've replaced a few. the contacts corrode and the arcing will burn'em up easily.

 

Also, on the brake light wiring, there are 3 wires that go to the light, and to the switch.

- From the light= red/green/black
- from the switch= black/green-yellow

How do I hook up this light? the red wire is throwing me off. I know it's an led set up, so is that the reasoning?

 

How many wires on the brake switch? Two, right? Not three...

Use a meter to measure the voltage on each of the brake light wires to ground. One should be hot all the time when the ignition switch (key switch) is on, and the other should be hot only when the ignition switch is on *and* the brake is applied.

The rear light should have ground which most likely green. One of the others is the tail light, and the other is the brake light (from the brake switch).

Important: When reporting wire colors *only* use the wire colors from each connection at the main wiring harness side of any pigtail connector. The wire colors of the short wires from the harness connector to the actual device are of no interest. The reason for this is that (for example) a purple-silver wire entering the main wiring harness from an unknown switch is still purple-silver when it comes out on the other end of the harness. At the other end (after searching the harness connectors for all purple-silver wires) the fact that is connects to a short yellow wire that goes to (let's say) the horn is meaningless. What is important is that that unknown switch is connected to the horn - as indicated by the purple-silver wire at both ends of the harness. [I hope this makes sense ].

 

How many wires on the ignition switch? 2 or 4? What are the colors (on the wiring harness side of things)?

Can you find a wire on the ignition switch that is hot (12 volts DC) all the time? Can you find a wire on the ignition switch that is hot only when the switch is on?

In your last post you stated that the brake switch wires (three of them) were Black and Green-Yellow (or) Black-Green and Yellow depending on how I read it - which is only two wires either way.

But in this post (posted earlier) you state the wire colors are (only two now): green-yellow and red-white. I am really confused...

 

You are right in your confusion. In my initial post, I hadn't opened up the harness. The bk and gn-yw were at the switch.
the gn-yw and rd-wt are in the harness.

It's a 4-wire ignition. I assume one is for lights, 1 is a 12v constant, 1 is ignition, and 1 is ground.

As far as the brake switch, I haven't ohmed it out yet, but my hunch is that it works. This bike is a cobbled mess. I have 2 more wires thyat are in the same harness, that both carry 12v to gnd. I have them isolated, because the bike has ALWAYS ran without them.

I'd like to get the wiring correct, but the law of diminishing returns dictates I just get it running.