Hello everyone,
Bought a used chinese atv in pink for my little girl. It had the remote start thing and alarm crap. I took it all out and bypassed the brain like it was never there. All seemed well but the starter kind of lopes along, like it has a hard time going over the compression stroke or something. I thought it was due to the guy before me installing a disconnect switch because the battery kept dying after not being run for a while with the alrm system. I thought maybe the disconnect switch couldn't carry the load. So I took all the alarm stuff out, removed the disconnect switch, installed better grounds, and new positive wires, new battery, new solenoid, and a new starter. The darn thing still sounds like an old chevy 350 with the timing out when you start it.

The old starter brushes were trashed and the plastic housing they sit in was all melted and deformed. So I thought it was that but it still struggles over the compression stroke.

I still need to set the valves (also has a problem of dying after being run for looong time, thinking heat soak, or tank venting, or somehting along those lines, not sure yet)

Not sure what else to do here. When I jump it from my truck it has enough juice to turn fast enough to overcome the compression stoke but the atv battery alone doesn't turn it fast enough, what gives?

Thanks to everyone that help make this forum a success!

 

And I think this thing has been run enough so it isn't like it is brand new with really high compression or something. If that makes any sense.

Oh yeah, I think it is the Honda knock off engine, the g4 gy4, or something like that.

 

If it turns normal speed when jumped to your truck, and slow on your quad battery alone, then your battery is bad or not fully charged.

You say the battery is new. Did you charge it up after you added the acid? After adding the acid the battery only comes up partially charged, and needs a few hours on a motorcycle charger to bring it up to full charge.

So when you jump it to your truck and it spins over fast, does the quad start?

 

I am going to have to try jumping it again. The last time I did it (a while back) I think it turned over much better (if memory serves). However, it turns fast then slow then fast then slow under its own battery but also did it with the last battery. I wonder if I can stuff a larger battery under the seat? I mean, my truck has the biggest one I could install. So it has to be over 1000 cold cranking amps with a huge reserve. WAY more than the little atv battery. I would expect it to make it turn faster. Maybe I can try a lb5 or something larger. I think it has the little lb4 in it now (again, I'll have to go look to verify, memory isn't what it used to be).

I installed the acid and charged it with a float charger for about 8 hours (although I think it only actually charged for about 3 before it shut itself off)

It loped along with the old starter too but I just attributed it to the brushes being messed up. As hot as it looks like it got something is wrong. I don't want to ruin the new starter too. I mean this thing usually starts pretty quickly so you don't have to keep winding on the starter or anything.

I will try jumping it again and make sure it turns like I remember. I'll let you know.

Thanks,
Chad

 

On a working quad adding more amp capacity to a battery does not make the starter crank faster. It only allows you to crank the starter longer before the battery goes dead. Your little quad battery should be more than capable of maintaining 12 volts out to drive a starter motor that draws only 30 amps or so. 12 volts is 12 volts. You could have a million amps of cold cranking power, but your starter is still going to draw only 30 amps at 12 volts, and spin at exactly the same speed.

But on a non-working quad it is a little tougher. If the starter is bad it could draw much more current than normal - more than the little quad battery can provide. But you already changed the starter. If the engine is toasted, and it is more difficult to turn, then the same caveat applies, but this is unlikely. And you would probably know that something was seriously wrong from the last time you rode it. So we're back to the battery (which you've changed).

So when jumping to your truck if the quad starts up and runs OK then engine problems are eliminated. If the starter spins faster I'd bet on a bad battery before a bad starter. If the starter still spins slow then look for bad connections in the starter path (including the ground return).

You did everything right here.