I have a 1998 Yamaha Big Bear 350 4x4. Crank the engine with the starter and it will not start. Pull the recoil starter rope and it starts easily every time. Kill the engine and try the starter again the engine cranks but won't start. Pull the Rope it starts and runs fine. I have a brand new battery and a brand new starter and a brand new coil a brand new starter relay a brand new spark plug. With the spark plug out of the cylinder and grounded against the engine the spark seems to be stronger when using the pull rope then when cranking the engine with the starter. Was wondering if the weak spark could be keeping the engine from starting and if so what could be causing the weak spark while using the starter. Any help expelling the demons from my bear are greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

Could be a weak battery or possibly similar to this Polaris 500 owners problem.More torque from the recoil can possibly allow a stronger spark than using the electric starter.Could be a weak pick up coil or in his case the pick up coil was too far from the flywheel.Could recoil start but not electric start. no spark to plug when using electric starter - Page 3 - ATVConnection.com ATV Enthusiast Community

 

I have a brand new battery even hooked up my charger with jump-start capacity to make sure the motor was turning over fast enough. The plug has fire when using the electric starter but it seems weaker then the spark you get when using the recoil pull rope. I'll check the pickup coil to see what kind of gap there is but I was reading the thread you recommended where the guy said the large gap couldn't pick up whenever it was cranking fast with the starter but it did when using the pull rope because it was going slower. So when the engine starts is the pickup coil still not sending a signal for the spark. Wouldn't it be turning faster than when using the starter. What am I missing here? Is it that the starter draws current away from the pickup coil so there's no signal but when the starter is disengaged curent is strong enough to jump the larger gap, even when the Engine is running? IDK. I'll let you know what I find. Thanks

 

Just a long shot here....but but did you get a new battery with enough cranking amps? Sounds like the starter is drawing the amps away from the ignition system causing a weak spark. Where as the pull start allows full power to the ignition until the engine starts. Also check your battery leads, make sure the connectors have good contact with wires and battery terminals. Check that your ground wire makes good contact on both ends (a bad ground could cause loss of power under load but read good on volt meter)