I recently got a 70cc Yamoto quad that needed a new starter and carburator. I got the parts installed and when I tried to start it, it was obvious the battery was bad. The head and tail lamps would come on and the starter relay would click. I had a spare 12v car battery so I jumped it. It very slowly turned over and even started. I left to go and get a new ATV battery and while I was gone my "assistant" hooked the car battery in directly to the ATV battery wiring. The low amp fuse that attaches at the positive side of the battery blew.

When I returned I charged and hooked up the new battery and jumped the fuse and... nothing. No lights or relay click. I jumped the relay and it did try to turn over a couple of times but then it wouldn't even do that anymore. I double checked the new battery and it's good but everything on the atv is dead as can be.

Any ideas???

Thanks in advance!

Jason

 

LynnEdwards is the resident electrical genius, but one thing i would do is start checking the wires to see if any of them torched/smoked and are no longer any good. check continuity on each wire of the hot side to the starter, then move on to the spark side/cdi/etc....coil wires/yadayadayada./etc..... check all of the ground wires. that's a start anyways......

 

Thank you! I just sent Lynn a message. As far as I can tell all of the wires are in good shape.

 

Well, I found a bad connection and that got my lights and relay working but now... the starter will just barely turn over if it does at all. When it won't I have to put it in gear and move it forward then it'll try and turn over. I took the starter out and left it wired up. I pressed the start button and it''ll spin, however about every 4th time I push the starter button, nothing. I then have to manually turn the sprocket on the starter to get it going again. So, I'm assuming the starter is bad even though... it's brand new.

Also, the battery is fresh with good voltage.

Any comments?

Thanks,
Jason

 

Sounds like a bad starter to me too. It looks like it has dead spots in the commutator that won't allow it to turn if it happens to stop on one of them.

It may be worth your while to open the starter motor up and see if anything is visibly wrong. I've never taken a starter like yours apart, but I have taken others apart and found fixable stuff - like for example corrosion in the brush holders keeping the brushes from being pushed firmly again the commutator, causing intermittent operation and low torque.

Again I don't know about your starter motor, but I've found on other motors that sometimes you need to be a little clever at reassembly. I've had to make fixtures to hold the brushes apart while the armature is inserted far enough to get inside the brushes, then yank the fixture out with a string. Maybe your starter motor is easier to reassemble, but you have nothing to lose by trying.

 

I'll pull it out and have a look. You're certainly right about not having anything to lose!

Thank you Lynn!

Jason