I just got a 2004 or 2005 Lifan A25 250 cc ATV. It has several problems but I love to work on things.

List of items to fix after quick look

Choke cable broke
rev cable broke
butcher job on the wiring ( basically someone took the handlebar controls out) no kill switch

this ATV has been sitting in a garage for 4 years and has not been started till last night. it has an issue with pulling hills. it will loose power and just creep up it. on flat or minor grades it will accelerate just fine. Just steep hills.

I'm hoping that a god carb rebuild and clean will help. Also need to drain the fluids and refill.

thats just the starters who knows what I'm going to find once I get started. But it should be fun!!!

 

project update.....

I decided to go through the wiring last night to find out why so many wires were cut at the handle bar controls. I trace the wires down and find that the connector for the voltage reg was just barely disconnected. made the connection..... trace down kill switch to find out why it was cut and find that this ATV had a small black box connected into it by the name of Inwells. Re connect wires and solder. start ATV then hit kill switch... nothing happened. ATV stayed running. get to work today and find that this is some type of alarm system. I found out yesterday that the starter is wired directly to the battery, no selenoid..... did this alarm take the place of the selenoid. It looks like someone did a really good hack job on the wires. The ign switch is a lawnmower switch with only 2 of the 4 wires connected. I have my work to do. What did this alarm replace or can I remove it from the system and re-wire?

 

Placed a call to American Lifan today and talked to Joe who is according to the website the general manager. He told me that the alarm system was a option add-on from the factory and that it could just be unplugged and there would be no ill effects. I am am still confused because when I traced the kill switch wires down they connected to the connector of the alarm system. If I just unplug it will it not leave the kill switch in a open state? or doest it just remove the switch form the circuit completely rendering it useless (witch it already is) oh well more research and wire diagnostics to come

 

As the American Lifan rep said, you simply unplug the remote and it is out of the picture. On most chinese quads this means you can no longer shut off the quad with the ignition switch, but will have to use the left handlebar kill switch instead. But this doesn't apply in your case since you've got a hacked ignition switch which doesn't have all four wires hooked up. (The other two wires are part two of a two section switch, that is supposed to kill the quad in the "off" position by shorting the kill wire array to ground through the remote).

Kill switches (there are usually more than one) are wired in parallel. If any one of them is shorted to ground the spark is killed and the quad stops. If (and only if) all the kill switches are open (disconnected) will you get spark. Thus unplugging the remote puts that particular kill switch input in the "run" condition, though any other kill switch being grounded will override it and all the others.

You really need a starter solenoid. Wiring the starter to the battery directly through a switch will burn up the switch and cause low voltage at the starter motor. Starters draw between 25 and 40 amps. Typical ignition switches are good for maybe 5 amps. The ignition switch applies 12 volts and ground to the solenoid small wire inputs through a start button (and usually through a safety brake interlock). This goes to a small coil inside which generates a magnetic field which sucks down on a steel plate which {*click*} makes a high current connection from the battery to the starter motor.

 

LynnEdwards:

You poated everything I found out yesterday evening after apending a couple hours going through the wires with my multi-meter. I had talked to a guy named Mike at Redoak Cycles in TX and he was able to send me a wire diag for a LF250ST -2 its a 1 cyl 250 water cooled. Other then the wireing for the fan he said it would be just about the same. I was able to see the kill switch connection and was also able to see that the ign switch was also a kill switch. Using the diag I was able to make a connection to the blue/white wire on the magneto and I was able pin out the ign switch to make the correct connections on it, so now I have two working kill switches.

I am going to see if I can find the correct relay today that was my next step(I hate the way it is done) I am not useing it yet untill I can get that fixed. I like the way you explaned the starter relay. I have a good understanding of them but that was the best way I've seen it described in a while. Mind if I borrow it?

 

Parts I've got on order. Should be here Monday or Tuesday



a new factory set of .....

 

There really isn't any reason not to use any old quad starter solenoid (relay) as long as you can mount it up mechanically. They all do the same thing. Apply 12 volts across the small wires, and the big terminals get {*click*} shorted together...

You may use anything I post in any way you see fit .

 

I agree Lynn. I just got lucky and the folks had the exact replacement i was looking for and I also got a great deal on the Lights. Now if they can get it across the Mississippi river to me!!!!

 

Well the parts came in yesterday and i got them installed. everything installed great. Had to correct wiring to the solenoid because it had been hacked away. Got all the new wires installed and tested. hit start button and she will fire right up. Also got the lights mounted and much to my surprise when I plugged them into the harness and hit the switch they worked. I was fully expecting to have to trace down cut wires. It was a nice surprise to see that it worked.

 

Glad it's running . Congratulations on getting it fixed up .