Am bringing this thread over.
"Thank you for the reply. And YES, I totally agree with you on LynnEdwards. Read and digested much of his posts. Very knowledgeable and Very helpful............... Battery tested at 13.3. Managed to replace fuse without it popping. Slight spark at starter relay. Battery side tested 13.3 as well. Nothing on other terminal post. Taillight worked when turned on. Brake light did not work when pedal was pressed. Nuetral, reverse and headlight does not come on. Alarm system does not work......Magneto began smoking so I guess it's the culprit, so I'm on to purchasing and replacing. Is this something a novice can do? Am considering a new wiring harness as well. Again, Thank you for the advice and any additional help the readers/members can provide. Hopefully I can get this thing back on the trails."

 

So you'e blowing fuses, and the stator (you called it a magneto) is smoking.

Is the quad running when the stator is smoking? Is the quad running when the fuses blow? Or is each of these problems happening when the quad engine is not turning?

I'm thinking that this is happening with the engine not turning, right? If so I would suspect the voltage regulator as the cause, and not the stator. Please correct me if I'm wrong on the "engine stopped" part. The following is based on the "engine stopped" scenario...

One of the jobs of the voltage regulator is to disconnect the battery from the stator (via the rectifier diodes inside the regulator) when the stator is not generating enough voltage to charge the battery. This happens routinely with heavy loads on the 12 volt power bus and/or the engine is spinning too slow (including when the engine is stopped). When the engine is stopped the stator is doing nothing. It is just a few coils of wire with a stationary set of magnets nearby. Therefore it should be disconnected from the battery (the voltage regulators job). If it is smoking then the regulator must be letting current go backwards through the regulator into the stator windings.

So it was blowing fuses before, and now it is not blowing fuses.... Was this because you but a much bigger fuse in? And was that when the stator started to smoke?

Maybe I'm jumping too far forward based on wrong assumptions. So give me some feedback on what I've posted above and we can adjust the course from there...

 

In humbleness I thank you for your post and wealth of knowledge.

Yes, you are correct. The engine WAS NOT running when the stator began smoking.

Yes, you are correct again for I did go from a 10amp to a 15amp fuse. The 10amp fuses were popping with quad NOT running. The quad maintained 13.3 amperage on both ends of fuse connection utilizing the 15amp fuse.

To prevent further damage or complications, I immediately disconnected positive cable from battery terminal when I saw the smoke.

Have yet to purchase any additional replacement parts. Again, I thank you!!! Much gratitude!!

 

So everything is pointing at the voltage regulator as the culprit.

Your stator smoked, and the real question now is: Is the stator damaged. Maybe, and maybe not. The stator runs in a high temperature environment. It's built pretty tough. When it overheats in there I would expect the first thing to start smoking is contaminants such as leaked oil etc. It could be that the source of the smoke is from stuff that doesn't matter. I wouldn't be so quick about changing the stator until after I have changed out the regulator and measured the charging system again. It may save you some work...

 

Thanks again for your reply and assistance. Won't be until first of month before I can do this. Will keep you posted though. Question: Would the regulator prevent other instruments from working? eg....headlights, brake light, alarm system??? Again, I thank you!!

 

No, the other stuff should work fine running off the battery. Unplug the regulator, then the regulator and battery charge windings in the stator are disconnected and out of the picture. Then use a meter to follow the 12 volts from the battery. Use the 20 volt DC scale. Put the black lead on the negative battery terminal and leave it there. Use the red lead to probe down the 12 volt path (put in a good fuse and turn the ignition switch on):

1) Positive battery terminal
2) Ignition switch input side (always 12 volts)
3) Ignition switch output side (switches between 12 volt and ground with ignition switch position)
4) Brake switch input side (same as #3 above since it is the same wire after going through the harness.
5) Brake switch output side. (12 volts when the ignition is on and the brakes are applied. Another way to view this is look at the brake light - is it lit up?

You already said your brake light isn't working, so the break in the 12 volt path is between the battery and the brake switch output side - which your measurements should be able to uncover .

You changed the ignition switch. I wonder if you substituted a bad one for a good one perhaps.... Anyway follow the voltage and see where it stops.

On some tao tao's the headlights (and tail light) are powered off AC volts directly from the stator. So if you have this system the headlights may not work unless the engine is running. And they would be dim at idle and brighten with increased engine speed. If they are powered off the 12 volt bus they should work off the battery whether the engine is turning or not. In that case the power comes from the output side of the ignition switch through the headlight switch. But note that the brake light *always* runs off the 12 volt power bus.