We bought our son one of the TaoTao 125 ATV's for Christmas this year. It has run great with no problems. Last weekend we went to the local ATV park and it did great there as well. When we got home I was pressure washing it, with it running, when it died and now it won't start back up. I looked around and found the section of wiring harness that has all the connectors was not closed up in the rubber boot, so all the connectors got washed as well.
Things I have done

• pulled the plug and held it to a head bolt by hand while the wife cranks it - no spark
• Ohmed out the bungee cord kill switch on the handlebars and it appears fine
• All lights work, brake light comes on when lever is depressed
• Fuse by the battery is fine
• Battery is showing 12.? volts and drops to 11.? when cranking

I found some troubleshooting steps that someone else posted a while back and started working though them last night. Does anything stick out from the parts that I have done?

Method 2) Unplug the CDI. Turn on the ignition switch and set all kill switches to the run position. Use a meter to measure resistance in of the kill switch pin in the wiring harness connector to engine/frame ground. If the reistance is infinite on the 100K ohm scale then your kill switches/kill switch wiring are OK. If you measure zero ohms then you have a kill switch/wiring issue. I don't understand the terminology in this part. I set my meter to make an beep when the circuit is closed / complete. My meter beeped and showed 105 on the display.

1) Unplug the CDI. In the wiring connector measure the resistance of the AC Ignition Power pin to the Ground pin. You should see 400 ohms or so. What do you measure? 412

2) Measure the resistance of the Timing/trigger pin to the ground pin. You should measure 150 ohms or so. What do you measure? 130

3) Leave the CDI unplugged. Set your meter to measure AC volts on the 100 volt scale. Measure the voltage on the AC Ignition Power pin to the ground pin while cranking the engine. You should see 40 to 80 volts AC while the engine is cranking. What do you measure? 62

4) Set your meter to measure AC volts on the lowest scale you have. Ideally this would be 2 volts but many meters don't go down this low. In that case use the lowest scale you have. Measure the voltage on the Timing Trigger pin to the Ground pin while cranking the engine. You should 0.2 t0 0.4 volts AC. What do you measure? 0.187

This is as far as I made it last night before it got late. I did unhook all the connections and everything else I could see to unhook and left them unhooked all night with the heater running in the building to hopefully dry things out. I plan on ordering a spare CDI and stuff on Amazon today to have on hand, but I hate to just start replacing parts and not knowing what is really happening.

Any thoughts?

 

As you have just learned..NEVER power wash while engine is running!! To easy to get water into exhaust or force water into electrical connections causing shorts. In all probability you have fried the electrical system that runs the engine. Good luck, might consider just replacing the entire machine.

 

I always power wash bikes with engine running, the heat boils most water that gets onto electrics off, round the engine. Keep the spray away from the air intake and tank vent. If it does stop, leave alone in a dry place for the electrics to dry out. The bike will then run fine again. Dry everything out and leave alone, pulling wires out is a sure fire way to stop your bike from working. May be wise to check the carb float bowl for water though.

 

First thing I tell my customers is NOT to pressure wash your Chinese ATV. None of the wiring is water tight and its still easy to get water in the carb with the engine running. Perhaps you blew one of the wires off the Ign Coil or there was water between the connection