So if I read your posts correctly is sounds like you trigger voltage is the same while you are in the working and non-working condition. The problem is we're talking about one least significant digit on your meter. The results are a little ambiguous. A meter with better resolution at low AC voltages would help.

So you do see a difference between the CDI output when warm and cold. That suggests that the problem is before the CDI output. According to your measurements your AC power input voltage to the CDI is OK when you are getting no spark.

That leaves the CDI, the trigger input from the stator, and the kill switches...

Speaking of kill switches, in reviewing the previous posts I can't find any results about the kill switch tests (method A or method B). Did you ever do those tests?

 

Yes, I did the method of removing the kill wire from the 5 pin plug while it would not run and it made no difference. I did something today which is probably not recomended but I was getting frustrated. Once it was hot and not working I removed the large threaded plug on the side of the stator cover and sprayed the garden hose in there to cool it. It started right up, I did this a second time with the same results. I ran it for a while to get it fairly warm again to make sure all traces of water had evaporated. Does this help in narrowing down the problem? Again, thanks for your help.

 

The 20 minute thermal time constant suggest the stator as compared to the outside smaller devices like CDIs, coils, etc. You garden hose experiment is suggesting the same.

 

Is the difference in resistance between hot and cold of the timer trigger significant, 72 hot 125 cold? If I replace the stator will a honda one fit or should I just get another chinese one? Do you know of any inexpensive sources for these parts?

 

Dang...

I reread the posts again, and clear as a bell the info is there. I missed it. And, more importantly, you found it...

72 ohms hot versus 125 ohms cold is a *big* red flag. Your trigger coil is just a length of wire wound around a magnet. Copper wire resistance varies a lot with temperature. I am too tired to look it up but I seem to recall it is something like +0.4 percent per degree C. And stators run fairly hot, so one might expect that the resistance would change significantly between a cold and hot stator.

But it goes the wrong way...

The resistance should increase with temperature - not decrease. The decrease indicates thermally induced shorted turns in the pickup coil. Those shorted turns would cause the induced voltage to go to near zero and kill the spark.

So now we have:

1) Thermal lag (the time constant) indicating the stator
2) Garden hose stator cooling (a brilliant troubleshooting techinque, BTW) indicating the stator also.
3) The reverse temperature coefficient of the trigger winding resistance indicating the pickup coil in the stator.

So far there is a lot of evidence pointing at the stator....

I'd buy a chinese one. I have no idea if a honda one would fit, but even if it did it would be really expensive.