Just rebuilt the motor on this old quad as a project with my 13 year old son. For a couple months it ran real well. He noticed one day that the reverse indicator light started coming on when he was operating it, about this time it would only start intermittently and usually only when it was cold. The electric started has not worked and it has no battery so we have been pull starting it. To add to the story I was able to get it started a couple weeks ago, the reverse indicator light comes on when it is pulled over, and stays on when it has started but when you rev the motor the light goes out and it runs smoother. After it warmed up it would not start again. Read through a pile of threads and it looks to be either the reverse indicator, stator or cdi. Anyone else ever had this issue??? or understand what could be causing this weird reverse indicator light issue. Thanks in Advance!!

 

Im not an atv mechanic by any means but dont atvs have a closed loop electrical system and need an battery to complete the loop? It sounds like to me that when you rev the atv the stator puts out more juice which may be why the indicator light may be going off (because now it has enough amps to function correctly). I have never heard of an atv being run WITHOUT a battery at all before

 

I used to have that exact quad. My guess is you have a bad CDI.