ok now i unplugged the plastic clip that has all the wires on it that plugs into the cdi to do the tests..ok now stop me if i am not doin this right! i took the ohm meter and put it into the slot in the plstic cover of one wire and the negative to another like it says in teh clymer for instance positive probe to green and negative to blue/yellow well i did a few of those and was only getting a 1 showin up on the digital meter on all ohm settings..this means broken connection correct? ok well then i plugged the plastic clip back into the cdi and out slides the black/red wire right outta the plastic clip! is this my broken connection? and how can i fix this can i solder this back into the clip? please help!

 

ok, here's the deal. I just did this to my buddy's ATC 200 (common problem maybe?) cuz it lost spark. Using the OHM meter, you need to test the terminals on the CDI box, not the wire harness. I unplugged the harness from the cdi and started testing the wires itself....DUH!

anyways, look at the wire colors on the plug in as a reference. test the termials as directed in the manual, it says which lead to put where, positive is red lead, negative is black. The metere should just read "1" which means open circuit or "infinite", which is what you want, because the CDI box is full of diodes that only flow current one way, and you are testing to see if any connection exists which would indicate a diode that is flowing backwards, which would be faulty. If all connections are "infinite", it passes a meter test, and then move on to the next step. Note-just because it passes this test, doesnt mean it's 100% good. When in doubt, substitute a known good one, just as the manual says.

PM me with the results of your test or if you find out what happened. My buddy ordered a stator assembly, the exciter coil was out of spec. We still arent 100% sure that's what happened, but it ran great for a few hours, then he swamped it and it ran ok but went downhill fast. Now there's no spark at all, not even a little tingle on the plug wire, just totally dead.

 

ok so i found some more time to tinker with this little nightmare...lol..ok now i need an ignition coil cuz i'm gettin to much resistance on the primary but the secondary is within spec. now i have the ignition coil pulled off the bike waitin for new one..but now i tried testing the cdi i unplugged the plastic clip took the cdi outta the little rubber protector set it on the bench to do the tests...and nothing! i'm just getting 1 n thats it on every single one...so is it possible my ignition coil and cdi are done? or should i just wait get the ignition coil and see if i get spark and if not order the cdi thanks for the help!

 

ok so my ignition coil had to much resistance and now i got it put it on and bam! still nothing so it looks like a cdi as well becuz its only givin me "1" on the tests...is there anywhere i can get one cheaper than what the dealers ask? like anybody got one thats good lying around? i checked ebay no luck

 

READ the first reply to your original post about the CDI test.

 

The "1" means open circuit? so does this mean i have a wire grounding out somewhere?

 

According to the above posted CDI test, yours is good. You want an open circuit/infinite reading, which is what you stated you have. So as stated in the above post, your CDI has passed the meter test.

 

By the way, what model ATC are you working on and what year is it so others may be able to jump in here and give their advice too.

 

Its a 1983 185s and i replaced the cdi anyways and still nothing..it had spark when i bought it took it home rode it and it shut down after about 15min of riding and then you would have to wait 15-20min for it to start back up...and then now its got nothin at all

 

I had this problem and it turned out the magneto was all rusty. Popped the stator flywheel off and cleaned it up good, now lights and spark are nice and bright. It does take a special puller to pop the flywheel off however.

Also make sure all of your ignition wires are in good shape, I also used WD-40 on all the electrical connections to drive any moisture out.

Good Luck