hasn't been run in a year and a half, changed gas cleaned tank out, charged battery, it started right up. I drove it around for a few minutes. tried starting it later and it won't. charged battery, even got a new one, still won't start. checked spark and it only sparks when it wants to(rarely) doesn't seem to matter if key is on or off. any ideas.

 

try a new spark plug

 

yeah i forgot to mention i already did that

 

 

thanks, where did the pics come from?

 

From the 1984 Honda ATC200ES PDF shop manual ..

 

i own 2 of these exact machines. I have had a cdi box go bad on both of them. I was lucky though since i could swap parts until i found out what was wrong. If all of the test honda mechanic posted check out ok, then it is your cdi box. There is not any way to test a cdi box except by replacing it with a known good one.