hello honda atc fans!,
i was recently given an '85 250sx. it had sat for many years. i tried to get it to run after cleaning up the carb and trying to jump start it using booster cables from my big red. i accidently allowed the cables to touch and after that the ignition went dead. thinking it was the rectifier/regulator unit i had fried, i replaced it with a good used unit, but still no power to the starter. the fuse at the battery(which is bad , but is not needed to run) was not blown and the regulator/ rectifier unit was supossed to be good/ebay?) what else might have been damaged when i reversed the polarity?
any help would be most welcomed,
thanx mart

 

I don't really know much about atvs and I still have a problem with mine where I posted it in the Honda section but I do know about electricity. You should check the CDI box if it has one. If you're still using the original battery in the atv, try changing it and if that doesn't work, change the fuse. Check the wires to see where anything fried. Also check the starter relay if it's electric start. I was told those can go bad if you leave them on for a long period of time (over power). It's possible. And lastly, it could be your starter but you said they touched for a second. I don't know if a starter would burn out for reversing polarity. I mean it could if you the key was ON and you tried starting it but I don't think the fuse would have allowed any power to pass through the relay. The fuse would have burned out.

 

hello nouseforaname,
thank you for your reply,
firstly, i don't have a shop manual for the trike, (yet)
. so, i'm going on the process of elimination first. when i was trying to get the atc running it had power going to the cicuit showing that it was firing and the neutral light was lit. it would run for a few seconds and quit. the carb was probably gummed up, as well as the tank was badly rusted from condensation. the electrics seemed to all be working until i shorted out the circuit. i'm assuming the replacement regulator/rectifier unit is working properly, however am unable to test it without the shop manual,. the cdi unit is my next probable choice, ruling out the solenoid, which should not have been harmed when the current was reversed. the atc will run without the battery, and i know this because i took the old one out as it had apparently frozen, craked open, and drained out dry. i guess i should look for a manual first before going on further.
but i do like a good mystery though!
thanks again for your reply,
mardun

 

Well if you're getting no spark, and you're going through your process of elimination, then the CDI is the first step so you're right. And odds are, it could most likely be that. That controls the spark anyways. I just got mine running. I followed this thread:

http://forums.atvconnection.co...35915&highlight_key=y


I was surprised that it was just the emergency switch on the back. I thought it was the stator. I don't know what it could be for yours. Check out that cdi though. I bought mine for $11+ from ebay. I don't know what you prefer but try that out first.

If you know someone with the same atv or takes the same cdi, test it in theirs. I did with my cousins and it worked. Sorry if this is repeating. I'm just glad I got my little kids crap working. 49cc and it carries a 21 year old adult. It's awesome lol

 

I have the same issue and right now im thinking stator. Do you know how to test the stator alone to see if its bad? visually it looks brand new.... What do you mean by emergency switch on the back?