I've been working on a 2001 bayou that hasn't run in 2 years. After a thorough carb cleaning and reset to factory specs I've got it running pretty good, although not without trouble. The atv was in a shed and not exposed to the elements or rodents, however, I'm still having some sort of electrical issues. The atv will run fine at idle, but immediately skips and cuts out when any throttle is applied. Interestingly, if the brake lights are activated in any way this instantly fixes the problem and the atv runs great. I'm guessing this is some sort of issue with the CDI ground or frame ground, however I'm unfamiliar with kawasakis and the only gound I can find is the one on the motor near the pull start. Is there any other ground on the atv? Anybody have any suggestions on where to start?

 

Sounds like if you apply the brakes and the light comes on my guess would be check the charging system maybe over charging which can cause to much volts to cdi making the ignition to break up IMO when you appling the brakes an the light is coming on this is adding an load on the charging voltage regulator an causes volts to go down some an let the ignition have less voltage an causes an smooth run.Just an ideal charging rate should be 13.6 -14.3 plus or minus afew I think cdi can handle around 15 volts before breaking up...Good luck

 

Thanks for the input. I'll give that a shot and see what I find.

 

I had the same problem with my Bayou 220 and the voltage was going up to 18 volts. When I would turn on headlights it would run better. But I installed a new voltage regulator and fixed the problem. I hope this helps if you hadn't already got it fixed.