hello, i have a 1985 Kawasaki bayou 185 that i recently purchased. it was missing the cdi but i got one and after putting it on, i found out that the pickup coil was bad. after replacing that, it ran and gave out a good spark but it then stopped sparking. i thought it was the coil and i replaced it yesterday. it was sparking again but now, it wont spark again. this one has me baffled and i don't know what to do next but i wont let this one beat me. any help or advice is appreciated greatly. thanks again, Chris

 

You may have an intermittent fault, and changing all those parts did not actually cure the problem, it just went away and came back. The other alternative is that some part of the system is overloading the electronics and blowing components. The voltage regulator is a possible culprit, as is a faulty earth lead on the CDI. Check all wires and switches on the ignition system. If you can get it started, check the battery voltage doesn't go over 15V with the engine running, this would indicate a faulty regulator.

 

ok, so do you think that my cdi has been fried then. it is giving out power when i put the voltmeter to the terminal going to the ignition coil. i will check all my connections and check my ground when i get back from work. thanks again,
chris

 

ok, so i checked all of my wires and they all seemed good. i removed the ignition coil and grounded it to a better place. cranked the engine and it gave out a few sparks and then stopped. it will give out a few sparks now but nothing after that.

 

Have you tried running it, or just watched the spark at the plug? You could have the same problem as Steven Price (see Kawasaki 400b) yesterday. Try pull starting it, if it runs OK, you have the same fault as him.

 

nice discuss