One other question... If I have to jump the quad with my jeep would I leave my jeeps engine off as to not over juice the quad/quad battery? Or would I start my jeeps engine as if I were jumping another car? I just don't want to over power it. Thanks

 

Yes you can jump the quad to your jeep. It really doesn't matter that much if the jeep is running or not. Having the jeep running will raise the voltage at the starter to 14 volts instead of 12 volts. The starter will turn slightly faster - no big deal.

To be completely correct I should also say that if your quad battery is flat out dead, and you jump it your car battery the in rush current to the quad battery will be breifly too high. This will cause some localized heating in the battery and will take some life out of it. A charger is current limited and won't do this on a flat dead battery. So if your battery is flat dead and you have a charger then charge up the battery for a while before jumping it to a car. If you don't have a charger then jump it to your car anyway. It may damage the battery a little, but leaving the battery sitting around dead damages the battery even more.

Once the battery has even a small charge on it then jumping it to another 12 volt battery (big or small) does no harm (but be sure to get the polarity right).

 

Look for a hole in the plastic body where an ignition switch might go, then look behind the hole for some wire mods. Also look for a unplugged four pin connector in case the ignition switch has simply been removed. The symptom of a unplugged ignition switch would be no lights at all, and the start button won't do anything. If your CDI is AC powered (most common) then your quad should start when you jump the solenoid terminals even when the ignition switch is removed.

 

Thanks for your reply! Holiday weekend was a little busy so today was my first time messing with the quad since reading your post. So I've come to the conclusion that I should buy things new from now on haha because upon further wire inspection there is NO Solenoid! However it looks like it was just removed and not hacked becAuse the wire terminal rings are both still there. As soon as I put the 2 terminal rings together the starter cranked right over.....

I missed this the first time because these terminals are up in the front of the quad near the cdi rather then near the starter...weird. But looks "factory".

So anyways I guess I need a solenoid so far but there is no 2 loose thin red wires that would also go to the solenoid Like you mentioned... checked around an don't see any just a thick red cable goin to the solenoid and the thin fused wire coming off the battery positive. Where would I run the thin wires to the solenoid? The ones that send the signal to switch the solenoid on....

One last question... It was very cold today so I only tried to start it a couple times... Is it okay to t
start it without the solenoid? For now...just to get it running...

Anyways.. Can anyone give me like a check list to go over for a quad that I've never started? Meaning I just want to make sure everything is good before running.... WhAt is the default carb mixture screw adjustment?

 

Also Lynn, about the ignition... There seems to be no holes in the body where one would go.. I can't seem to find where it would go either all wires seem there I haven't seen any hacked wires aside from the missing solenoid... If the starter cranked when I connected the 2 ring terminals together does that mean my ignition is always on? That is fine if that's the case... I'd just like to get it running before I do the ignition and such.

Plan to mess with it more to tomorrow am, will check back with any progress.

 

That will work. Having unfused and powered ring terminals hanging around where they can short to ground is not a good idea (the wires feeding the starter aren't fused, and one of the wires is powered all the time). You can buy a solenoid on eBay for cheap. Any old solenoid will work as long as it will fit mechanically. They all do the same thing.

Normally one side of the solenoid actuating coil is wired to the same wire that feeds the brake light. The other side is wired is wired through a push button (Start) to ground. Thus to get 12 volts across the solenoid actuating coil you need to have the brakes on (a safety interlock), and you have to be pushing the start button.

Some quads are wired slightly different. The power from the brake light wire goes through the push button start switch then to one side of the solenoid coil. The other side of the solenoid coil is wired to ground.

Either way works.

I know people that have gone years starting up their quads by shorting the solenoid terminals rather than fix the start wiring. All the solenoid does is short those two ring terminals together when 12 volts is applied across the actuating coil. It doesn't matter if the solenoid does the shorting, or if you do it manually.

 

The way to tell if the igntion is on all the time is to check for spark. If you get spark while cranking the engine then the ignition is on. Do you know which CDI you have? Is it 5 pin or 4 pin? The 5 pin is AC powered, while the 4 pin is DC powered.

To check for spark plug the spark plug wire into a spare plug and hold the plug threads against the engine block while cranking the engine. You should see a fat blue spark in the spark plug gap.

 

Thanks for the reply. I made some progress I put a spare plug in and cranked it over had no spark.... BUT then I remembered the kill switch on the handle bar... I switched it to 'run' and then had decent spark... (it could be better its a little weak had a slight blue arc but mostly yellow.) I'm going to clean the connections to the coil and clean all grounds and such and see if i get better spark... any other suggestions?

So anyways... I'm getting spark so that means my ignition is wired on? if i understood you correctly.. amd my kill siwtch seems to be wired and working correctly.. so we're getting somewhere haha.. So now, for now I guess I can focuss on why it's NOT starting lol...

Can anyone tell me the correct spark plug socket size to remove the sparkplug? I have a sparkplug socket but its for car sized plugs, too big.. I guess I have to buy one lol...

I'm going to try a new plug and then work from there... I cleaned the carb already but I'll give it another cleaning.. my overflow lines seemed to pour gas out LOL,,, my float seemed fine though last time I took it apart... ?? The quad is in good shape i'm guessing someone just gave up on it.. Thanks very much for your help.

 

one other electrical question.. Is there a charging or batt charge maintaining system on these quads? I realize with bigger quads theres a alt/generator/charging system but regular wall charging is still required once in a while..

On my quad is there a similar charging system ? If so, how would it work without a solenoid,, do i leave the rings shorted together once the engine is running? or would this just make the starter motor still turn over?? just wondering how it would send the charge back to the battery without them connected,, would it charge via the small red wire?? ... I'm fine with charging the battery everynight was just wondering if it had a charging system?

 

Do you have a fuel filter installed between the gas tank and the carburetor? There is often crud in the tank that works it way down and lodges between the needle valve and the needle seat. If the needle valve leaks the carburetor fills up and comes out the overflow tube. Sometimes it also fills up the cylinder and crankcase with gas. Smell your dipstick to check for oil contamination.