There is no power at all going to the CDI on my sons quad. Also the alarm is wired into the wiring harness. Does anyone know what the voltage of each seperate wire going into the CDI should be or any other suggestions. Thank You in advance

 

The power that feeds the CDI comes from the stator. It is AC (not DC) and is moderately high voltage. It also is only present when the engine is turning, and will be zero volts when the engine is stopped.

You can simply unplug your remote receiver (the module on the quad) if you think that is keeping your quad from starting. Just remember that you will no longer be able to turn off the quad (if it should start) with the ignition switch while it is disconnected. You will have to use the handlebar kill switch instead.

Let's back up.

What exactly is the problem that caused you to start measuring power at the CDI? The starter isn't turning? No spark? Or it just won't start?

Let's start at the beginning, and move forward from there.

 

The reason why I'm checking the CDI is that there is no spark. The engine cranks, but doesn't turn over. It's weird, Trevor (my son) was riding for about an hour. he pulled in the driveway and left the quad running so about 5 minutes later I shut it off...to save gas...then when we went to start it it would crank, but not turn over. Checked the spark plug and there was no spark. Now with the quad in the run position at all points there seems to be no power going to the CDI. You e-mailed me the wiring for the quad. Disconnected the alarm system and there is still no start. Do you have the OHM values for the pick up?

 

Is this your CDI?



Count the pins. If your CDI has four pins then we need to back up and take a different path.

Assuming a 5 pin CDI:

Check your kill switch wiring: Unplug the CDI, turn on the ignition switch and make sure all kill switches (tether & handlebar) are in the run position. In the wiring harness measure the resistance of the kill switch pin to ground. It should be open (infinite ohms). Turn off the ignition or activate one of the kill switches. The resistance should go to zero ohms (shorted to ground). Kill switches or kill switch wiring is responsible for causing a lot of 'no spark' problems.

Check your AC Ignition Power: Leave the CDI disconnected. Measure the resistance of the AC Ignition Power pin to ground. You should get 300 ohms or so. Switch over to measure AC volts on your meter on the 200 volt scale. Crank the engine and measure the AC volts on this pin to ground. You should see 35 to 80 volts AC. 80 volts can make you jump so mind your fingers while doing this.

Check your Timing Trigger pin: Measure the resistance of this pin to ground (engine stopped). You should see 140 ohms or so. Switch your meter to AC and set it to the lowest scale you have, like 2 volts. Measure the AC voltage to ground while cranking the starter. You should see something like 0.3 volts AC. It should not be zero.

This is a start...

 

Cranking engine with pin to ground on Ac ignition switch should be 35 to 80 and is only measuring 14.

 

14 volts AC is too low. Did you measure this while the CDI was disconnected? The CDI yanks this voltage around so it is important to measure the stator output while the CDI is unplugged.

What did ou measure for resistance on the AC power pin in the wiring harness to ground?

When cranking the starter, was the starter spinning at normal speed? The voltage out of the stator is proportional to engine speed, but to get only 14 volts AC would require a really slow starter speed.

 

yes the cdi was unlugged. the resistance on ac power pin was around 220. I think it maybe the stator?

 

sorry, the ac power pin is showing no resistance/open circuit

 

There is another connector set between the stator and the CDI connector. Follow the pigtail wires out of the stator and inspect the connector for wires unplugged or bad connections. If you look at the color of the wire at the CDI on the power pin you should be able to find the same color wire down at the stator connector (usually black with a red stripe, but not always).

If the stator power winding is open then I would take the engine covers off, remove the flywheel and inspect the stator for broken wires, and anything else obvious that can be fixed without having to get a new stator. I would especially carefully at the ground connections inside the stator.