Took my grandson's LEM ATV into a dealer as I could get no spark. He listed the following problems:
1) needs new crankshaft
2) needs new mag needle flywheel
3) needs new kick start gear
4) needs new set of gaskets.
All this discovered when there was no spark. He suggested buying new machine. Seems like a lot to go wrong at once. Any opinions?

 

Not unusual for these cheap little machines, in most cases the repair parts are not worth the cost of the machine, if your a gambling man try buying another one only new. At least it will last thru the warranty period.

 

It's a Franco-Morini (sp) motor. Maybe find one.
1) crank, I'd like to know why he thinks it's bad. Was the motor froze up? This is going to lead into piston/bore prolly.
2)yep, prolly. I'm presuming he checked the coil/cdi.
3) they do go bad at times
4) Of course gaskets. No biggie.
And then..possibly..He may want that LEM for himself.
He is right tho, you can get a new china special for the cost of the repairs.

 

If you really want to rebuild one,parts can still be purchased here. Prices aren't cheap.Our little Ktm 50s used the Morini engine back in 97. After that they went to water cooled engines. Certain tools like the clutch/crank sprocket tool you have to have.Morini Franco USA

 

I know that I am a novice at this but do not consider myself hopeless. When I received the list of things that were problems, the one item I could not figure out was what was a mag needle. Looking up on line I finally figured out mag needle was magneto. I know what a Magneto is so something got lost in the translation. The laugh is on me.

 

I sorta figured.

 

Well since I have this machine, even if it is just scrap, I might learn something from it by just playing around with it. Last summer, I ordered and received a clutch cover from Morini Franco. Today I put in the primary gear and found it binds in the housing for the top bolt. I found this odd. I guess the only solution here would be to grind a little of the housing away so the gear can move. Certainly odd that it would be manufactured like that. I emailed the company but so far no response.

 

Strange that that would happen. There are (4) S5 type engines,but appears that the gears should be the same. The crank sprocket nut you have to have that tool and use red loctite or the nut would back off and crack the outer cover. I hated these clutches.The old style clutches with the master links and the newer one with the concave washers they used as springs. Once they were dialed in though these little engines would scream and dominated the race tracks for awhile.

 

I watched a fellow online who checked his magneto coils with a double A battery to see if he could get a spark on the plug. I tried this with mine and with 6 volts was able to get a spark. I also checked with my ohm meter and got a reading of 0.9 Ohms. The spark seemed promising but I am not sure of the resistance or how accurate my ohm meter is.

I checked to seem if there was any magnetism in the flywheel. One end of the butterfly attracted the nail and hung onto it. There seem to be no magnetism elsewhere.

Whether this proves anything I'm not sure.

 

I have been fiddling with the magneto on this ATV. I hooked it up to a spark plug so I had a complete circuit. Next I used a 6 volt DC power source to complete a circuit for the primary coil. By making contact and breaking contact to the 6 volt source, I was able to get a strong spark. This seemed to indicate that the coils were okay. When I hooked up the primary so as to use the ATV to complete the circuit, pressed the foot lever, I got no spark.

If my understanding of how this LEM 1999 magneto works is that the flywheel has a magnet on one end of the butterfly on the flywheel. When the flywheel rotates, the magnet passes the coils creating a electric pulse in the primary which causes a large pulse in the secondary. I see no evidence of a capacitor.

This seems to indicate that the problem could be with the magnet. There is certainly is magnetism there but maybe not enough. I had the coils off and cleaned all around it so I thought maybe that would help but apparently not. Anyone have any ideas as to whether or not this magneto is salvageable?