I have an odd situation. My Quadrunner is hard to start from the starter itself. It sounds like it cranks the engine without issue and the battery is brand new. I can turn the engine over for 20-30 seconds without it hitting a lick. Pull the seat, pull the rope one time and it is running. Shut it off, hit the starter, fires right back up......

Any ideas as to why one pull from the rope starts it, but numerous cranks don't on the initial start? Plug seems to be firing properly. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

 

i have no idea why. . but. .
check the valve clearances.
i bought an old king quad which was a pig to start cold.
then discovered it started fine on the pull cord.
eventually. (long story) i found the inlet tappet a tad tight. . slacked it off 1/4 turn and starts instantly "on the button"

 

keep the battery charged. You may not have enough cranking amps especially in cold temps.

 

I have had a few Hondas with that fault. Check by laying the plug out on the head with HT lead connected, and press the starter. If you get one spark when the engine starts to turn over and one spark when you take your finger off the starter button, you have a problem. I never cured the Hondas, despite changing coils, batteries, starters, going over the loom for bad connections etc. Owners got used to pressing the starter in quick bursts so one of these sparks would catch.

Someone on this forum has recently posted that the fault is metal shavings stuck to the pulse generator on the outside of the flywheel.

 

Wow, thanks for the responses. I can definitely check the valve clearance to rule that out, as well as for general maintenance. As for the battery, it is good, holding good volts, it isn't very old at all. Interesting about the pulse generator. I'll check the spark plug first to see if I'm getting a spark after I release the start button. Thanks for all of your help, it is greatly appreciated.

 

I would still keep it on a tender. It may be new but if it's not charged, it's just as useless as the battery you just threw away. Nothing drains a battery faster than prolonged attempts to start, i.e. cranking for 20-30 sec. You will not only drain battery but might also fry the starter leads. You really shouldn't crank for longer than 5-6 sec. If it doesn't start then stop, wait a bit and try again.

 

I would check the regulator. It's sort of a common issue with this family of quads and would be the first thing I would want to rule out.

 

how do you check the regulator?

 

Hookup a voltmeter to the battery and be sure the voltage is no higher than 14.4 or so all through the rpm band (when the engine is running of course, the regulator doesn't do anything when the engine is off). A reading of 16-18 indicates a bad regulator. 15 is ify. 13 or less indicates either the alternator is not charging or there is a large current draw (dead battery, etc).

You can also visually check the regulator. Look for cracks on the back of it in the plastic epoxy. I've seen a couple in that condition.

 

I always try to post the answers to my questions when I have them resolved. Long story short, I sold the wheeler a couple days after getting it. The new owner wanted to resolve the issue with his son, but never got the time and asked me to look at it. The exhaust valve had some clearance but wasn't within specs. The intake had absolutely no slack, so I adjusted both out to their max clearances: 0.08mm intake, 0.13mm exhaust. Hit the start button and fired right up. Glad I had the opportunity to look at this Atv again and post the resolution for the next potential reader. The Atv also wouldn't idle until it was warmed up, this resolved that issue as well.