1988 Bayou 220 lost spark

[wrench66]

Hi all,

I recently acquired an old Bayou from a neighbor that I cleaned up a got running, then from nowhere a problem crops up where it refuses to start........ I pull the plug and it has no spark, pulled the plug cap off and laid the bare wire on the exhaust header and still nothing......once in a while though when I push the starter button but as I let off the button it might spark once. Now it did begin sparking normally just once and I plugged everything back in and it ran normally again until I turned the engine off. Next time I tried starting it we were back to no spark or the one spark deal.

I have tested the stator wires at 140 ohm, the pick up at 130 ohm (I can't seem to find a reliable number for these values online), I bought a new ignition coil and ignition switch on chance those may have been the problem but were not, not sure where to look from here......... does the starter relay switch have anything to do with the ignition on these? I know these older Bayou's are magneto type ignitions and do not need battery power to operate but I wonder if there are safety switches involved I may not be aware of. Also, can someone point me to a good wiring schematic for the magneto 220's? Pre 95 I believe.

thanks for any help!

-- Ray

Edited April 20, 2019 by wrench66

[Frank Angerano]

The intermittent spark thing really sounds like a bad connection.  I would open the stator cover and check that there is no rust or corrosion on or around the stator/magneto.  Check all plugs and before you plug them back in add dielectric grease to the plugs. 

If the bike is cranking when you hit the starter then the starter safety relay circuit is working.   Easy way to test it to put the bike in gear and try to crank it. It should not crank.  

The stator coil should should read from wire to wire about the same ohms. And should NOT read anything from each wire to ground.  

I have to go back and look at the pick up coil and stator coil numbers to see where your at as far as readings.  

This should be your working diagram. Let me know if you need any clarification on the map.  

[wrench66]

2 hours ago, Frank Angerano said:

The intermittent spark thing really sounds like a bad connection.  I would open the stator cover and check that there is no rust or corrosion on or around the stator/magneto.  Check all plugs and before you plug them back in add dielectric grease to the plugs. 

If the bike is cranking when you hit the starter then the starter safety relay circuit is working.   Easy way to test it to put the bike in gear and try to crank it. It should not crank.  

The stator coil should should read from wire to wire about the same ohms. And should NOT read anything from each wire to ground.  

I have to go back and look at the pick up coil and stator coil numbers to see where your at as far as readings.  

This should be your working diagram. Let me know if you need any clarification on the map.  

 

Thanks for the reply Frank, that diagram is just what I was after. Ok I will go through your questions one by one:

I was thinking about having a peak at the stator and pick up coils, is there oil behind that cover on the 220? I wanna be prepared with a new gasket.

Yes it does crank over fine and the neutral safety is working as it will only crank with the green light lit. 

When I tested the ohms from the stator coils (black-red wires into the cdi box from the engine) I did test for any reading to ground and found none. Like I mentioned I believe I read 140 + - was the target for the stator coils and 130 +- for the pick up, which both mine are reading.

Earlier today I did replace the ignition coil as well as the key switch with new items but neither had any effect on the problem (I had already ordered them prior to this).

One thing I failed to mention was that when pull starting I get zero sparks....not even the one intermittent ones like off the button. Before all this started I had this quad running very well (it had been stored for a number of years) and was very happy with it easy starting 2 pulls cold or just a quick punch of the starter button. I was riding around our pasture 20min before this began...so I'm certain it's a simple fix but electrical issues are tough.... lol.

thank you for the help!

-- Ray 

 

[wrench66]

Looking closer at that diagram Frank I think that's a later one that uses battery 12v power to fire the igniton, I don't see the two source coils near the stator and it looks like there is 12v going into the CDI box. My '88 has 2 yellow AC leads from the stator/altenator and 2 other black and red leads from the source coils in the stator like this pic shows.

[Frank Angerano]

Can you post a few pics of the existing stator coil and pick up coils including the plugs and color of the wires.  

[wrench66]

Sure, I don't have the stator cover off but you can clearly see it's a 2 yellow wire alternator ( as opposed to the later 3 wire type ) with another 2 wires for the source coils (black & red wires ). The pick up coil wires are blue & black and the last pic is the connectors at the CDI box...... 2 pair of 2 wire and a 3 wire.

thanks!

[Frank Angerano]

Are you positive of the year and size of the bike ? I’m looking at a few diagrams and I’m not seeing this wire configuration for some reason.  

[wrench66]

This is the machine I have, it's dark now so no pics but this the exact one from Google......... the registration reads date first sold '88 and the tenth digit in the vin is a J so yes it's an '88. Decal says 220 so I'm gonna go with that

 

[John Sinclair]

DOES YOUR ATV HAVE A KILL SWITCH ON THE HANDLEBAR?  IF SO, CHECK IT FOR CONTINUITY. IF YOU HAVE CONTINUITY, THATS YOUR PROBLEM.

OLEMANJOHN

[wrench66]

Thanks John, no continuity on the yellow/red wire coming from the CDI box to ground when off....... yes when switched on so it's working ok.

Found a service manual online with the correct wiring diagram from the early magneto type ignition (Bay-E download). Gonna separate the ignition from the rest of the wire harness to hopefully narrow down the players in this problem, by giving the cdi and ignition coil their own stand alone ground and eliminating the yellow red kill switch wire I can then see if the CDI, source, pick up and the ignition coils are working...... IF I STILL have no spark then it's only a matter of a couple of obvious parts, IF my spark returns then it's an easy job to one by one plug things back in until the culprit is found. We'll see

Edited April 22, 2019 by wrench66

[Ajmboy]

13 minutes ago, wrench66 said:

Thanks John, no continuity on the yellow/red wire coming from the CDI box to ground when off....... yes when switched on so it's working ok.

Found a service manual online with the correct wiring diagram from the early magneto type ignition (Bay-E download). Gonna separate the ignition from the rest of the wire harness to hopefully narrow down the players in this problem, by giving the cdi and ignition coil their own stand alone ground and eliminating the yellow red kill switch wire I can then see if the CDI, source, pick up and the ignition coils are working...... IF I STILL have no spark then it's only a matter of a couple of obvious parts, IF my spark returns then it's an easy job to one by one plug things back in until the culprit is found. We'll see

@wrench66 can you add this manual to our downloads section? or PM me a link and I'll do it? It may help others since it seems we don't have the right manual available.

https://www.quadcrazy.com/files/category/6-kawasaki-atv/

[Frank Angerano]

I cleaned it up a little bit for you as well as did some studying.  It’s a little different from my model but still pretty straight foreword.  Hope this helps.     

If you have any questions let me know.   

If it’s not clear then private message me and I will email it to you.  

[wrench66]

Success!!

While following my plan of attack of separating the ignition from the rest of the quad's wiring I swapped out the CDI box with an inexpensive dirt cheap Chinese Ebay replacement just to see if a difference could be seen BEFORE springing for a proper OEM item and wonders of wonders I hit upon the defective part....... sparks a flyin :) lol.  So luckily what I ultimately ended up having to replace was the ignition switch and upper HT coil (which both were in dodgy condition to begin with) and the CDI box just mentioned. 

Going about it methodically and using the wiring diagram got this solved, thanks for the help fellas ;)

-- Ray 

[Frank Angerano]

Great news brother. Glad we can help. 

Ride safe!