Cj Winds

Just to give anther 2 cents, About 6 months ago I worked on a Yamaha 250 from the 1990's and it had good compression and spark and fuel but the engine would not start. When this happens I first try several attempts with different shots of starting fluid but this did not work. Then I check the output of the stator and its resistance and DVA voltages were good. It even had good spark with a spark plug installed. I changed the stator knowing that sometimes they test good but are the problem and the atv ran great with a new stator. Now this person states the plug is dry. If you spray lots of starting fluid in and the plug is still dry, you need to figure out why the plug stays dry.

Do you have the intake system installed with the air filter installed?

First I say "most of these types of atv's are wasted spark", and then Mech comes back with " not all spark systems are wasted spark. Weird. Of course not all spark systems are wasted spark, but I am guessing this one is. If the atv only has a pickup coil on the crank then how would it know what stroke it was on?

What timing are you talking about? Engines have ignition timing and valve timing. Most of these types of atvs have a pickup coil on the crank that tells the cdi when to fire a wasted spark ignition.

So you are talking about the mechanical timing of the valves?

Mark, can you explain how timing could be off 180 deg?

Is the spark plug wet or dry after repeated attempts of starting the engine? If the plug is wet, the engine could be getting too much fuel. Try draining the carb and disconnecting the fuel line to the carb. Then try starting it and while starting it try spraying different amounts of starting fluid into intake.

You should buy a DVA to test voltage of the pickup coil, charge coil, and also output of the ignition coil

I also use Rotella T6 5W-40, its a good inexpensive oil that works good in wet clutchs

I have a 2005 Yamaha Kodiak 400 Automatic. It has an oil leak inside clutch cover. The middle gear has two oil seals, the front seal is leaking engine oil into clutch area. How do you change the leaking seal?

Try turning off the fuel valve that is under the fuel tank on left side of bike, if the engine runs longer than 30 seconds than the carb float is probably leaking when engine is running

If I printed my own money I would not be trillions of dollars in debt

I replace the just the bendix gear for the starter motor and now it starts right up, i guess it wasn't turning over as fast as it should

I put a OTC spark tester on the spark plug lead and had good blue spark, then I used my adjustable spark tester and found the electric start would produce a max of 1/4 spark jump, the pull cord would max at 3/8 jump. Then I installed a new spark plug non resister type and lowered the gap to 0.020 and it still would not run with electric start but still starts fine with pull cord.

Yes, its oil injected

Yes, it sparks using spark tester when cranking the motor.

I have a 2000 Polaris Xplorer with the 250 two stroke motor It does not want to start with the electric start, the motor cranks fast, the battery is good, and there is good spark when cranking. The engine starts perfect when using the pull cord, it even starts if I pull the cord slowly and starts with one pull. The engine idles smoothly once started. My wife says she needs the electric start to work.

I have had similar problems on a couple of machines, one solution was replacing a faulty aftermarket cdi box, another problem for a different machine was a vacuum leak at boot between carb and cylinder head

Fluid from the exhaust could be gasoline, did you replace any parts in the carb? If not, buy a rebuild kit, they can be found on ebay for under $30. The float on the carb is probably leaking and flooding the engine. Check the engine oil too see if it is too full, if its too full it might have gas in it. You will need to replace the engine oil and filter if the oil is mixed with gas.

The front final drive could last for several more years, most of them when new had a good deal of play

The gap is important but usually its not adjustable on the type of atv you have. You can measure the resistance of the coil, if its infinite resistance then the coil is bad

First check the wiring for breaks in the wiring from the stator to the main wiring harness. Next use a multimeter to chech the resistance between the yellow wires coming from the stator. From one wire to the next it should have less than 2 ohms. A high or infinite resistance between two of the wires indicates an open in the stator wiring which is fixed by replacing the stator.

Does the engine die when you put it in forward gear?

Do you have a multimeter? measure resistance on main switch, black to black/red, and red to brown. Both should have continuity when switch is on and no continuity when switch is off

What year is your machine?