Mech

Yeah we've seen them inside that right side cover, which is what it looks like in the parts diagram.

Well, since it still seems uncertain where it is I looked in a parts diagram and it shows it being an oval shaped plate with two bolts and one wire, and it looks like it's on the right side of the engine.. but it's unclear where, presumably it will be on the end of the shift barrel/drum, which would be near the lower rear.

Does sound like a lack of fuel... Is this a carb or fuel injected bike ? Is the fuel fresh ? Does it smoke or use oil ? If you use the pull or kick start, does it seem to have plenty of compression ? Does it crank over at a good speed with the electric start ? Better tell us the year and anything else about it you know.. Had it long ? Has it had a tune up recently ? When did this problem start ? Did it get gradually worse ? When you get it running, does it go ok ? When it's running, if you turn the choke on while it's idling, does the engine run differently ?

#6 Gw. There's generally, pretty early on, a page or two showing where all the main components and electrical bits are, in most manuals, but in this case I found the info in the wiring and cable routing. And, I didn't check but as far as I know if the bike will start with the brakes applied, but won't start because there is no neutral light, then it means everything's fine except the neutral switch or it's wiring.

The manual I looked in showed the neutral switch on top behind the starter motor.

I doubt it's going to be worth your time and effort. What would you use for axles once a diff is in it ? Probably better to try and buy yourself a quad that has a back diff.. if there is such a thing. Edit to note it's not a quad.. haha.

Depends on whether the bike used to run ok with that jet. "N" didn't say whether this is a new unknown bike to him. or whether he'd been riding it and then it developed the cutting out problem.

Ok, you have a bad connection somewhere that's causing the voltage to drop from 12v when there's no load, to 0.7v when the load comes on. You need to connect your gauge to the two battery terminals and check it's 12v, and that the voltage doesn't drop when you turn the key on. Then you take the positive lead and start checking for voltage in steps from the start solenoid to the fuse then to the ignition switch's red wire. Try each test position with the key off and it should show 12v, turn the key on and it should still stay real close to 12v. If the voltage drops to 0.7 with the key on then the bad connection is between your present test point and the previous one. If the voltage to the switch stays at 12v then test on the Bl/w wire of the switch with the switch on and off. If the voltage drops at the Bl/w when the key is turned on then the switch has bad contacts. If the power coming out of the switch stays at 12v then you move along through the wiring diagram looking for the point where the voltage drops when the key is turned on, but rises again to 12v when the key is turned off.

The cam timing is meant to be done using the T mark on the crank. The mark on the cam sprocket should be within a quarter of a tooth of perfect. That timing mark is almost a whole tooth out.. which may be right if you were using the F mark, which is for ignition timing and a bit advanced of top dead center. If that was on the T mark though then it could be improved. I don't think that's your problem though, not the fact it's a bit out, they run fine like that, but, if there is too much slack in the timing chain it might make it surge. You could try adjusting the chain and then checking how much slack there is in it. Or check the slack, then try adjusting it to see that the adjustment is doing something.. To check the ignition timing you use a timing light and at idle speed the F mark should line up, then as you rev it the flywheel should appear to rotate under the light until you see two parallel lines(I think(, to indicate full ignition advance. That full advance should be at fairly low revs still, perhaps two three thousand, and then the timing should stay between those two lines. If the timing goes past those two lines it's too advanced. If you don't have a timing light it's probably better to ignore the timing advance and concentrate on the carb. It may need a new larger main jet, but that's not really likely if the bike had been running fine with that jet previously. You could pull the slide and check it's diaphragm carefully for splits, then try lifting the slide needle a notch to check it's not that in the wrong position, or jumping around unconstrained. I'd check the real simple things first though, like drain the carb bowl into something and check for water, then turn the tap on and check fuel runs out the bottom of the carb at a good rate, then use a clear plastic hose to check the float level.

Another thing that makes things run surging like that is too much ignition advance. That's pretty rare on quads but if you have a timing light you should check what the timing's doing at full advance.

Cant see the video but if that's riding the bike then that definitely sounds like a fuel issue. I'd drain the carb bowl into something and look for water, then I'd check the tap was letting plenty of fuel through and that it was running out the bottom of the carb at a good rate, then I'd check the float level with a bit of clear hose. Those are all simple. Check the air-filter's clean and oiled as per the book, wet but squeezed out.

Form what you say in #40, it sounds like a fuel shortage problem, especially so if that backfire you mention is out of the carb.. If that backfire is out the exhaust, then it's more likely to because of no ignition of the fuel for a second causing a build up of fuel in the exhaust which then gets ignited when the ignition resumes. That sort of backfire is usually a really load explosion sound. Unburnt fuel can build up in the exhaust though due to a bad mixture, in which case the backfire out the exhaust is not so explosive, and they often give a series of small backfires under certain throttle/load conditions.. That bad mixture induced backfire is linked to throttle.. If the ignition was dying entirely the engine braking should be quite abrupt. The way you describe it losing power but recovering if you ease the throttle, and not really loosing much speed, sounds like fuel. Ride more, take note of everything you do and what effect it has on the bike.. If you have it at full throttle and it starts to run out of fuel at the fuel tap, it will take several seconds of throttle off before the fuel supply fills the carb again, but if there's a drop of water or a spec of dirt blocking a jet, it will probably come right almost instantly when you throttle off and start using a different jet..

A blocked exhaust makes a muffled sort of noise, I think you'd notice it if there was a flap of metal loose in the muffler blocking the exhaust.. A blocked exhaust also makes the carb start to puff air back out and sounds sort of.. err.. gaspy.. haha. It sounds like it can't suck air in.. which it can't.

Yup, what happens when you ease the throttle off very slightly ? Describe sound,bike behavior, time(accurately), what happens if you hold it steady at the slightly backed off throttle, and what happens if you throttle off further. By behavior I mean, when it cuts, does the engine go entirely dead so the engine braking kicks in, or does it just go flat and no power, but not particularly engine braking. And.. Does this happen hot or cold ? Is there any backfiring from either the carb or exhaust ? Do you think the exhaust could be blocking momentarily ? Does it go unusually silent at the exhaust, or gaspy at the carb ?

If you have the diagram it show how the switch works. There are two parallel sets of contacts. When it's switched off the kill contacts make contact, and when the switch is on run it disconnects those kill contacts and closes the other two contacts. As long as your new switch works like that it will be usable. You need to check that first, some switches work differently to that. Then you might have to reposition the switch wires in their plastic plug. I'd figure/check which set are closed at OFF position and use those two switch wires to connect to B/w and green on the bike wiring, and the other two switch wires that contact in the RUN position get connected to R and Bl wires on the wiring loom.

I think the starter motors are fairly common and fit other makes as well. I just take the old plate with brushes to my local bike shop and the girl whips out three boxes of starter brush sets and gives me the ones that match mine. I think there are one or two makes and models of starter that do a lot of make quads. If you get the numbers off the motor though you could search, or look up the genuine starter or parts and search for those numbers. I'm pretty sure you'll find they are common.

I wouldn't expect that bike to cut out and then run then cut then run at the forty speed. That sort of behavior is common with efi but not an old carb model. I'd expect that bike to get near top speed and then for the acceleration to slowly drop till it was just gaspinng for air but unable to go any faster.. no cutting in and out though. Depending how long the "cut" is for, and I doubt it is a whole second, and how it responded to throttle changes, it could be fuel problems still, and that would be my suspicion, or it might be an electrical fault.

The wiring diagram I looked in said the key switch connects B/w with G to kill, and R and Bl for ignition..

Yup I'd definitely be suspecting the brushes in the starter. They wear out quite regularly, and sometimes get stuck in their holder. The easy way to test them is to use two jumper leads and jump from the battery to earht, and from the battery positive straight onto the starter motor's live terminal. That eliminates the battery cables, bad connections, relays and switches. If it doesn't spin over then whip the starter out and dismantle it. The new brushes get sold with new springs and brushes all mounted on a new steel plate you just slip straight in.. Simple job. Cheap too.

You don't really have to have a C spanner, a pair of channel lock pliers will do it if you are careful. The parts diagram I looked at showed shocks with adjusters.. Can you post a photo of the shock ?

Ok, if you don't have a test light, which puts a small load on the circuit when it's lit up, then you need to get familiar with the concept of a "voltage drop test". The gauge will detect 12v even if there is some dirty connection only letting enough power through to make an led go, or the light in your meter light up, but it doesn't mean there is going to be enough power getting through to run anything that needs real power. You will be able to read up on google about voltage drop tests. Or, improvise a test light using a tail-light and a couple of wires. The light won't light up bright of there's a bad connection you are testing.

Which plug ? I've been giving advice based on that manual, so if you go back and read what and where I say to test for power it should lead us straight to the problem if there is only one problem. If you report back then I can have another look in the diagrams and try to figure if the test is conclusive, whether there could be multiple faults, whether we have the wrong diagram or different parts. You should use a test light to trace and check for power, a meter doesn't show up bad connections as clearly as the light does. If you are testing things and reporting back, it helps if you say exactly what you did and found, and to which coloured wires, and at which point in the diagram.

Hello from New Zealand. You don't say which year but I think to get the springs off the shocks you use a C spanner to lower the spring pressure as much as possible using the adjuster at the bottom of the spring, then there will be some sort of two piece collet, or a C shaped retainer, that will come out at the top of the spring, then the spring will pull off upwards. If un-adjusting the spring at the bottom doesn't give enough room to get the collet/retainer out you may need to use a spring compressor to compress the spring slightly.

Yeah well hondas are well made and repair really nicely usually. They don't have many design faults/weak parts. You'd have to suspect that whoever is doing these short lived repairs is not doing the repairs very well..I'm sure you'll get to the bottom of it and do better than these in a hurry mechanics. The kickstart... yeah the sprag clutch in the centrifugal drum could cause that, or the kick gear might be munted, or whatever disengagement mechanism it has for the gear might be playing up. It's easy to test the sprag clutch by putting it in a forward gear and trying to push it forwards, in which case, if the sprag is good, the wheels will try to turn the engine over. If you push oi backwards the sprag will slip and not try to turn the engine over.

If your Dad got it early on then it probably hadn't got a new engine.. Hondas are too good for that ! It's probably just a different market, that had different components in that year.. That would be my guess. They quite often come to some trade deal where the machine's made in Japan, but assembled using some local manufactured parts and labour, in the country it's going to be sold in. That machine might be before America started making and assembling the bikes for their own market. It might have been made in Japan but the alternative starter might have been made in America and somehow got fitted to a case not made for it.. .. Or something like that. As I say.. Parts are a mechanics nightmare !