99 KDX200, Will not start!

[DRDMIKE]

Just finished a complete teardown(did not go into the motor) and repaint of the frame. Got it together yesterday evening and briefly tried to start it before having to leave to take my son to scouts. It would not hit a lick. Haven't had the time to troubleshoot yet but I was wondering. Should I have to strip the paint under the ignition coil to allow it to get a good ground? I noticed in some other posts that this may cause a week ground. Hmmm. What do you think?
Oh yes, put in new plug and fresh gas.

Thanks

Mike Evans

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99 KDX200

 

[DRDMIKE]

Got home this evening and checked the bike for fire. There was none. I removed the ignition coil, scraped the paint off the frame undernieth and cleaned all the contact surfaces, replaced it and there was still no fire. Took back off and checked the coil per instructions in the service manual. Checked out o.k. Next I removed the CDI unit and proceeded to check it with my multimeter. The manual says to use the genuine Kawasaki tester or you may get incorrect readings. Well thats what I got. Some of the readings were much higher that what was posted in the manual. Could this be due to my not having the exact tester that they refer to in the manual? I mean ohms are ohms, right?
My bike was running great when I started working on it. Has anyone ever heard of one of these going bad off the bike? Are they that fragile? I dont remember dropping it or anything. Well I guess the next step is to take it to a shop and have it tested. How much will one of these set me back.

Any suggestions will be appreciated.

Thanks

Mike


[This message has been edited by DRDMIKE (edited 04-03-2001).]

 

[acutemp]

Mike, check the conections in your spark plug cap as they can come loose. Also check to see if you might have pinched your kill switch wire at some point, it is real easy to do.--Dan

 

[DRDMIKE]

Thanks Acutemp

I guess it was just a loose connection somewhere. I put the cdi unit back on and I got a nice blue flame. I'm still puzzled by the readings I got on the ohm meter. Some of the readings for certain wires that were supposed to be infinity read 0 and visa-versa. Some of them read as shown in the manual. Anyway, I put it back together this evening and it started on the first kick. Didn't get a chance to ride it so I dont know if it runs out good yet but it sure sounded good.Should I be worried about the cdi unit or just ride it till it quits?

Oh Yeah, Got an e-mail saying Canadian Dave left a reply. Wonder what happened to it. I also haven't been able to get on DRN all day until just now.

Thanks again

Mike Evans

[This message has been edited by DRDMIKE (edited 04-04-2001).]

 

[dhoward]

It will make a difference which lead you put where when checking a CDI using an ohmmeter. If you have the leads reversed, you may get the exact opposite reading you were expecting. The CDI is nothing more than a switch using SCRs and diodes. That's why polarity is important. I'll bet the "genuine" (read expensive!) tester has a harness to prevent this.

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Dan
'98 KDX 200
St. Louis, MO