CDI horror story. Help please...

I'm not new to forums. didn't find a thread on this.

basically I am new to motorized bikes, bought my kit from gas bike.net if that's any help.


haven't had the bike running for about a month now, but all parts are properly installed and the bike is sitting in my garage. never ridden once, and I really need it asap .

my brother and I ordered these two kits and both of our CDIs will not work. they have NO charge whatsoever, and I've used a multimeter set to 2k of course. nothing. the magneto reads fine however, 320 ohms.


I ordered a new CDI from bike Berry that came yesterday and of course, just as I expected, its broken. no charge on cdi.


does the CDi take an initial charge from the magneto or does it come with an initial charge? please help because I don't think I'll have the patience to buy yet another cdi that will just come faulty already. I tried contacting both parties but they are not helpful and very rude to me. all I need is an electrical spark. I replaced the spark plug with an NGK BH5S. gapped to 26 thousandths(.026). please please please help.


p.s. thinking of getting the jaguar cdi caus moneys not an issue, but it will be if its just wasted on a problematic cdi junk item that will probably ship poorly treated with many damages, and probably no customer service or support in the end anyway.

I also helped set up my friends kit he ALSO ordered from gas bike.net and yet again no CDI charge! ugh. this is disgustingly disappointing and annoying. his magneto gave a charge but not the CDI...what's going on...do motorized bikes really exist or is this CDI made out of ethereal material I can only see because of my imagination...it really feels hopeless at this point.

rustycase said:

There is no inherent charge within a cdi box.
Current is generated by the magneto.

Disconnect your killswitch wire until you have the bike running well.
Many accounts of problems with them.

it seems as though you might be over-thinking this situation.
These are very, very simple machines, meant to run under almost all circumstances.
Set that multi-meter aside for a while.

In addition to disconnecting that kill wire, frequently the sparkplug wire is bad. Many owners replace it with something from the auto parts store.

Good luck
rc

Click to expand...

Hi rc, thanks for the reply.

I have just tried it without the killswitch and still nothing. I looked at this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJFyDYIkElI ...

...and the guy in the video towards the end(diagnostics portion of CDI and magneto) tests the CDI current with a multimeter set to 2k, attached to nothing. I have no clue why I am getting no spark, but the next to try is definitely both wire replacements on the end of the CDI, and the boot if I can also.

Hey guys, thank you all for your input. I greatly appreciate it, and will karma++ when I can!

Okay so I definitely have the magneto set wrong, or the magnet rather. It's not in the desired "1 o'clock key position", so I'm changing it as we speak. I'm including pictures to show. The killswitch isn't attached of course, and I know about the rudimentary spark plug on head while spinning back wheel. Nothing, there's not spark at all. Definitely trying the magneto position.

One more thing...does it really affect the piston if it's NOT top dead center? How would it matter if it's not top dead center, because when you release the clutch the piston moves anyway...any explanations?

I am known to complicate easy matters with much more theoretical answers and formal logic. The curse of being a computer scientist. >_<

Pics here:
http://postimg.org/image/692fjo6sh/ - Magneto Position(trying to fix right now lol)

http://postimg.org/image/uob9ech95/ - CDI Wires correct...

http://postimg.org/image/6jbetz2uf/b746b3f1/ - I couldn't for the life of me, pull the cord out properly because it was super-ridiculously-impossible-how-is-this-real-life glued in. Tight as can be of course. So I had to rip it out and gut it with a knife. I doubt any copper touching that plastic will disrupt the connection, but an input would be greatly appreciated.

Once again, thank you all! You guys got me a great head start.

Just to make sure I'm fully understanding... when I test the spark plug on the head for spark, do I need the clutch to be engaged? (Bicycle mode) or do I need to use force to try to roll the wheel forward?(engine mode...lol)

This has gotten me stumped. I have tried all 3 of my spark plugs, all gapped to 26 thousandths(.026), I have fixed the magneto and piston head problem, I have tested the magneto for charge( it has a charge), I have tried from choke and no choke start, but let's forgyet about that because the bike isn't even getting a spark.

The only possibility is what rc said: the spark plug wire. I have 3 CDIs so if all 3 spark plug wires are bad, that's something to think about. Definitely not putting it out of the equation that all 3 could be faulty; however I'm assuming since most bikes that come with the stock CDI are able to magical run(everyone's except mine of course :'( ) then I doubt that would be the issue. Then again, probably with my luck.

Just to make sure I'm fully understanding... when I test the spark plug on the head for spark, do I need the clutch to be engaged? (Bicycle mode) or do I need to use force to try to roll the wheel forward?(engine mode...lol)

This has gotten me stumped. I have tried all 3 of my spark plugs, all gapped to 26 thousandths(.026), I have fixed the magneto and piston head problem, I have tested the magneto for charge( it has a charge), I have tried from choke and no choke start, but let's forget about that because the bike isn't even getting a spark.

The only possible problem I can even fathom at this point is what rc said: the spark plug wire. I have 3 CDIs so if all 3 spark plug wires are bad, that's something to think about. Definitely not putting it out of the equation that all 3 could be faulty; however I'm assuming since most bikes that come with the stock CDI are able to magically run(everyone's except mine of course :'( ) then I doubt that would be the issue. Then again, probably with my luck.

This is going to be a whole month I have owned the bike and not been able to get a single spark. I'm thinking of giving up and returning it and just taking the bus. I honestly don't know what to do. If I could possibly get this bike running, I would have transportation in NYC while saving so much money. That's the ideal situation, since I'm in college and my car is just sitting in my garage for reasons too long to explain. Ugh.

Once again, I THANK YOU ALL GREATLY for your answers and support. Not gonna' throw in the towel QUITE yet!



Edit: I do apologize for the double post. I seem to have accidentally hit the submit button on my laptop twice with my finger. (It's a touch screen )

fatdaddy said:

Biknut posted the diagram, But, Didya check. BLACK to BLACK, BLUE TO BLUE and no wires touching metal. and sometimes the plug boot is hard to push all the way on. It's gotta be something simple yer missing bro.
fatdaddy.

Click to expand...

Of course I checked, I posted pictures directly under the post with links to my pictures.

And still no spark, no matter if I try rolling it engaged or disengaged. Also it's kind of tough to roll even while it's engaged...though I've read somewhere that the bike should be sort of hard to roll while the clutch is engaged. (Duhhh lol)

Anyway, could someone post a picture of the proper way the connectors need to be soldered? I have no soldering skills whatsoever so all of it went right over my head; though I'm starting to think the connectors MAY in fact be the problem if all 3 CDIs are not working.

I found what appears to be the problem!!

So with my multimeter, I get continuity from the magneto directly, AND from the tip of the black and blue wires from the magneto.

HOWEVER, when I went to check for continuity using 2K for the spark plug cap, I got a straight infinity. (nothing, no charge.)

I mean I COULD be measuring it wrong, but my multimeter has a red and black wire. I hooked up red to blue connection (with magneto in of course) and black to plug end. then I did reverse, red to cap and black to black. then black to blue and red to cap. nothing. no charge.

so I seem to have found the culprit, but what can I do to remedy the situation? I know getting a new spark boot and wire will help tomorrow, but other than that, what could possibly be wrong with the CDI that the charge is not continuous throughout the magneto to the plug cap? also, hopefully someone will post the pictures of the soldered connections because I'm not going to try it and screw up and wait for another one without those pics. I've waited long enough... :/

did I even measure it correctly? I am doing this based on how I got my 320 ohms reading using my multimeter set to 2K on the magneto wire tips and magneto soldered joints.

also will I even get any charge if the bike isn't moving, or does the CDI exist ONLY to amplify the charge sent at a specific time and other than that time, will it always have no charge so I can't take a reading on it? some people have told me the CDI doesn't have a charge but the video I posted in my previous post shows that it would, but Idk if that guy had his CDI strapped on and working for awhile. not sure if that's why he had a charge; because it was used before. (successfully)

Update: Hey all I ran my multimeter at 20k and unplugged the cdi and tested:

Red to plug cap and black to black cdi wire: 6.4-6.7 depending on which Cdi

red to blue, black to black - 1 (infinite)

anything else was what the site said.

so I am getting a charge...but is it too powerful??

if I'm getting a charge and I've tried 3 different spark plugs and haven't gotten a spark still...what could POSSIBLY be wrong here?? totally stumped.


Edit: oh I've tried rolling the wheel while the clutch is engaged. nearly impossible, and I can't get it to really roll unless its high speed either.(a.k.a. already rolling from bike mode)
is it supposed to be that difficult to roll?