2003 ltz400 driving me crazy!!!!!

[ejtaylor25]

OK long story short....bike was running great no problems and i was back in the woods one day and it stalled .It wouldnt restart ,kept wanting to but it wouldnt.I towed it home.It sat in garage for a week ,i would try starting it every couple days ,it wouldnt.Then one day it fires right up.I kept starting it once a week with no problems.Then after a month same thing just wouldnt start.I but a battery tender on it for a day, then it fired right up,problem fixed i thought.So i turned it off and tried again and it just turns......IM going crazy over this thing,the battery is good.....

Any help would be super

[Foolio]

according to ur story it seems that the starter is ur problem not the battery.......u might wanna take out the starter and get it checked to see if its still good....and if it is let me know

[Ajmboy]

When you say it is not starting, is the starter motor cranking and the engine just will not start?

[ejtaylor25]

thats correct it turns like normal but just wont start..............

[Sc0tt]

Need to check fuel and fire?

[DirtDemon]

Agreed, you need to determine what is missing from the equasion.

[ejtaylor25]

ok ,its such a pain just getting to the spark plug on this thing,u gotta dissasemble everything.But i will do so tomorrow and check for spark and fuel........its just weird how sometimes it fires up normal and other times it wont at all ....depends on what day i go out there to start it.

[DirtDemon]

Are you positive that the battery is good? Have you had it tested? If the battery is good, then your stator may be going.

[ejtaylor25]

yes the battery is def. good,what does the stator do exactly?

[Sc0tt]

Stator generates power it can be used to run accessories or charge the battery.

[dirtjunkie85]

It could be your valves need to be adjusted I had a 03 KFX 400 and it was doing the same thing adjusted the valves and it fixed the problem.

[ejtaylor25]

ok i had time to mess with it today,it has no spark....... i used a meter on the ignition coil and got nothing......so would it be the cdi??

[DirtDemon]

Not necessarily, it could just be a bad kill or key switch or a loose wire somewhere. You need to find the point at which the power is lost. Trace the power from the battery to the coil and make sure to hit every point in between. Wherever power is lost lies your problem. There are several tests you can do on some of your ignition components using a multimeter. If you don't have a repair manual, get one, it will tell you how to do these tests and also is full of other important info.

[ejtaylor25]

i have a manual,and it said test ignition coil(if no voltage replace cdi) and that there are no specs on testing cdi, so i orderd one and try it as soon as it gets here.I hope this works,i checked for lose with and such

[dirtjunkie85]

Did you ever figure this out I was just curious I had the same machine doing the same thing and it was the valves.

[ejtaylor25]

well i have the bike torn down and i am not getting any spark.The coil isnt getting power so i thought it might be the cdi so i ordered one and they sent me one for a 2006....it didnt fit.Soooooo i really dont know what to do now,from what ive been reading,they dont usually go bad.

[DirtDemon]

The don't go bad often, that is for sure. The thing that I am having a problem with is that your manual says if you have not power to the coil, then the CDI is the problem. There are many places that you could be losing voltage. If you are losing power before the CDI, then the coil also won't have any power. I would take a multimeter, start at the battery and start tracing power throught the ignition systems at each junction point. Pay close attention, looking for damaged wires and loose connections. Make sure to chech any switches, kill switch, key switch, clutch safety switch. Good luck.

[goodolboy32]

The don't go bad often, that is for sure. The thing that I am having a problem with is that your manual says if you have not power to the coil, then the CDI is the problem. There are many places that you could be losing voltage. If you are losing power before the CDI, then the coil also won't have any power. I would take a multimeter, start at the battery and start tracing power throught the ignition systems at each junction point. Pay close attention, looking for damaged wires and loose connections. Make sure to chech any switches, kill switch, key switch, clutch safety switch. Good luck.

true true!!!! i read this post all the way through to make sure!!! DirtDemon is right on! i have the same bike! it had sat all last winter with only a few short start/runs! batt was on very low chrage!!!! plenty of voltage to crank the engine but not enough to fire up your CDI box, which in turn saturates your coil, so if no CDI no spark! i have an aftermarket CDI on my bike and i can't imagine it's any different with that! when i jumped my bike with a friends BRAND NEW 400ex the bike cranked the same but fired right up! i'm into building cars too and an msd ignition box for an engine works the same way!!! If it doesn't have at least 12 volts it will not activate! it kinda threw me for a little loop at first too because it did not crank as if the battery was dead and yet i had no spark. but as i said as soon as i jumped the bike it fired right up!!! i ran the bike pretty hard that weekend after a good little warm up period and haven't had a problem since!!! luckly the batt recharged from the stator! but in your case your batt my be to far gone? if anything put your meter on the battery while cranking and see what kind of voltage you have!

sorry for the long post but sounds very familiar!

[Rese]

Hey guys I have a problem with my 2005 Ltz 400 , everything was going good until one day until it stalled out and the bike turns over but won’t start up , I cleaned the carburetor also replaced the starter clutch, and also the stator and it still won’t crank up I had bump started it and the bike had stayed on for a while then later on that day it stalled again and won’t turn back on 

[Mech]

You should do a tune up first, clean and gap the spark-plug or replace it, clean the air-filter, check and/or adjust the valves, check and vacuum hoses for leaks, check the fuel supply getting to the carb is adequate by undoing the carb drain screw and checking the fuel keeps flowing even after the bowl has emptied, start and warm the engine up and adjust the idle mixture and speed as recommended in the service manual.