VERY STUMPED !

[trestlecreek]

I am trying to help a buddy out. Has a 2001 800 mountain cat, went riding on Tuesday. Was running rough, I tracked it down to one half the ignitor coil wasnt firing. So I ordered an aftermarket one off the internet. I put it on Saturday, and plugged two new plugs into it. I let them sit on top the heads to see if they both had spark. They did, so I ran it for just a minute, and hit the throtte to make sure both cylinders are firing. They were. Thought I was done with it. I parked it and came back to it 5 hours later, and now only hits on one half the coil again. I swapped out plug ends, wires ect.... It somehow is taking out only half the ignitor coil.... ???... WTF.... Anyone have any insight on this one? :face-icon-small-sad

 

[trestlecreek]

Nobody has any ideas???

 

[KMMAC]

PM Idcatman1 he will probably be able help....

 

[diggerdown]

You sure it's spark and not one cylinder low on compression? I can think of nothing that would short one side of a coil. Coils do quit on one side sometimes but the odds of two in a row are about the same as hitting the lottery.

 

[Arctic Thunder]

Try fresh plugs and verify comoression.

Thunder

 

[trestlecreek]

Well, I did message back and forth with Idcatman1. I appreciate the help.
Here is what has transpired....It all started on one fine Saturday..... Was only running on one cylinder...
Compression is same on both cylinders. I tried swapping plugs. (No change, still only one side runs). Swapped plug caps. ( still no change, but both plug caps are working) "x"ed plug wires. (Now the other cylinder works, but not the other). Pulled a wire and plug cap off another arcitic cat. ( No change ). So I put on a new aftermarket ignitor coil. Works for 200 yards. Then same thing. Only 1/2 the coil will give spark. Did all the above again to verify, same conclussion. SO..... I "T"ed the two ignitor coils together, and run each one to a plug. Now it runs great..... hmmmm... I agree, it makes no sense. Can 1/2 an ignitor coil burn out? There is only two wires that feed into the coil, a yellow and a black. I would think that it would all either work, or not at all. So if someone can come up with an answer, I'd love to figure this one out..... In the mean time, my buddy will ride around with two coils..... Merry Christmas Everyone!

 

[diggerdown]

There is a jump wire inside the coil that feeds between the two sides. Don't know why that wire would burn out on both coils, it's rare for it to do it on one coil!

 

[kingkat1150]

coils

I know it makes no sense but I had the same problem a few years back and it was the stator. it seems to me that the igniter coil just didn't make enough power to lite up the whole coil and just hit one side. it may have enough power to run two smaller coils tho. make sure you have very good grounds. sleds are strange :face-icon-small-con