1990 KDX200 odd behavior - - possibly bad CDI?

[sthoward]

Here's the link to the rmstator.com part: https://www.rmstator.com/en_ww/products/rm00007-stator-ignition-source-coil-suzuki-1985-1992-yamaha-1986-2008-kawasaki-1989-2006

I think they also have an Ebay store.

[90SDKDX]

Thanks for the link. If the CDI doesn't fix it I may give them a try.

It could very well be that the Ricky stator source coil has a higher voltage output than the one you purchased. If theirs has less windings on it it's more than likely a closer match to the oem coil.

[Jaguar]

possibly the stator coil or the wiring is reversed so that the spark is happening right before BDC and causing a huge kickback.
Slightly advanced timing doesn't do that.
The CDI comes with the connectors most common for the KDX200.

[90SDKDX]

So it's possible that Ricky Stator wound the coil incorrectly? Is there a certain direction the coil should be mounted to the stator plate? I can only really see one way that it would go on.

[90SDKDX]

I spent a few minutes in the garage this morning playing with the bike. I ohm tested the coil again to make sure nothing had went wrong there. Everything looked good. I then set my timing back to the stock center mark and flipped the coil the opposite direction so that the wire with the eyelet was on the right instead of the left( the eyelet was on the left on the OEM coil when removed). Nothing changed.

I emailed Ricky Stator this morning to see what their input is so hopefully I hear back from them today. I may have a new bad source coil or it may still be a CDI issue. I'm not really sure at this point.

UPDATE: Ricky Stator email me back stating I need to flip the coil over to have the rounded edges of the coil facing out with the black/red wire coming out the bottom, which is how I had it installed to begin with. I also have a RM stator tech that should be getting back to me on what he believes may be the issue.

[Jaguar]

flipping the coil does nothing.
you have to switch the wires.

[90SDKDX]

flipping the coil does nothing.
you have to switch the wires.

Thanks Jag. I talked to the RM stator guy a little while ago and he said to try exactly what you stated. I think I will run a jumper wire from the eyelet wire to the output wire that leads to the CDI and another one from the output side of the coil to ground. The only problem I see with this is trying to jam two more wires in there without contacting the flywheel.

The Ricky Stator guy seems to be dead set on me having it installed incorrectly. He wants me to send a picture of how I have it installed, so I will do so when I get off work. Hopefully once they see it is installed properly they will warranty it without question. I just hope the next coil is not bad as well. I'm tempted to order the RM coil since I'm having a bad experience with Ricky so far.

[Jaguar]

I forgot that one side of the coil is grounded.
For testing you can test it switched both ways but if the ground wire of the stator coil doesn't go to the ground wire of the CDI then that complicates things and may cause problems.
First test which CDI wire gives near zero ohms to frame of bike.
If the stator ground wire was not going to the CDI ground then Ricky put the two stator wires on switched and so switching them back gives a complete solution. If not then you need a different stator coil.

[90SDKDX]

Alright another update. I followed the advice of the RM stator tech and got the bike to start. What I ended up doing was running one small piece of wire from the red/white wire(source coil output) and wrapped it around the eyelet. Then I simply stripped back a little bit of the other end of the coil wiring and placed it under one of the screws and tightened it down.

At first I didn't have spark but found I just didn't have a good ground connection. After I got that fixed I had spark and put the flywheel back on. I turned my gas on and fuel started flowing out of the overflow, so I will be replacing the float needle. It hasn't done this before and I just did a carb clean so I'm not sure what's going on there. I will obviously take the carb back apart to see if something got back into the carb body. I don't have a fuel filter because there isn't enough room for one.

After I got the gas to stop overflowing I kicked and kicked and kicked. Right away I noticed that my kick starter was not kicking back as it was before. With the choke on I had no luck, so I pushed the choke plunger back down and kicked some more. Finally after twisting the throttle open and close a significant amount it started.

While running the bike was extremely boggy. I had the throttle wide open and it was not accelerating any. It had a couple small backfires, and then one BIG backfire and quit. After another round of near heart attack kicking it once again started with the throttle twisted open, but I had the same issue of bogging , backfire, and no throttle response. The bike would not idle if I let off the throttle.

I pulled the spark plug and it still looked new, with some gas on it, but not black at all. I'm wondering if the motor got flooded and that is the reasoning behind the bog. I did pull the plug out and hand pushed the kick starter several times but it may not have been enough to clear the bottom end/cylinder. Am I correct in my thinking?? I will try it again in the morning to see if maybe the gas just needed to evaporate out.

I emailed a picture of my stator with the coil installed correctly, as I told him it was. We will see what he says tomorrow.

UPDATE: Worked on it again this morning and got it to fire up. Once again I had to go through a process of several kicks and throttle to get it going. This time it was starting to clear out, idled for a few seconds, and then died. It was still backfiring pretty bad. I also noticed the exhaust was much hotter than normal. I pulled the plug and it was starting to turn black in spots. I think at this point I just need to stop where I'm at and wait until I get a known good source coil on there. I suppose if the source coil is cutting in and out (due to my test wiring set up) then the engine could be misfiring due to no ignition source. I have no idea. I'm getting a bit frustrated but I hope to have it running properly again soon. I'm going to let the RIcky Stator guy know that I got it running, but had to switch the wiring around.

[90SDKDX]

Well I didn't hear back from Ricky Stator today. Right now I'm planning on sending my original source coil to RM stator to have them rewind it. The good news of the day is Jaguar shipped out my CDI. Even though at this point I don't think I will actually need it to make the bike run, I will be excited to see how it changes the characteristics of the bike.

[90SDKDX]

Its ALIVE!!!!! I received a new source coil from Ricky Stator today, soldered it in, and she fired up four kicks later. Everything sounded smooth and was revving out prefect. The design of this one was quite a bit different from the other one. I was super happy to hear her run again. All I am waiting on now is Jaguar's CDI to show up.

Thanks to everyone for their help. Hopefully this thread helps others that have similar issues in the future.

[90SDKDX]

Well today I received my adjustable CDI from Jaguar. It took a little over two weeks to get here. I'm hoping to have it installed in the next couple nights and hopefully be able to test it out this coming Tuesday.

I went out riding this past Sunday and had no issues with the bike not starting so I believe my source coil was indeed the culprit.

[sthoward]

Glad to hear it's running! Now get out there and ROOST!!