points cleaned

I cleaned the points as fred's guide suggested. The moped ran great. I was cruising all over. (about 10 min) Then i let it sit for a minute while i adjusted the throttle. Tried to start it again and it was hard to start and it seemed to be missing. Missing so bad it wouldn't idle. (This is what happened before i parked it last fall but i didn't clean the points then cause i didn't know how.) i cleaned the points again and it wouldn't start at all. Do i need new points or what? If i do need new points, where do i get them. And how do i get the flywheel off?

thanks,

chad

Plug fouled ?

My guess is you need a new spark plug.

(or you're starved for gas with a dirty carb or petcock)

get a new plug... if that doesn't help... try squirting a little gas into the carn intake... if it runs for a few minutes... then dies... you have to clean the petcock and carb and install an inline fuel filter.

Then do a plug chop.

If its brown (the plug)... try running without the air box or air filter for a short time to see if its better.

If you cleaned the points good once... you don't need to keep doing it... (though pulling a clean piece of paper through will let you know they are still clean).

Most mopeds have low miles on them... so they rarely need points.

Re: Plug fouled ?

oh, i didn't mention that, it had a plug that only had about 10 miles on it. When it was missing, i put a new plug in and same thing. And it is definately getting fuel. The carb and petcock are clean as a whistle. Any other suggestions?

Re: Plug fouled ?

Ron Brown /

Chad,

Either you ignored Fred's sugestion about paper through the points and a splash of gas in the carb or you are not telling us about it.

If you could tell, just by looking, that the the fuel flow was good, you would not be on the forum asking questions, you would be answering them.

I suppose asking if you have a good spark is redundant too, I'm sure you have looked at it and it is great.

I think your moped is really running fine, but you have a hearing problerm. : )

Ron

Re: Plug fouled ?

ok, yes i have spark but it is missing. I pulled the plug out and it has spark but it is not a steady spark, it is bright blue and then it is real faint. This is why i would assume it is missing.

The gas is definately flowing, the carb is absolutely clean, no float needle sticking. I can see the gas flowing through the fuel line. When i shut the pet cock off and ran it, it used up the gas. It is flowing! I'm not lying. I pulled paper through the points and it came out clean. The points are opening and closing. Ron Brown, why would i ignore anyting? Remember, i am trying to get this running.

Re: Plug fouled ?

Ron Brown /

Chad,

I'm not trying to pick on you, it just really helps when you provide all the information you have.

The minor detail of an intermittent spark, for instance.

I am no rocket scientist, but this sounds to me like really relevant information.

Here is a generic "check your ignition system" post from the past.

Ron

If you have a vom, check the ignition components as follows:

Disconect the wires from the points. One of these wires goes to the magneto ignition power coil. You should read a low resistance to ground on this wire, 1-2 ohms.

Another wire goes to the condensor, read this to ground on RXMAX, that is your highest resistance range, the needle should kick, then settle down to infinity. Reverse the vom leads, same thing should happen.

Another wire goes to the ignition coil primary, this connection is also connected to the kill switch. Disconnect the kill switch wire only from the ignition coil, the wire to the coil should read 1-2 ohms to ground.

From the wire to the kill switch, to ground, you should read infinity with the switch in "run" and 0 ohms with the switch in "stop".

Connect the vom from ground to the wire terminal on the points and make sure they are 0 ohms when closed and infinity when open. This seems dumb, but sometimes points that look clean do not connect.

Re-attach all of the wires to the points. Disconnect the wire from the points at the ignition coil. Measure this with the vom, it should read near 0 ohms. If your meter is sensitive enough, you should see a slight deflection of the pointer as the points open and close.

With the vom still attached and set to about 12v DC range, spin the motor by hand. You should see some deflection of the meter needle.

Pull your plug (spark, that is) and make sure the piston is at or very near the top of it's stroke when the points open.

Re-connect the coil wire. Measure from the plug cap to ground, you should read 5-15k ohms. If this is infinity, unscrew the plug cap from the wire and read through it. This should be 5-15k ohms, if it is open, replace it, if greater than 15k ohms, it may still work, but replace it with a paper clip for test starting then re-install it after you get the ped running.

Read from the end of the plug wire to ground through the coil, you should see 1-5k ohms. If this is infinity, the coil is bad.

Lastly, using the ohmsX1 scale, verify that all of the grounds really are.

None of these tests are guaranteed to indicate a problem, especially where you read coil resistances and they seem ok. Substitution is the best test here.

To test the coil, connect a spark plug from the plug wire to coil ground, connect an ignition condensor (any will do for this test) between the points terminal and coil ground. Connect the negative of a 6V battery to coil ground and touch the points terminal momentarily with the positive lead. This should give you a spark at the plug.

Re: Plug fouled ?

Chad... try closing up the point gap a little.

I have found that too wide of a gap will make for intermittant spark.

annnd... when the bike is missing... try flipping the choke ON... see what happens.

If it runs better... the carbs tiny internal orifices are still clogged up.

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