Keep Magneto Safe from elements

seal the mag cover and the hole where the wires go into the mag cover. I have often thought of dipping just the coil section of the mag in liquid rubber like flex seal to completely seal it, but have never tried it. I believe it's called potting the mag.
I am kinda really baffled and confused right now, it's been 5 months or so since I sealed it up with ATV and I opened it up today to find the same thing happen again. What is that I missed when I sealed it last time and why is it after so many months later lol

I sealed all around
Sealed the whole where the wires go
Didn't seal the screw holes (Read in another post someone saying to do so)

I can't make sense of that as I can't wrap my head around how water would get in from the screw holes and I am sure this ain't fuel either.

Is there something I missed last time or did a sloppy job that led to water get in somehow again?
20191216_213327.jpg

Plus the screw hole at the bottom looks really suspicious (I will give the bike a really good clean, once this is over)
 
Yup. Could have been sealed to well and not allowing any moisture to escape. Also when you use it and the engine warms up that helps remove any condensation that is in there but again if it's sealed to well it won't go anywhere. If you're near the ocean the salt in the air probably isn't helping.
 
Yup. Could have been sealed to well and not allowing any moisture to escape. Also when you use it and the engine warms up that helps remove any condensation that is in there but again if it's sealed to well it won't go anywhere. If you're near the ocean the salt in the air probably isn't helping.
Hmmm, even if I was to add a vent hole with a small hose, the temperature is way too low for it to just evaporate out of there. I'll just have to make sure heating up every once in a while. I'll figure it out if it was happening in a span of weeks or a week when I ride it today and notice any spike in power with a new Magneto I kept as backup, ordered another one right after to keeep another back up.

When I was testing the wires, I snipped out the cdi wires expecting it to be the cause as it's the only other electrical component that didn't fail yet. Was baffled when I didn't get any funny reading.
 
I dont think it would hurt to spray some clear paint on it after you replace it to help seal it from the elements. You could probably spray it with wd40 as well
 
I dont think it would hurt to spray some clear paint on it after you replace it to help seal it from the elements. You could probably spray it with wd40 as well
Wish I read this earlier, I already sealed it in. Removing the ATV gasket is a pain.
I might still do it sometime this month.
Would chain oil act as an insulator?

Currently dealing with a different issue with the power cutting on and off every 2 seconds, it's fine after ridding for a long 10 minutes. The outside temperature is -13°C, was wondering is it possible the float tab thingy on the top is not flexing as much or something with the temperature. Not sure what's on the go, tried tapping the wiring to see if it's a bad connection, but makes no difference.
 
Do you have a set of good quality fenders on your bike?

View attachment 91768
Yep, and there are plastic too.

After my engine kept turning on and off, it took a toll on my clutch and and when my clutch is engaged it's pretty much still disengaged, happened while I was trying to start up the engine again, barely had any power going up hill too yesterday even while pedaling I ended up turning the engine off before I stall it. It's either an carb issue after sitting around, or my Magneto wasn't proper installed maybe (wasn't too careful about centering it, wondering if that could be it) at this point I had enough, need a little break from it.

Barely have any time off from school and work, this little time off before Christmas, already spent 2 days working on it only to have more hours of work needed to get it sorted. I'll probably work on it a bit tomorrow.

The issues with these engines, they are like prototypes, majority of the issues on these engines could have been fixed over revisions on updated models, but their development died ages ago. It did do it's job, it showed to me a tease of what's it like to ride a motorcycle, something I would have never thought about before, but now find myself wanted to get a motorcycle license to move on.
 
Motorcycles have their own issues, mostly are too expensive new nowdays. Plus you should take a rider's safety course Wintertime isn't really the best time of year to be riding powered two wheelers.

But these engines aren't prototypes. they been in production for over 18 years in China and they're based on a very well designed Russian bicycle engine/Japanese minibike engine. The manufacture is very poorly done.

HT engines just demand extremely anal preset-up routines. There's a dozen things I dislike about them. The wobbly primary gears, red Loctited pinion gear bolts, eccentric and wobbly sprockets, the fact they're delivered with not enough lubricant in the clutch axle/bearing, and release mechanisms. There's a lot not to like.

I really think these are best left to hobbyists and people with time to tinker with them. Rely on these at your own job's peril, if you absolutely need to have transportation, I would not recommend riding one.

But the basic stuff, the carb setup and ignition bits should be easy to understand if you have a mechanical bent, Your bike engine shows a lot of corrosion in the magneto case, rust and corrosion that should not be present at all if it had been carefully sealed. And I can't help but think that even with your fenders, you're getting road salt water into the magneto case as spray off the front fender not cutting the road spray off low enough. Is your engine showing any salt spray off the front wheel at all? The aluminum on the front of the engine, is it patchy white/powdery sort of like dry white flour? On my bikes I've always added a flexible rubber spray fender end as a lot of bike fenders still allow road spray onto the pedal chain.

Where you park your bike at work, is it safe from tampering? is it off the street where passing vehicles can splash road water on it? Is there a very remote chance someone trying to sabotage your ride? How about at home? Can you bring it into a sheltered area? Is it out in the weather?
 
Back
Top