need help diagnosing bad cdi or magneto

[happyjourney]

if this doesn't work out thats what i might do. heres whats happening now. I took off the magneto and found out the key seemed to be in the right place. the magneto just spun in an out of step manner because the action of the piston seems to have a tight spot or sticking point almost. i put the magneto back and crazy glued the nut on and put my new spark plug in. now i have no spark again. I think i may have put the magneto on backwards from the way it was. would that be a cause? i am going to change it back around tomorrow and see if that was it but maybe somebody can just tell me whether or not that should make any difference. if thats not the problem though then i don't know what is. i don't have time to do it today because i've got to make some food and go to work. I like tinkering but i'd like to hear this thing turn over on its own at least to make me feel like i'm getting somewhere. that would be enough for me to let out one of those tim the toolman grunts.

 

[Big Red]

Mag.

Not fer sure, but a few people have said you can put one on backwards. It's a little bit of a PITA but not THAT hard to find out. Just turn it around. Yeah, I know, A PITA. and if that's it then mark it with a perm. marker or something so it don't happen again.
Big Red.

 

[happyjourney]

turned it around and now i have some small readings on the wires but no spark. what should i start replacing now? magneto and magnet? i'm thinking thats what i'm going to do. i should have never taken the magnet off i think.

 

[Big Red]

Mag.

turned it around and now i have some small readings on the wires but no spark. what should i start replacing now? magneto and magnet? i'm thinking thats what i'm going to do. i should have never taken the magnet off i think.

Probably a stupid thought, and I think you would notice, BUT, could you have put the coil on backwards. It don't really fit as well that way, but I started to do that myself once. I noticed the wires weren't comming out right and flipped it around. Hey, I said it was probably a stupid thought.
Big Red.

 

[Lunardog]

Ok bubba, maybe this will help you get rolling again.Ground zero on the mag section. Im going to assume that most these motors are somewhat similar in design and supply some pics from my stinger which runs well in hopes they will guide you a little better. Mag mount side pic should help you orient the mag on the engine correctly. Mag gaps should help with lining up the mag in correlation to the magnet once installed. Solder point check is another area that could be damaged or poorly soldered from the factory. Keep in mind it's my belief if you installed it backwards you may have damaged the windings on the mag but I could be wrong. After you have done this unwrap EVERY!!! connection you made on the wiring no matter how sure you are that its right. Verify cdi to engine match, (blue to blue and black to black), white properly capped off so it cant ground to the frame and leave the kill switch out of the equation for now. Dont adjust anything else or change anything until you complete these steps and see if you get any spark. Do you have a spare known good cdi and wire??? The multimeter readings should help you figure out what parts if any have failed but try these steps as a starting point and see what you get. Hope this helps.

 

[Big Red]

Magneto & Coil.

Ok bubba, maybe this will help you get rolling again.Ground zero on the mag section. Im going to assume that most these motors are somewhat similar in design and supply some pics from my stinger which runs well in hopes they will guide you a little better. Mag mount side pic should help you orient the mag on the engine correctly. Mag gaps should help with lining up the mag in correlation to the magnet once installed. Solder point check is another area that could be damaged or poorly soldered from the factory. Keep in mind it's my belief if you installed it backwards you may have damaged the windings on the mag but I could be wrong. After you have done this unwrap EVERY!!! connection you made on the wiring no matter how sure you are that its right. Verify cdi to engine match, (blue to blue and black to black), white properly capped off so it cant ground to the frame and leave the kill switch out of the equation for now. Dont adjust anything else or change anything until you complete these steps and see if you get any spark. Do you have a spare known good cdi and wire??? The multimeter readings should help you figure out what parts if any have failed but try these steps as a starting point and see what you get. Hope this helps.

What you repeatedly call the "mag" or Magneto is actually the coil and coil plates. The MAGneto is the odd shaped MAGnet that spins inside the COIL. But you are right about checking the tiny copper wire soldered to the COIL plates and the mounting of the coil.
Big Red.
P.S. Also make sure to have a REAL GOOD ground on the black wire. A loose or bad ground could cause a weak spark.

 

[Lunardog]

Thought the magneto was the armeture with the coil and the magnet was the magnet. Lesson number 67 assimilated. Thanks Red.

 

[Big Red]

Motor's

Thought the magneto was the armeture with the coil and the magnet was the magnet. Lesson number 67 assimilated. Thanks Red.

Some of that could be true if you were talking about electric motors. On those the armature may also have a copper winding and a commutator. There is technically no armature on a HT.
No problemo bro,
Big Red.

 

[happyjourney]

i did look at if i could flip the coil armature if thats what its called over and saw that it was protruding so i didn't try to mount it on that side. my black wire i have mounted on the bolt on the top left of the armature when looking at it. i will try to look at the solder connections and see if they look proper. when i looked at it before i know none of the windings of the coil had come out of the bandaging as i'll call it so i don't think the coil itself is damaged. it seems to be putting out very small readings when cranking it. like maybe a volt and a fraction. it seems odd that before i messed with the magnet i would get shocked from just barely cranking it. keep in mind i didn't move the coil armature at all then. only removed the magnet checked out that the key was in and reinstalled the key and magnet. whether i had the magnet on the right way i don't know. i still don't know. i'm going to buy both of those pieces if i can and replace them and hopefully i won't have this problem anymore.

 

[Al.Fisherman]

whether i had the magnet on the right way i don't know. i still don't know. i'm going to buy both of those pieces if i can and replace them and hopefully i won't have this problem anymore.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aBeJuoS--VQWwXysc07rpscTUbPzgc93xjiQBgsyFjc/edit