Honda 200es starting problems!

[tippytrike]

I have a 1984 200es. When i get it warmed up, it will start everytime with either the electric start ot pull start. It runs and idles great. When i come back 3 hours later the thing will not fire! I pull the plug and check for spark and it has no spark! Some times it has spark and sometimes it doesn't! I need to know if someone elce has had this problem. Where do i start?

[tri again]

I have a 1984 200es. When i get it warmed up, it will start everytime with either the electric start ot pull start. It runs and idles great. When i come back 3 hours later the thing will not fire! I pull the plug and check for spark and it has no spark! Some times it has spark and sometimes it doesn't! I need to know if someone elce has had this problem. Where do i start?

there are at lest 10 or us around the country with the same problem

I'm luck enough to have a working 200es parked right next to the intermittent spark
bike to swap KNOWN WORKING PARTS from

..doesn't help!!!!!

there gotta be something else

Mine will fire ONLY if the (known working new(battery is NOT connected.

and I think one time it pull started with the battery connected but there was NO

neutral light. Thought that was kinda odd put pulled the rope anyway.

Ran great for the first time since I got it a year ago
we fiddled with the idle
sounded great, scratched our heads, looked at each other...

and then died
and the neutral light came on
so this one will not run if the battery is connected

maybe the neutral safety switch?
or some other ground common to the charge circuit
and ignition circuit
which are essentially SEPARATE
in other words, you need NOthing from the light/charging circuit for these to run

..almost ready to give up but now it's personal!!

hang in there

[cox]

I got the same problem with mine as well. and now its spring so i gotta pull it out and work on it.

[tri again]

I got the same problem with mine as well. and now its spring so i gotta pull it out and work on it.

yup

There a few different kill circuits on these
In other words there IS NO ON necessarily

just dead kill circuits to ground

The only exception I'v found so far is the neutral safety switch.

It needs to be grounded in order for the ignition to fire.

It's somewhere 'under the right side of the engine' behind a cover and they come loose?
or get wet and freak out?

All the other words, key switch, kill switch etc need to be NOT grounded.

I disconnected my ignition switch and it runs great so none of the key ignition switch wires need to be connected to anything OR each other at all.

I'm going back out there right now to see if something else jumps out at me.

[whittim]

I just bought a 84 200es and got it up and running went for one trip made it back home and it died. When you pull it over it only sparks about twice then nothing. Anyone else run into this?

[trikeman78]

I had that problem too on my big red. Turns out it was the coil. A bad old coil can work intermittently. They can appear fine on the outside and even test good with a meter but the copper wire inside can be cracking. This drove me nuts for the longest time. I installed a new coil, coil wire, and spark plug cap. All new Honda parts. Now she fires nicely all the time. If the coil wire feels stiff then its old and should be replaced.

[350xRules]

Intermittent electrical problems are the worst to figure out. Its the most time consuming and labor intensive! Temperature can sometimes help diagnose electrical probs. I used to be an electronics tachnician and we would use a chemical called Freeze It to chill parts down and then test them. It can help diagnose things like coils or CDI boxes ect that may have weak connections, but are not totally dead yet. We would also use a heat gun to apply heat to parts, this can also help diagnose failures. Lost of parts test well on the bench, but after they electrically heat up, and are under use for a time, the begin to fail intermittently. Another problem I have had on a few bikes to far is the spark plug cap to plug wire connection. As tight as those are, they do sometimes get water and moisture in them, and corrode. Most of the plug boots have a threaded incert that connects to the copper strands inside the plug wire. I have taken appart a few of them and found only 1 strand of the copper wire left, or found them to be cracking in some spots. Its actually pretty difficult wire to find if you want to replace it, most auto parts stores dont carry the type of plug wire that most motorcycle and small engines take. I ordered a 50' roll off of ebay. Its not expencive, but its just hart to find so its nice to have some lying around. I think its usually 7mm, but I cannot remmeber for sure.