Cannibal not starting

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ABM-CANNIBAL · #31 Post by **ABM-CANNIBAL** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 1:44 pm

I pulled the flywheel and stator off to inspect them and found out that one of the bolts that hold the stator had backed out. Both the stator and flywheel were covered in metal dust from the bolt. The Flywheel had a little groove rubbed in from the bolt.

I remounted the stator with only two bolts and put everything back together and tried starting again. No luck. One thing was different was I did get some backfireing.

I took everything back apart and cleaned up the stator and flywheel to get rid of all the metal dust. I also put some epoxy on some of the exposed wires. Put everything back together and still no starting. I did get some backfireing plus got some flames shot out the exhaust.

I also tried starting it with the stator wire to the voltage regulator disconnected with no change. What can I try now. Getting real close to parting this quad out.

The red wires from the battery and also the starter wire was hot. Maybe that was from the jumper cables.

kdeal · #32 Post by **kdeal** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 2:38 pm

I think Wistech had it right the first time. Pull the flywheel off of the motor and post a picture of the flywheel like you did earlier so we can see the keyway and the "C" in Cannondale on the flywheel. I still think your flywheel is spun. Backfiring is a sure sign of being out of time. It is either ignition or valve timing. The flywheel being spun would be ignition.

ABM-CANNIBAL · #33 Post by **ABM-CANNIBAL** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 7:13 pm

I will pull the flywheel tonight and take a pic of both sides. To me the keyway lines up with the "C".

The backfiring was from me giving it a little bit of throttle. Without throttle it would just crank & crank. I gave it a little bit of throttle before I cleaned up the stator and flywheel and it wouldn't backfire. I did put a new sparkplug in and there was no change. There was spark when I checked it against the head but didn't seam strong.

If anybody would be willing, I could send you my flywheel, stator & flywheel puller if someone could try them out and see if these are the problems.

r.porter · #34 Post by **r.porter** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 7:30 pm

Might be a bad coil, with a higher compression engines a good spark is important. Also you can use a spray bottle with gas in it to spray a mist in the throttle opening while cranking , this will tell you if one or both injectors have quit working ( If it fires and runs).

ABM-CANNIBAL · #35 Post by **ABM-CANNIBAL** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 7:41 pm

I did spray starting fluid down the throttle body and nothing different happened.

ABM-CANNIBAL · #36 Post by **ABM-CANNIBAL** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 9:46 pm

Here is something that I just remembered. When I took my spark plug off it was all white around were you would hook up your socket. I also looked down the head and it also was white above the threads were the spark plug screws in. Is this rust were some moisture got in or is it a sign of a coil going bad?

Happyboy · #37 Post by **Happyboy** » Thu Sep 20, 2007 1:50 am

hmm...thats just weird. I haven't seen that one before.

Canniboomer · #38 Post by **Canniboomer** » Thu Sep 20, 2007 4:12 am

I think you have already confirmed that the flywheel and timing are OK?. The flywheel is pinned and still aligned just fine, and you mentioned by email yesterday that the woodruff key is intact. Also, when you set the piston to TDC per the pictures above, the keyway was pointing straight up to the sparkplug, at 12 o'clock where it should be -- so the crank has not sheared either! All of those issues have checked out just fine, OK.

It may be that the problem has been caused by the stator bolt that had backed out, and has been grinding inside there and throwing metal into the windings. That likely shorted the stator output, which can also hurt the battery and voltage regulator (story below). I would concentrate on those 3 components, and test them all out.

It happened here with a SouthBay Moto ATV -- those yoyo's had installed a short-snout MX 400 flywheel to an early 02 Cannibal, which had ground up the outer surface of the stator. The weak output and running problems had ruined a few stock batteries by the time we got it in here.
Pulling the flywheel revealed the problem. After replacing both the battery and stator, it managed to start, and I assumed the problem was solved. But it continued to run like crap; sputtering, backfarting, spurting, coughing, etc. It seems the stator shorting had also ruined the voltage regulator! After replacing the forgotten voltage regulator, all was perfect. That bad regulator was tossing out too much (unregulated) juice, and it would only run smooth with the headlights turned ON! I did not think to check for hot wires, but that could have been happening also.

ABM-CANNIBAL · #39 Post by **ABM-CANNIBAL** » Thu Sep 20, 2007 1:32 pm

Here is a pic of my flywheel and my spark plug.

Happyboy · #40 Post by **Happyboy** » Thu Sep 20, 2007 2:35 pm

test regulator and ECU are on their way today. I don't have a test ignition coil though.