Cannibal not starting

[ABM-CANNIBAL]

A few weeks ago I went riding and my brother took a ride on my quad. He tried doing wheelies and killed it about 4 times. All of a sudden it wouldn????????t crank only click at the starter. We pushed started it and it ran fine the rest of the day and would start easily. This weekend I was going to go riding. I unloaded it and went to start it. The battery was very weak. We tried pull starting it and the motor would turn but not fire. Tried jump starting it and it would crank fine but never fire. I checked all connections and fuel. I had great return fuel in the gas tank and all connections to the battery were tight. I checked the flywheel and the slot looked like it was still facing the ???????C???????. I think it might be the stator. What do you think? This is a 2002 Cannibal with the MC500. Since my case cracked last year, the stator has been missing the little grommet thing so water and dust could have got in to the cover easily.

[cannondale27]

Fouled sparkplug.If you keep pull starting it you will ruin you one-way bearing which requires total teardown to replace.Get your self a new battery and only use jumper cables if you have to.If they dont fire up or at least try to start something is wrong and should be fixed.

[ABM-CANNIBAL]

The battery is brand new. It is also a higher cranking amp battery I got from Dave. I will put a new sparkplug and see what happens.

[cannondale27]

I have seen plenty of batteries new and old go right out of the blue.When you get it running just check if its charging.Good luck.

[thedeatons]

Here are a few things we have learned with our group (FYI: 13+ Dales at every ride):

-Do not clamp the batteries down much AT ALL!! If the strap is remotely tight it will shatter the battery's internals and render it useless.
-Check your stator first thing. Check all the legs at the plug going to the regulator, each leg should read 50V+ at light revs. -Also check entire stator wire where it passes by engine case for open wires.
-The battery will also read a charge level of mid 14V on the posts when the stator is working.
-Check flywheel (you did that, so good job)
-Chuck your CR9EK in favor of a CR8EIX. I used to praise the 9s, until I had to change a few and then we got internal modifications and the 9s just fouled a lot, so now I am an 8 believer. The IX is Iridium, and is supposed to foul even less. A box of four on Ebay is ~$9 each

Our biggest problems have been the overtight battery, and the stator going bad. We haven't seen any regulator failures, so I can't speak for those. If you are running a bigger battery like a 12 or 14, then do NOT make it so the metal strap is arched over the top. It is better for the battery to flop around then be too tight. Trust me. We went through nearly a dozen batteries before we figured this out, and now I tell everybody.... Good luck!

[cannondale27]

Good advice!

[wistech]

I agree on the batteries. I for one am just using the stock batteries . The high output ones are only high output for a month or 2 then they loose a lot of capacity. Tuning the quad to start easier is a better way to go than cranking the snot out of it. Just because a battery is "NEW" means absolutely nothing. I think 1 in 3 of the batteries our group buys cant pass a load test right out of the box. And it didnt matter what brand . Ive had to take 2 yuasa's back this year already. The worst were the AGM batteries. Funny thing was the bone stock 9's were good for around 2 years before they would go bad.

Here's a few tips on keeping your battery alive.
Do not overcharge....ever. Trickle charging with a car charger will boil the water out in a few hours.
Do not leave the battery discharged for any length of time. The plates are very thin and sulfate up in no time at all.
If in doubt ...LOAD test it. If it cant put out 120 amps at a minumum 9.7 volts for at least 30 seconds get a new one.

[ABM-CANNIBAL]

Finally got a chance to mess with my quad. I checked all electrical connections and everything was connected right. Pulled the spark plug and checked if that ball stuck but no oil shoot out when I cranked it. Put a new spark plug and had plenty of spark. I know the battery is shot but had it connected to jumper cables just to try and get it started before I buy a battery. I will make sure and not to over tighten it next time. I checked the flywheel but couldn't get it off since I didn't have a puller. I did remove the flywheel bolt and washers to see how the key lined up. I looked like it lined up with the "C" but towards the right side of it. When I do crank my quad it will crank fine but will not start. If you open the throttle while it is cranking is stops cranking but the second you let off the throttle it cranks again. I cannot get this thing to start. You guys have any ideas that I could try?

[cannondale27]

So even when you jumped it it still wouldnt start?

[peterock]

You have spark............now check to make sure you are getting fuel.