96 xp800 spark problem

[nickj718]

Caused by a bad battery. Replaced the batter and all is well. Thanks guys

 

[ski-d00]

pick up coil problem most likely. they are known to not fail especially on the 96 800.

 

[kicker]

I agree, the pick up coil is inside the mag housing. Often the bracket breaks, or it has metal shavings on it and cant get a proper reading.

Before going any further be sure your battery is 100%, even though there is enough power to crank the engine over does not mean that there is enough power to produce proper spark. If the voltage drops below 10.5 ish while cranking it will not produce a proper spark.


I would also take the plug caps off and cut 1/4" of the wire off and screw the caps back on, just in case there is a bit of corrosion at the ends of the wires. Also, you can test the coil in the rear box with a test light on the white wire while you crank the engine over and see if you are getting a signal to the coil.

A couple pics of a good and bad pick up coil.

 

[brock1]

to save yourself some time pull the wires going to the secondary coil and see if you have constant strong spark..if you do then its not the pickup, its the secondary..if you don't have gpopd cpnstant spark then start to trace the problem backwards

 

[Dennis]

Make sure the small, black ground wire going from the rear electrical box to the battery neg post has a good connection. There will be no spark without it. :cheers:

 

[nickj718]

So this would cause it to run for about 30 seconds to a minute then die?

 

[kicker]

You did not describe the problem that way in your first post. Have you actually checked to see if there is no spark from the spark plugs? Or did you mean there is no spark as in "the motor does not fire up"?

Either way it is possible that any one of the above mentioned components can work intermittently.

 

[ski-d00]

does it always run 30 seconds and die? if so, it could be the rectifier.

 

[jhjesse]

X2 on the rectifier. Easy to change out. They make skis do funny things when they are not working properly.

 

[Sportster-2001-951C-Stock]

Sounds like a lose or corroded ground to me, start switch, or lanyard switch.

 

[nickj718]

Stupid me!!! Put the battery on a slow charge last night and is now working as it should! Sorry guys thanks for your time all.