I’m new to karts and 2-strokes. Bought a used kart for daughter to get into karting
with a IAME Leopard and it will not fire. Pulled the plug and laid it on the head while cranking to look for a spark, got nothing.
Disconnected the coil input wire. Tested the coil and it will spark the plug when you brush 12v to the input of the coil.
Found the White and Light Gray wire output a pulse from the Stator when motor is spun over. 12v is going to the separate electronic ignition box (it has an “A” on the box).
Not sure what else to check. I wish there was a actual wiring diagram showing the wire color and pin number/function. The ignition box is all sealed and looks like a throw away item, but I have no way to test it to see if that is the problem and a new one is $200.
Not seeing the grounding strap off the coil to the engine. Could be you are not getting enough of a ground to fire properly. The grounding strap is a flat braid of copper wire. Should attach to the outside face of the coil and ground to the block between the rubber standoff and the block.
An oscilloscope is a multi-parameter display, usually with time on the x axis and voltage on the y axis. This allows you to see AC or frequency-modulated signals and troubleshoot circuits that aren’t at constant voltage.
You didn’t say how old your daughter is. If you’ve never seen this engine run, consider switching to a Yamaha KT-100 with a can muffler. It’s simpler, no electronics and no radiator. Working used ones aren’t that expensive but you’ll need an external starter.
Or a Briggs LO-206. That would come with a challenge of switching to an inboard drive.
Good luck and keep us informed on your progress.
All grounds are attached. The coil ground goes to the coil housing and the braided cable runs below the coil to the bottom inboard side of the rubber mount. The main ground is attached to the block on the inboard side of the carb as shown in the pic posted above. I ended up moving that ground to one of the starter mounting bolts (thinking to would give better cranking).
What I found was the previous owner crimped the coil input wire to the brown coil drive wire in the harness. The crimp was no good and was open, with no signal going to the coil. Replaced the connection and got spark!!
Silly me blew in what I thought was vent line to get gas to the carb and ended up pressurizing the tank and had a fountain of fuel spray out the line I was blowing in. Turns out the PO had the vent line to carb and the pickup was left as the vent.
After sorting out the fuel lines, I ended up getting it started last night and it seemed to run fine on the stand. I will need an external starter as the onboard is almost useless. Is that common? If not common, I may just rewire with heavier gauge wire to the starter to reduce voltage drop under load.
I was looking for a 206 kart but found this one and it looked interesting and I love the smell of caster oil. I never take the easy way. lol
No, they are not useless, but do tend to go through starter motor bushes fairly regularly. A brush kit is $15 to $20 bucks and well worth keeping an extra on hand. It’s not uncommon to replace the brushes once or twice per season. Without a balance shaft, the motor vibration is pretty hard on the brushes.
