Hey guys,

I tried troubleshooting and looked at numerous different posts. I cant seem to solve my problem.

History: I bought my fl350 with a snowmobile Engine in it. I decided to try to bring it back to stock. I was able to get a stock Engine with wiring harness to swap back into my rig.

Problem: I put the new (to me) Engine in and have everything wired back to factory. I have power to my lights and starter. When I turn it over, I am not getting power to my coil. It appears that the only wire I am getting pulse from when turning over the Engine is the black/red wire that goes to the CDI (Capacitor Discharge Ignition). I am not getting any power back out of my CDI (Capacitor Discharge Ignition). I double check the grounds and they all appear good. When I turn the Engine over, should I be getting juice from the blue/yellow wire, or any of the 3 yellows?

I am left with the assumption that either I have a bad stator or CDI (Capacitor Discharge Ignition). Except I saw the motor (( Internal Combustion Engine ? )) run prior to buying it, so it makes it hard for me to think that it could be either. Is there anything else I could be missing?

Thanks,
4Runner

The best I can do for you right now is post a PDF of the wiring diagram.
Also included is the pdf of Honda wire color codes.
If you need a pdf manual of the FL350 let us know.
CO

If you seen that Engine running before you bought it then obviously it's your wiring.
Highly unlikely the CDI (Capacitor Discharge Ignition) is shot. Possible stator but I call bulsht on that because it was running.
CO

I'm NOT an electron mechanic so others with more knowledge need to chime in here.

The Blue and Yellow wire is the pulse coil and (I think) it should have a pulse when you spin the Engine.
The 3 Yellows would be the lighting (I think).

To me the important one seems to be the Black and Yellow coming from the CDI (Capacitor Discharge Ignition). It goes to the coil. Is it getting juice when you spin it ??
CO

Blue/Yellow are not getting pulse when spinning it. I figured this wire should be getting pulse considering it is coming from the pulse generator. Looks like I will start there and see if I can find a loose connection.

Thanks,
4Runner

ZeroClient did an awesome job on posting "how to" check basic electrical stuff.
It is written here in this thread: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=18349
It is located on page 1 just below my comments.
He is trouble shooting the FL250 but I can't see how that matters.

Here is a snap shot of the pick up coil test:
1. The trigger coil is common to fail. Lets check it.
a. Get your Digital Volt Meter out and set it to OHMs.
b. Put the leads of the DVM across the (G)reen and (BL/Y) (Blue/Yellow strip) and take a reading. It should measure between 100~400 Ohms.
c. Next, set your DVM to AC voltage keeping the leads on the same wires as b.
d. Either yank the pull start or turn the Engine over by the starter motor (( Internal Combustion Engine ? )) (( Internal Combustion Engine ? )).
e. You should see the DVM 'blip' up to about 0.4 volts AC.
Final - If it doesn't move, IE stays at ZERO volts, ZERO ohms, or open, then your small trigger coil is bad.
CO

Thank you, CO, for the write up. I followed the steps and the trigger coil checked out.

I also followed the steps on the shop manual on how to test the CDI (Capacitor Discharge Ignition). Surprisingly, my CDI (Capacitor Discharge Ignition) was not responding to the volt meter. I know my volt meter works, as I already tested continuity between all my wires. So I got a new (to me) CDI (Capacitor Discharge Ignition) on the way. Fingers crossed this actually fixes my issue.

I think you can only test the CDI (Capacitor Discharge Ignition) with a special meter from Honda. Not sure on that though.
If this CDI (Capacitor Discharge Ignition) is bad then it will be the first one gone bad that I know of and I have been on this site since late 2011.
It does make sense though, because this machine was running and when you buy an Engine it don't come with the CDI (Capacitor Discharge Ignition) or coil.
It's also possible that it's the ignition coil. I have had several issues with those over the years and so have others. It's very common for the coil to be bad. One of the common repairs to the coil is to cut a 1/4" off the end of the wire and then screw the sparkplug cap back on. I actually had a bad coil wire that was broken in the middle. It gave me fits trying to figure out why the machine would not run. Sometimes I had spark and sometimes not. Here is the thread and the repair: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=18792&hilit=bad+coil
CO

Are you sure your grounds and on/off also neutral safety switch are all ok?

Fl250 and Fl350 uses an AC voltage CDI (Capacitor Discharge Ignition) system. Fl400 uses a DC voltage CDI (Capacitor Discharge Ignition) so that’s different FYI. On 250/350 try and Disconnect the rectifier see if you get spark. A bad rect might be shorting a stator winding and also won’t charge bat while out of circuit but will run.

Then Check the charge coil it should be putting out 20 to 60 vAC while cranking.

Failing those tests, check the coil itself. Across terminals should be close to 0 ohms, but then from terminal to high tension side should measure 4.7k ohms.

You can try lifting the Gr wire from the CDI (Capacitor Discharge Ignition). Try open, try ground. That’s for the neutral safety switch they always fail btw.

I took off the side case for the pull start and cleaned up the oil that made its way into the stator/trigger coil. Put it back together, turned it over, still no spark. Swapped out the CDI (Capacitor Discharge Ignition) for the new one I just got off ebay. Turned it over, and I got spark!

I am not sure how the CDI (Capacitor Discharge Ignition) got fried between seeing it run and completing the swap. At this point, I do not even care!

Thank you guys for your help! All the trouble shooting helped me learn this rig better.

4Runner