[Shaky]

Howdy, did a quick search and couldnt really find much like my problems, so here goes:

99 foreman 400, has been backfiring a lot as of late, took the dump screw out of the spark arrestor and revved it up, blew a lot of junk out. Seemed to help.
Battery keeps draining, wont hold a charge for more than a day or two even while sitting and not running, battery is new and checks out good. Here of late when you start it (after charging) it runs rough as heck, almost like a timing issue, bogs down when you give it gas and dies. Had a buddy come by the other day and while it was doing this he hit the light switch to on and it idled perfectly and you could rev it up, did this for about 5 minutes and then it just died. Checked for spark, and sometimes we would get one and sometimes not, checked the coil and its good.
All fuses are good and carb is cleaned. Where do I go from here????

thanks

Shaky

 

[rancher11]

it could be a timing issue. does it smoke?

 

[Shaky]

no smoke at all.

I was thinking a dead short somewhere (at least causing the battery to drain) But when he hit the headlight switch to on and it ran great, Im now thinking something else that could tie it all in together, battery, rough idle, missparking???? Just fairly ignorant and dont have a good manual yet (its on the way, I live in the boonies) Could it be the CDI?

 

[rancher11]

you got a good spark plug? could be a short, im not an expert, sounds like there is a bunch of problems.

 

[Helmut]

My guess is a bad or shorted regulator/rectifier. Try charging your battery up to a full charge and put it back in and test the voltage of the battery with the engine running. Start the engine and turn the headlight on. Now, use a voltmeter to test the battery voltage. The voltage should be 14.7-15.5 volts at 5,000 RPM. If it tests out of spec, do the regulator/rectifier test as shown below.

 

[shadetree]

as helmut said..could be your reg/rec not charging your battery..buttttt..keep in mind..if your c.d.i or stator is bad..this will cause you to have elec issues too !..soo..check all of your wires..reg/rec..battery for a dead cell ?..stator..to see if it's putting out enough voltage ?..soo much comes into play when it comes to making a atv engine run. if you don't have the right voltage...air..spark..fuel..compression...it won't run right at all..if one thing is out of adjustment..this will cause a chain reaction.

 

[Helmut]

He said the battery drains, even when the ATV isn't running, so he has a short to ground somewhere. I would bet it's in the regulator/rectifier, but I could be wrong.

 

[shadetree]

or just a bad battery..lol. either it's bad..or something is on and draining it..i'm betting a bad battery.

 

[Helmut]

or just a bad battery..lol. either it's bad..or something is on and draining it..i'm betting a bad battery.

Yeah, it could be.

 

[Shaky]

Battery is practically brand new. In fact its the second one I got, the first one I purchased wouldnt take a charge at all, so the parts store charged this one up and exchanged it for me. Took it back in and they tested it fine.

 

[shadetree]

Battery is practically brand new. In fact its the second one I got, the first one I purchased wouldnt take a charge at all, so the parts store charged this one up and exchanged it for me. Took it back in and they tested it fine.

then your reg/rec or stator is bad..check the stator..see if it's bad...keep in mind..if you check to see if it's putting out voltage..make sure you put your meter in the ac position..stators produce ac voltage..the the reg/rec converts the voltage to dc..which..means you get some power going back into your battery..and the left over is keeping your lights working.

 

[Helmut]

Had a buddy come by the other day and while it was doing this he hit the light switch to on and it idled perfectly and you could rev it up, did this for about 5 minutes and then it just died.

This is another reason why I think it's the regulator.

 

[Shaky]

Kudos for all the help! It was the voltage regulator, put a new one on and its running like a champ!

Kudos to all!

 

[JimmyAAA]

Howdy, did a quick search and couldnt really find much like my problems, so here goes:

99 foreman 400, has been backfiring a lot as of late, took the dump screw out of the spark arrestor and revved it up, blew a lot of junk out. Seemed to help.
Battery keeps draining, wont hold a charge for more than a day or two even while sitting and not running, battery is new and checks out good. Here of late when you start it (after charging) it runs rough as heck, almost like a timing issue, bogs down when you give it gas and dies. Had a buddy come by the other day and while it was doing this he hit the light switch to on and it idled perfectly and you could rev it up, did this for about 5 minutes and then it just died. Checked for spark, and sometimes we would get one and sometimes not, checked the coil and its good.
All fuses are good and carb is cleaned. Where do I go from here????

thanks

Shaky

I had the same problem and couldn’t figure it out until I came to these forums. Try replacing the voltage regulator. I’ll bet that’s the problem. They get hot and fail. It fixed my ‘98 TRX 400!!!

JimmyAAA

 

[shadetree]

I had the same problem and couldn’t figure it out until I came to these forums. Try replacing the voltage regulator. I’ll bet that’s the problem. They get hot and fail. It fixed my ‘98 TRX 400!!!

JimmyAAA

did you not notice this post is 9 years old ???, and he already stated he replaced reg/rec, and it fixed the problem .

 

[mrbb]

did you not notice this post is 9 years old ???, and he already stated he replaced reg/rec, and it fixed the problem .

come on Shade, its the guys first post , no need to make em feel bad, he was trying to help OP< even if its a old one LOL

JimmyAAA
welcome to the site, were NOT all bad folks here, LOL
help is still help even if in a old tread, someone might do a searcch and find it!

 

[shadetree]

come on Shade, its the guys first post , no need to make em feel bad, he was trying to help OP< even if its a old one LOL

JimmyAAA
welcome to the site, were NOT all bad folks here, LOL
help is still help even if in a old tread, someone might do a searcch and find it!

@mrbb, true..he was helping, but if any new guys join, there is a search button to look up post. but posting to a 9 year old thread that already said he changed the reg/rec, and solved the problem , why comment ?..damn..i hate getting old !..lol. my apology @ jimmyAAA

 

[mrbb]

well shade sometime's I think we all leap before we look!
new guy maybe dodn;t have much forum experience, and seen something he thought eh could help on and just added it.
I see no harm, 9 yrs old or not, still was a honest attempt to help others

Rather new members like this, than some of the others that come to seem to stir the pot or start troubles ! LOL

 

[shadetree]

well shade sometime's I think we all leap before we look!
new guy maybe dodn;t have much forum experience, and seen something he thought eh could help on and just added it.
I see no harm, 9 yrs old or not, still was a honest attempt to help others

Rather new members like this, than some of the others that come to seem to stir the pot or start troubles ! LOL

true !!!, I did send him a pm, and owned up to my mistake, hey..i can't be perfect every day !..lol.

 

[JimmyAAA]

I was very happy to find the forum. I was having so much trouble with my Trx-400. I adjusted the valves on the 20-year-old and it helped some. I had difficulty starting the unit, backfiring, then just dying and unreliable operation. I have a few repair manuals but none mentioned anything about checking the voltage regulator. I replaced the ICM, the battery etc... but I didn’t want to get in the mess of replacing the stator or pulse generator - those rarely fail. So a few months went by and I thought of searching online and found this forum. Yes, I’m new at forums so I realized the guy fixed his ATV with a new voltage regulator. But I didn’t notice that until I already posted. So thank God for you people, the Internet and the forum for helping me figure out it was the voltage regulator. I ordered the item directly from Honda. I didn’t want China in my ATV. So thank you very much, without your help, either I’d still have a non-functional ATV or a huge bill from a local Honda shop!! ????

JimmyAAA