[dispatch55126]

This morning, I took my ATC200E you for a ride and it ran fine. Now, it'll turn over only when the engine is cold and once it warms up, it starts backfiring and dies. Once the engine is warm, it won't turn over until its cold again. Here's what I did today.

After my morning ride, I pulled it in the garage and replaced the battery. The new battery was slightly too large for the battery tray so I banged it out slightly so the new battery would fit. After installed the new battery, the engine turned over, ran for a minute then died.

Then, the pull start rope broke so I replaced the rope and reinstalled it. Lastly, I pulled the starter out to see why I wasn't getting enough torque to turn the engine over and reinstalled it.

After doing this work, the engine problems started. I did not mess with the engine or carb.

What would cause the engine to suddenly have these problems. It has to be due to installing the new battery but I'm not sure what. I have the battery properly wired. I only messed with the sides of the battery tray and did not mess with the rectifier or CDI.

 

[TRX2fiveO]

Have you changed the oil lately? has the valves ever been adjusted? when its hot and you say it won't turn over what does it do? just Click? or does the starter just drag? not cranking when it's hot is usally either the solenoid is getting hot thats on the electrical side or the carb is lean thats on the fuel side. It could be a number of things I'm sure there will be other answers for you shortly.

 

[dispatch55126]

As I said, it was running fine this morning. I've always pull started it due to the bad battery. With the new battery in (fully charged), the motor will turn over but not fast enough to start. After a few seconds, the battery loses enough power to not start. It almost seems like there is a short but why would it

a)suddenly occur now
b)allow the engine to pull start cold but not fire when warm?

 

[dispatch55126]

Additional info. I traced the wiring and found that the negative battery cable was attached to the terminal and was also touching the frame. Is it possible that I damaged something by having the battery cable ground to the frame as well as the battery?

 

[Helmut]

Additional info. I traced the wiring and found that the negative battery cable was attached to the terminal and was also touching the frame. Is it possible that I damaged something by having the battery cable ground to the frame as well as the battery?

That shouldn't matter, because the ground from the battery is grounded to the engine and the engine is mounted in the frame, so it's grounded to both anyway.

 

[dispatch55126]

I tried starting it again cold and I can't get it to start by pull starting it. The last time I got it to start, once it warmed up, it started misfiring. It didn't matter if I gave it gas or not, it just died out.

 

[TRX2fiveO]

Pull the plug and connect it back to the plug boot touch the spark plug to the engine and pull start it and see if it's sparking, then try the same thing with the electric start.

 

[dispatch55126]

2AM epiphany wins again.

So, I was lying in bed last night when it occurred to me. It couldn't be mechanical since I didn't monkey with anything. Electrical was a possibility but unlikely. Then it hit me. The engine being hot or cold had nothing to do with it. It was how long the engine sat prior to running it.

Yesterday, the fuel tank was low so I switched to reserve and ran it for a few minutes before shutting it off. This morning, I cleaned the filter and cycled the fuel switch several times and it ran fine. What I think was happening was the filter was clogged at the reserve level. As the engine sat, the fuel vaporized, condensed in the fuel line and slowly filled the bowl enough the briefly run before starving of fuel.

 

[TRX2fiveO]

Filler up!! and drop in abou a half of a can of seafoam.