1998 yamaha venture 500 no spark

Rick0655

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Joined
Mar 3, 2021
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15
Location
Minnesota
hi all, i have got a 1998 yamaha venture 500 sled that has no spark. this may be long so i appoligize in advance. it ran when i got it but then one day i noticed the tach was bouncing on and off then few seconds later the sled quit running. tried to start it found no spark. i found the mice had a nice meal with the wiring harness so i ordered one from ebay and replaced it, but no help. i checked ground, kill switch was ok but i left it unplugged, key switch is ok, headlight dimmer switch is no good so i left that unplugged also. tested the ignition system and this is what i found;

ignition coil test didnt look good so i replaced it but no help.
plug wire caps needs 5k i have 5.7k, i had a new set i tried, but no help.
source coil (stator) needs 225-275 ohms on brown/blackred wires i have 248 ohms.
pickup coil needs 189-231 ohms i have 208 ohms.
cdi as far as i know has no way of testing it.

it was suggested to change the stator even tho it tested ok. so i contacted a salvage yard in my arrea and ordered a stator and a cdi box. the stator he sent me had 600 ohms on the brown/blackred wires which looks to be worst then the stator i have and the cdi has 3 plugs on it and mine has 2. i contacted them and they are looking for replacement parts. i looked in your tech section but didnt find any answers i needed so my questions are;

1- are these readings i have correct for what the stator and pickup coil need? my manual was downloaded and im beginning to question if its right.
if my manual readings are correct then the stator he sent me might be bad at 600 ohms even tho he said it came off a runing sled.
2- also the wiring harness i got on ebay has a different plug for the regulator rectifier. the old harness had a square plug and the harness from ebay has a flat plug. the wiring colors are the same just different plug. my manual also doesnt show a test for the rectifier, is there an ohm reading i can do or does the sled need to be running to test it? i need to hook up the rectifier so if i can test my rectifer regulater and its bad i will find one for a flat plug but if mine is good i can just change the plug with the old harness.
3- also is there a difference between the flat and square rectifer regulators or are they interchangable?

this sled is getting to be a nightmare, any help i can get would be appreciated...thanks
 

First of all, don't be using the wrong wire harness or stator or you're going to be in for a real headache.
The original is testing good according to the info you gave.
The tach isn't really related to the ignition except for maybe a ground.
Is the large negative wire from the battery still connected to the engine block?
 
Hi, yes the battery cable is still connected to the engine block, i also verified the harness ground is connected. when i got the wiring harness from ebay i noticed the wrong plug on the rectifier regulator so i compared the two harness's and matched them with the wiring diagram in my manual. i found except for the plug on the rectifier regulator the harness's are identical. the plugs are different shapes but the wire colors are the same and they run thru the harness to the same location so i thought i could just find a flat regulator or swap the plugs.
is there a way to test the rectifier regulator to see if its good or does the sled need to be running to test it?
 
Has to be running. The charging side of the electrical on this sled has nothing to do with the spark.
 
Someone else I was talking to said the rectifier regulator has to be working and installed before the sled will run but since it needs to be running to check it then what you said makes good sense.

The ground is good, I was going to run a ground wire from the block to the frame and try that but the electric start works just fine so I don’t think another ground wire would help. The wiring harness to my surprise only has one ground which is by the ignition coil which I verified ok but I also ran a jumper from that ground to the battery just to verify ok.

I took the stator out thinking I could see something wrong but to me it looks just fine. So I’m thinking my next step is to change the stator even tho it test ok or like I read, if everything else checks ok change the cdi.

What are your thoughts?
 
HAPPY DAYS...I GOT IT... it ended up to be a bad cdi. my earlier post i noted i had ordered a replacement stator and cdi from a salvage yard not to far from me. i ohmed out the stator he sent me and it ohmed at 598 ohms which is way way off from the 225-275 ohms its suppose to be. but the guy said it came off a running sled so i thought what have i got to lose so i tried his stator and cdi and now i have spark. i put my old cdi on just to check and no spark but with the replacement cdi he sent i have good spark. but that leads me to a couple questions i hope someone can answer;

1. like i said the stator he sent ohms way off the scale from what specs are so i am thinking i should put the old stator back in or would you leave the stator in he sent me with 598 ohms???
2. the cdi he sent has 3 wire plugs and my old one has 2. since i only have 2 plugs on my wiring harness and i still have spark will it harm anything to use the 3 plug one he sent or should i get one with 2 plugs???

im not sure but i assume the stator and cdi he sent me came off the same sled but then who really knows...

Rick
 


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