[SOLVED] agilty 125, wont start.. could be battery? ignition coil? cdi? stator?

[yjb]

hey folks,

so a few days ago it was driving fine. then one morning out of nowhere after many tries to get started with the electric start, the battery wouldn't turn it over anymore.. so i figured the battery was just too low.. enough to turn it over a bit, but maybe not enough to really get it going..
so i took it to autozone, and had them trickle charge it all day, they said their machine told them it was 98% charged..
took it home, it took a couple of tries and it got going again.. hooray right? wrong..

next day, tried to start it.. took quite a while with many tries, got to work, and took a bunch of tries again to get it started to get home..
thought perhaps i needed a new spark plug.. so i got a new spark plug..
put it in and it still had a little trouble at first.. then after adjusting the idle screw a little it was purring perfectly for 10mins or so..
so i thought id fixed it..

next day, again, wont start..
this time i pulled the plug out, and grounded it, and i dont see a spark when i'm trying to get it started...
also i'm hearing a little buzz or whine or beeeeeep going on from the CDI when i have the keys to the on position..
the fuel dial still turns on, horn and brake still work...

any thoughts on what it could be?
could it be that the battery is actually just needs to be replaced?
could it be the ignition coil?
stator? cdi?
any help would be much appreciated..
i do have tools and multimeter.. and some skillz...

[yjb]

i tested the voltage on the battery, which i already know is undercharged now after trying so many times to start and its below 12v now..

also i think i tested correctly (one probe on the white and one grounded) the A.C. charging coil  as well as the lighting (yellow to ground) and with the multimeter set to 20k ohms.. i dont get anything..
same if i test from the green to the black on prongs on the ignition coil, 0 ohms and i'm suppose to get somewhere between .1-.. but when i go from one of the prongs to the spark plug cap, i get somewhere around 8.5..

im not that great with this electrical stuff and am happy to have things over-explained,
thanks!!

[Vivo]

This happened to me.... my scoot starts hard every morning... the rest of the day, with short trips here and there, the scoot starts fine then I go home... the next morning,, hard starting again... does this just every morning.... changed to a new battery... problem solved!

[yjb]

my problem seems a little different..
it used to start up at the very hint of touching the starting button..
only a couple of times during the winter did it need any real extra button jamming and a little throttle..

but the battery seems like the culprit at the moment...
perhaps collaborating with the stator/pulsar coils and or the ignition coil and maybe even the cdi..
i'm hoping someone here might have some thoughts so i dont have to go the route of guess and check
which usually ends up costing a lot..

but thank you and if worse comes to worse i'll prob start with a new battery.

[Vivo]

Ok, let's try to rule out things....  the CDI is either good or bad and nothing in between, since you still have fire.. I think your cdi is good.... Check for loose connections on the coils and other wirings..

[yjb]

thanks for the tip on the cdi..
well.. after trying to start it so much, the battery wont turn it over anymore.. so i'll have to charge it again, or buy a new one, to check for loose connections..
i'll poke around with the multimeter first a little tomorrow

i wasn't getting a spark before the battery ran out.. and the cdi makes that beeeeeep or buzzzz faint noise when key is in the on position, not sure what that might mean..

[Vivo]

The CDI has a voltage inverter responsible for boosting the voltage from 12 to hundreds of volts for the CDI output to the coil.... the process sometimes has a buzzing sound....

[yjb]

just tested the cdi (i hope properly)
looks like the resistance is low between a few pins, and no reading between a few..
could it be that perhaps its just the cdi is bad?

[Vivo]

just tested the cdi (i hope properly)
looks like the resistance is low between a few pins, and no reading between a few..
could it be that perhaps its just the cdi is bad?

how did you test the cdi?

[Jim Moore]

I think you need a new battery. Will it kick start?

[yjb]

it wont kickstart.. but i dont know if it was doing it right...
i think i tested the CDI correctly by using a multimeter and testing resistance across certain pins by following the service manual..
perhaps i'lll try and see if the shop has both a battery and a cdi after work today..
thanks everyone.. i'll keep ya posted and keep trying!

[yjb]

anyone know if its a DC CDI or an AC? they want over $70 for one here in town.. looks like i'm gonna have to shop online

[Aceforever]

Is your brake handle working properly? The brake handle you normally use with the starter button, is it the left or right? Try the opposite brake handle. I had the same problem and recently. Hope that helps.

[Vivo]

anyone know if its a DC CDI or an AC? they want over $70 for one here in town.. looks like i'm gonna have to shop online

I'm not sure but my super 8 has a DC CDI...

[yjb]

i have tried both handles and it is working properly with that.. like i said i can get it to turn over just fine.. just no spark at the plug..
i have checked for resistance on the plug cable from the ignition coil.. seemed ok..
just got the new cdi from motopartsmax, took FOREVER! slowest delivery!
i'm gonna put it in and try and jump start it tonight when my roommate gets home..
when i tried to jump start it before, with it hooked up to a running car's battery, it had no problem turning over,
just never actually started.. so i'm thinking regardless if the battery is dead or not, there is something else that's the problem..
i'll let you all know how the new cdi goes..
i tried testing different pins' resistances, based on the manual.. its still getting different readings.. i think perhaps you can't use a regular multimeter to measure,
as the manual says you need something more specialized.. who knows...
so perhaps the old cdi is still ok.. since the reason for buying it was because it didn't match the resistance on certain pin combos from the manual.. however it was making that electronic whine.. that i never noticed before.. it even made that whine while i was trying to jump start it.. so i dont think its just an indicator sound of low battery, as some have said in other posts that perhaps that's why it makes that sound... i dont think so..

anyway.. more info to come,
thanks everyone!