wd40 stator question

mgtkr1
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mgtkr1
Edited Date/Time 10/7/2019 4:20am
having just bought an 87 cr250, after a washi noticed water in the stator area as a result of a failed gasket/seal. to disperse the water i gave the area a good coating of wd40 and ran into starting problems. basiclly it wouldnt start. while i was cranking the kickstart by hand i noticed that every 4th kick there was no spark. i instantly thought of the stator and its four coils. after squirting the area with carb cleaner i noticed the spark had returned to a big fat blue spark on every kick just about. (it was a big improvement anyway).the bike also fired first kick. i decided to remove the flywheel and look closer to make sure the area is clean, free from moistiure/wd40 crud ect. is it possible the wd40 had settled on one of the pickups and created a problem with spark? i was allways under the impression wd40 was ok on stators ect. also does anyone have any advice on cleaning the coils on the stator? 3 are pristine, one of them looks like theres a small amount of tarnishing. is some fine emery safe to use? thanks in advance
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Rupert X
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Rupert X 9/25/2019 4:52pm
9/25/2019 4:52pm
I don’t have any answers for you, but I’m fairly close to firing up my resto-mod 87 after 3 years of toiling
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mgtkr1
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mgtkr1 9/25/2019 5:11pm
9/25/2019 5:11pm
Rupert X wrote:
I don’t have any answers for you, but I’m fairly close to firing up my resto-mod 87 after 3 years of toiling [img]https://p.vitalmx.com/photos/forums/2019/09/25/375652/s1200_8CF9A147_5731_4D1F_8458_37903967B3AD.jpg[/img]
I don’t have any answers for you, but I’m fairly close to firing up my resto-mod 87 after 3 years of toiling
nice one, i love the hondas of that era. looks awesome
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cwtoyota
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cwtoyota 9/25/2019 5:37pm
9/25/2019 5:37pm
mgtkr1 wrote:
having just bought an 87 cr250, after a washi noticed water in the stator area as a result of a failed gasket/seal. to disperse the water...
having just bought an 87 cr250, after a washi noticed water in the stator area as a result of a failed gasket/seal. to disperse the water i gave the area a good coating of wd40 and ran into starting problems. basiclly it wouldnt start. while i was cranking the kickstart by hand i noticed that every 4th kick there was no spark. i instantly thought of the stator and its four coils. after squirting the area with carb cleaner i noticed the spark had returned to a big fat blue spark on every kick just about. (it was a big improvement anyway).the bike also fired first kick. i decided to remove the flywheel and look closer to make sure the area is clean, free from moistiure/wd40 crud ect. is it possible the wd40 had settled on one of the pickups and created a problem with spark? i was allways under the impression wd40 was ok on stators ect. also does anyone have any advice on cleaning the coils on the stator? 3 are pristine, one of them looks like theres a small amount of tarnishing. is some fine emery safe to use? thanks in advance
WD-40 isn't conductive, it's more likely that there was some water partially shorting one or more of the coils, or the wiring harness.

Don't use emery or other abrasives on the wire, but it doesn't hurt to hit the bare ends of the stack of steel core plates that wire is wrapped around. The coil wires look like bare copper, but they have a lacquer coating that insulates them. One touch with the emery cloth and that coating is gone and you'll have even more problems.

Do you have a multi-meter?
You can check the resistance in each coil and compare them.
Yamaha and Kawasaki manuals often have the values listed in Ohms or K-Ohms for each coil for diagnostics... I'm not sure if Honda's that old have that information published, but you could compare coil to coil and see if they're within maybe 5% to 10% of the same value.

If one coil has less resistance (is more conductive) than the others it's probably the one with the trouble.
Maybe you can water-proof it with some liquid electrical tape?
If you do try to coat it with something, consider doing it in a way that would allow you to have it re-wound at a later time...
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mgtkr1
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mgtkr1 9/26/2019 11:23am
9/26/2019 11:23am
well, after running for ten minutes then allowing it to die, it will no start again. weak spark.intermittent spark. brand new plug, cap and length of ht lead to replace the crusty old bit. anyone have any idea's? im thinking its the stator but hoping its the coil

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slowgti
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slowgti 9/26/2019 11:25am
9/26/2019 11:25am
You can measure the resistance of the coil and see if it's opening up
Tracktor
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Tracktor 9/26/2019 1:41pm
9/26/2019 1:41pm
CorrosionX is good for cleaning & protecting electrical components...........
Dtat720
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Dtat720 9/26/2019 2:16pm
9/26/2019 2:16pm
My RM250 acted like that. I took the stator plate off and found the wires going in to it had cracked and were making intermittent contact. Sometimes it would start, sometimes it wouldnt do anything. Cleaned the wires up, resoldered them to the stator and never had an issue again
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mgtkr1
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mgtkr1 10/3/2019 3:47pm
10/3/2019 3:47pm
problem solved i think. drained tank and carb, refilled with fresh fuel and it fired 3rd or 4th kick. turns out the fuel was contaminated with moisture. our uk fuels have ethanol content which is susceptable to absorbing moistiure
kb228
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kb228 10/3/2019 5:40pm
10/3/2019 5:40pm Edited Date/Time 10/3/2019 5:40pm
mgtkr1 wrote:
problem solved i think. drained tank and carb, refilled with fresh fuel and it fired 3rd or 4th kick. turns out the fuel was contaminated with...
problem solved i think. drained tank and carb, refilled with fresh fuel and it fired 3rd or 4th kick. turns out the fuel was contaminated with moisture. our uk fuels have ethanol content which is susceptable to absorbing moistiure
That doesnt make sense. Fresh gas doesnt fix intermittent spark... or does it???
mgtkr1
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mgtkr1 10/6/2019 10:41pm
10/6/2019 10:41pm
mgtkr1 wrote:
problem solved i think. drained tank and carb, refilled with fresh fuel and it fired 3rd or 4th kick. turns out the fuel was contaminated with...
problem solved i think. drained tank and carb, refilled with fresh fuel and it fired 3rd or 4th kick. turns out the fuel was contaminated with moisture. our uk fuels have ethanol content which is susceptable to absorbing moistiure
kb228 wrote:
That doesnt make sense. Fresh gas doesnt fix intermittent spark... or does it???
think the intermittent spark was a red herring caused by a duff plug.i used a fresh plug with fresh fuel and bingo
CPR
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CPR 10/7/2019 4:20am
10/7/2019 4:20am
mgtkr1 wrote:
problem solved i think. drained tank and carb, refilled with fresh fuel and it fired 3rd or 4th kick. turns out the fuel was contaminated with...
problem solved i think. drained tank and carb, refilled with fresh fuel and it fired 3rd or 4th kick. turns out the fuel was contaminated with moisture. our uk fuels have ethanol content which is susceptable to absorbing moistiure
kb228 wrote:
That doesnt make sense. Fresh gas doesnt fix intermittent spark... or does it???
mgtkr1 wrote:
think the intermittent spark was a red herring caused by a duff plug.i used a fresh plug with fresh fuel and bingo
Here's a tip- when testing spark, always do it straight from the lead to the frame or motor, I.e. with no cap or plug.
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side-pipe
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side-pipe 10/7/2019 8:50am
10/7/2019 8:50am
mgtkr1 wrote:
problem solved i think. drained tank and carb, refilled with fresh fuel and it fired 3rd or 4th kick. turns out the fuel was contaminated with...
problem solved i think. drained tank and carb, refilled with fresh fuel and it fired 3rd or 4th kick. turns out the fuel was contaminated with moisture. our uk fuels have ethanol content which is susceptable to absorbing moistiure
kb228 wrote:
That doesnt make sense. Fresh gas doesnt fix intermittent spark... or does it???
mgtkr1 wrote:
think the intermittent spark was a red herring caused by a duff plug.i used a fresh plug with fresh fuel and bingo
I think the fresh plug is giving you false hope.
I had a ktm 65 would run like hell for a moto but wouldnt restart. Id put in a fresh plug and it was good for another moto or 2. In my case it was a CDI box.

I think you are still having a stator or coil issue and the fresh plug is able to generate enough spark to run.
when you are ready to it the track make sure you have a handfull of plugs with you so the day isnt cut short.
mgtkr1
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mgtkr1 10/7/2019 3:21pm
10/7/2019 3:21pm
kb228 wrote:
That doesnt make sense. Fresh gas doesnt fix intermittent spark... or does it???
mgtkr1 wrote:
think the intermittent spark was a red herring caused by a duff plug.i used a fresh plug with fresh fuel and bingo
side-pipe wrote:
I think the fresh plug is giving you false hope. I had a ktm 65 would run like hell for a moto but wouldnt restart. Id...
I think the fresh plug is giving you false hope.
I had a ktm 65 would run like hell for a moto but wouldnt restart. Id put in a fresh plug and it was good for another moto or 2. In my case it was a CDI box.

I think you are still having a stator or coil issue and the fresh plug is able to generate enough spark to run.
when you are ready to it the track make sure you have a handfull of plugs with you so the day isnt cut short.
time will tell, i always take spare plugs anyway. im confident it was water ingress that was causing the non starting. somehow either moisture had got into the fuel tank or the fuel had absorbed moisture. i think it was water in the fuel tank though

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