A guy at work has been trying to push his 1975 cb200t off on me for years. It was running up until a couple years ago when he quit cranking it. He got it on a trade 20 plus years ago. He brought it to me free of charge. I have spend many hours working on dirt bikes but this will be my first attempt at a street bike. Not sure what is going on with the wiring be cause he said the starter button went out and had wired a light switch to it. A residential light switch. I'm sure the battery is trash. Since it will kick over is there anyway I can bypass all the electrical stuff and just run the engine? I would like To know I can make the engine run before spending the money time and effort on wiring of the engine is trashed.
Thanks and I'm looking forward to learning a lot about this little scooter here
No could be bad points, dead battery, bad timing, bad wireing, bad connections, bad condenser, bad plugs, bad plug caps, not having both HT leads connected to the same ground ( the head)......or a bad coil
What you're looking for is whether you have spark from the basic ignition system. If you do you can move on to ensuring you have compression and fuel. If you don't you will have to track down the cause from among the possibilities Simo listed.
Alright here is a update and maybe someone has some advice. Got a new battery and when I removed the seat I found this light switched wired to the what I believe is the ignition starter switch. Picture is attached. Turn the key all lights work. Start button does nothing. I flip the switch on and it starts trying to crank. No luck. Tank had been cleaned with fresh fuel in it. Removed air filter cover and sprayed starting fluid into the carb no luck. Removed carbs to clean then checked the plugs for sparking. The left side sparked right side did not. Can anyone tell me why the light switch would be wired like it is and if the coil would only cause one plug to be bad? Also any other suggestions on why it wouldn't fire off on starting fluid. Cleaning the carbs tonight and order a new coil.
That's shonky, your coil shouldn't be able to only fire on one plug , but are the plugs new? Have you set the timing? spark and fuel and compression all have to happen at the correct time . Just having spark and starter fluid isn't enough, ..you also need to change the oil before you start it and confirm oil to the head. No oil to the head and the cam will turn to cream cheese in minutes and be damaged in less. Oil that's gas thinned or gummed with crap will be as bad as no oil. The cam have plain ( none) bearing , no balls, no pins, no rollers, just two bits of metal and a layer of oil from the pump to stop in seizing
The oil actually looked fresh. I did change it and looked everywhere for a filter. I haven't changed plugs. I will swap the plugs and see if that makes a difference until i can track down some new ones. Working nights and it's 30 minutes to town to get a plug.
No replaceable filter just a cleanable oil spinner
If replacing the plugs doesn't help replace the lead caps , they screw on
Timing is set so the points open on the F mark on the stator
Thanks a lot for all the info and help. My intentions are to make it a street tracker. The pictures I see have the air filter covers off and you can't see the battery. Are they relocating them or just using a small one like a dirt bike?
The biggest problem you'll have is the air filters , stock are large and full the space that you want free. The 175's and 200's are fussy about air in and air out . Little pods (like those on the photo of the cl 350 you posted) and your bike will run badly , keep the exhaust length to past the rear axle . Battery size is dependant on draw so if you run LED everything and delete the starter you can have a small battery , max output from a cb200 stator is 96watt
I have cleaned the carbs but the opening where the fuel line from the tank connects, I can not clear that on either one. Can't remove the floats due to the pin being seized working on removing that now though. Any idea how to clean the fuel inlet? My torch tip cleaners just aren't long enough
Hi Motoracer,
I would follow Simo's advice and check the oil feed to the head before you go any further. Easy to check by taking the right rear head nut off and turning the engine over with the kick start. It can take some time but you should get oil welling up around the stud. If you don't all the electrical work you are doing will not be needed yet!
Rather than replace your coil you can swap the coil leads from one side plug to the other to see if the problem switches sides. As Simo says it could be as simple as a plug cap.
Alright getting closer to having it running. New plugs. Now I have spark on both sides. Need to replace the wire and cap on the left side. Cap keeps coming off. Fresh oil, verified it is feeding. Checked the points gap. Between .330 and .356 already. I did clean the point with contact cleaner and some sand paper. Carbs are clean just waiting on the rebuild kits. They were suppose to be here today but no one was here to sign for them. Couple more questions. The ignition switch has 4 positions. Up middle and down. When it is in the middle position the lights come on but the other two positions nothing. What are the two that don't turn the lights on. Also the blinkers don't blink they just light up and stay lit. Is that how they are suppose to be? Also the horn and headlight doesn't work. Everything else does. Plan to replace everything with led lights but will not having these working cause any issues until I can get to all leds?
Can you post a pic of your ignition switch, it should be off, run, park lights.
Your indicators should flash
Based on the starter switch I'd be looking at a new loom, trying to track down the PO's POS wiring hacks will be more work
Yeah I will get a picture of it in the morning contacted the post office hopefully they re deliver the carb kits tomorrow also. Will a new loom work with all new led lights and switches?
Yes think of the loom like the wiring in the wall of your house, it's there to get the power around you can add any type of bulb you like. You current loom has had the equivalent of a rat in the walls chewing
You can build your own loom, or get a pre-built one
For the indicators, sounds like your flasher unit is bad, that's all you need for flashing indicators. I got a £0.99 flasher relay from eBay, works great.
The info you guys have is awesome. I got the carb kits put on and it runs. Guess I need a new throttle cable. Doesn't re turn. Figure I will get a whole new throttle housing and all. So I got to ride it just a minute with the choke on. Definitely needs a new clutch cable. Also the right carb acts like the float is messed up. Pours fuel out the overflow. Gonna have to look back into it. New float also. Lastly the right side exhaust was smoking pretty good. May have just been oil residue. Including a picture of the ignition and the exhaust.
Played with it some more I got the throttle to work but it doesn't return in its on. Not sure why but no issue right now. The choke lever is all the way down to run if I pull it up it dies instantly but I haven't put any air filters on yet. Think that's why I can't run with the choke off? When it's in neutral I can rev up to around 7k slow go get there but it does get there. When I take off it has zero power. About 1200 rpm is all I can get without bogging it down. Think this will all be eliminated once I get airfilters?
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