• Husqvarna Motorcycles Made In Sweden - About 1988 and older

  • Hi everyone,

    As you all know, Coffee (Dean) passed away a couple of years ago. I am Dean's ex-wife's husband and happen to have spent my career in tech. Over the years, I occasionally helped Dean with various tech issues.

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    Thanks for your patience and support!

Wiring Issues 1986 400

Hey ya'll, I'll admit it right now that I'm a little out of my depth here. Recently bought myself a 1986 400 wr that is (was) in decent shape. I loved riding around on it for the week I had it running.

I ran out of fuel on my way home and the gas station didn't have any 2 smoker oil. Seeing as I was only half a mile away I risked it (and screwed myself probably.) Long short after it died I panicked and took everything off the top down to the spark plug. The plug looks fine but they're cheap so I'll buy a new one anyways. The carb didn't seem to have any scarring when I took the bottom off so I'm assuming I'm good there too. I did fuck up and forget which and where the wires plug in though which is the most embarrassing thing and I can't figure out if it's my incorrect wiring or a deeper issue keeping my bike from restarting. It has compression but the kicker itself does seem to slip sometimes.

Would somebody mind posting up a picture of the proper wiring all the way from the voltage regulator to the killswitch? I mean It would be really hard to get the killer wrong but I like to be thorough. I've been trying to kick the thing for the past two days (with the proper premix) and brand new gear oil and everything.

Please help out, I pulled a dumb young kid move and made this my only mode of transport and ubering to work and back literally costs me a third of the day I work.
 

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The larger red boot has 2 wires, 1 is for the kill switch
Put booth boots on coil and it should start.


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Blue goes to the kill switch, grounding it makes the spark go away plug onto the blade the correct size.
Yellow goes to a voltage regulator thing half the size of a pack of cigarettes looks like that is taped off
Black goes to the blade that it fits by size.
As mentioned the coil thing needs to be attached to the frame.

Look for spark with the plug resting against the cylinder head or convenient metal.

You did not put any oil in at all? Not even car oil?

Might have smeared enough piston material to get the ring stuck. Often can be carefully freed and scratched back to free ring. Depending.
 
Do I plug the regulator into the single or double sided plug of the magneto? The ignition coil and the light wiring need to be on the double pronged side together right? I rode it for 1 minute without any oil in it very slowly.
 
I do not know whether these things are magnetos or alternators or if the term is interchangeable. The yellow wire from the stator goes to the thing I am calling a regulator,(not the coil) it is probably 12 volt ac and from there will go to whatever light or lights there are. If you do not use it it will not bother you as it appears taped off. It looks like the wires from a Motoplat mini6 (xc most likely in most cases) there are two yellow wires for the sem (wr generally)

The plug wire in the picture in post 1 really goes into that red coil thing? It is not apparent in the picture. The blue wire looks to me like it has been shortened as it does not appear long enough to reach the kill switch.
 
Clean the coil and the place it mounts to then bolt it to the frame. Put the red plug with two blue wires on the large terminal on the coil. Put the small red plug with the black wire on the other small terminal on the coil. Tape the yellow wire for now. Pull the plug and attach the spark plug wire to it. Place the spark plug against the head or a clean spot on the motor or frame and kick the kick start lever while watching the spark plug. Do it in the dark if you can. If you get a spark you are on your way, if not we want to know. Chris
 
So I made sure I wired it the way ya'll are saying, I believe I'm good there now so thanks. But I decided to go ahead and take a look at the motor deeper while I couldn't sleep tonight and when I took the exhaust off a pretty decent amount of very black oil spilled out. I'm assuming there's always going to be a little bit of blow by in a bike this old but this was more than a little. From what I've read in the past 10 minutes I think checking the float would be a good place to start right? Or should I skip the small stuff and check the top end first?
 
Also it might sound cheap of me but seeing as I'm broke I don't feel all that bad asking. Can I use the same o-rings and misc. parts from a honda or yamaha bike that has the same or close to the same motor? It would be faster for me to shop around for parts locally.
 
A lot of fuel in the exhaust from kicking it 1000 times is normal. Get the manual for the bike BEFORE you take it apart. It has the carb set up procedure and a trouble shooting tree. Some one will chime in with the link. Please use the correct orings and gaskets. It may not be convenient but it will be permanent.
 
I searched all night and found a place that sells the proper stuff, so I'm good there. I've downloaded shop manuals and owners manuals and been researching it all night. Took the left side of the crankshaft off last night because the kicker felt loose and low and behold the gasket quite literally had disintigrated so I'm getting a new one of those too.

Also I misread one of your earlier recomendations. Are you saying that (in essence) I might be able to clean the area around the ring to free it up so I don't have to spend more money right now?

I fully intend on getting the whe motor rebuilt as soon as I can afford it but I'm looking for a quick fix right now until I have more funds.
 
You are in general looking to get a spark first.

Second the issue of the lower end being saturated as mentioned above.

If the problem is low compression I did suggest carefully removing the ring and scraping out the groove it goes into should you find the ring stuck in one spot. I have had iron cylinder four strokes seize, they cease to be frozen when they cool and start up but the repair described has been performed. I have been witness to doing such on a chainsaw and have found such stuck ring on one 360 Husqvarna bike but it did run until the ignition stuff loosened up and self destructed. I changed engines on that one but consider that top end usable, I eventually got a used ignition assembly and might even go modern ignition on it with a system with advance. One never knows what the previous owner or their hired mechanic has done.

You probably took the clutch cover off not the left side of the crankshaft.

I am not a real fan of the 85-86, check the rear of the engine and the holes in the frame at that point before you do something like buying a new piston and a bore job. The head gasket used to be $20 and a 400 is a kind of specific size, if you can get the cylinder head assembly off as a unit I would suggest that shuld you find a need to inspect the cylinder/piston. Use a new base gasket. I have cut out a home made clutch cover gasket years ago when I had the financial mindset you have. Grips, chain, maybe a little roller for the chain is about all I can think of at the local bike shop generally one needs a card and the phone or find a point and click parts source. Where is your location? It is not a commuter vehicle it is a competition machine for the original owner to go out and attempt to win trophies.
 
Well I just bit the bullet and I found a professional to come take a look at it for a good price. I'm not going to risk breaking it due to ignorance on my part. I understand the vehicle isn't designed for commuting really but I do have to get up to 50-55 for half my way to work every day here in Auburn but I did want to maintain the ability to go screw around on the fields if I wanted to. This is one tough bike from what I can tell and that's all I ask for. I did't want a really fast bike because I know myself too well. Ricky Bobby mentality.
 
Also it might sound cheap of me but seeing as I'm broke I don't feel all that bad asking. Can I use the same o-rings and misc. parts from a honda or yamaha bike that has the same or close to the same motor? It would be faster for me to shop around for parts locally.

need to get rid of the husqvarna if this is the case..in all seriousness. way easier to find and source everything for a different type of bike.

in any type of two stroke, the rod and main bearings suffer first when there is no oil in the fuel..its almost guaranteed yours are now damaged, possibly severely. they usually last over 400 hours of non race action in these engines, sometimes longer. how long would you run your car with all the oil drained out overnight? thats exactly what happens to a two stroke with no oil.

you will hopefully not find out the hard way...these bikes need treating a certain way to be rewareded with good durability and never ending torque. band aiding things together when you dont really know whats going on will always result in more things being broke than what was originally wrong, sometimes really ruining expensive hard to find parts. been there, got the patch a long time ago.
 
need to get rid of the husqvarna if this is the case..in all seriousness. way easier to find and source everything for a different type of bike.

in any type of two stroke, the rod and main bearings suffer first when there is no oil in the fuel..its almost guaranteed yours are now damaged, possibly severely. they usually last over 400 hours of non race action in these engines, sometimes longer. how long would you run your car with all the oil drained out overnight? thats exactly what happens to a two stroke with no oil.

.

I agree with the first paragraph

I respectfully disagree with the second. I think friction at the piston/cylinder stops rotation in a straight gas or run out of injector oil scenario.

If he does take or get the thing taken apart I am curious what half a mile of straight gas going real easy makes the insides of a 430 look like.
 
Status update. The piston and cylinder are actually still in good shape. I am in need of a rebuild kit for the rest of the top end though. Seeing as the cylinder and piston can be saved I am much less scared and much more able to afford the repair at this time.

I appreciate the honesty but look at it this way, I bought the damn thing for 400 bucks. I will use it to commute for the time being but I do take a dirt road half the way. I live in Winder GA.
 
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