so heres the problem, ive had trouble with the ignition before and it turned out to be the cdi box that was the issue. I got a brand new hot shots cdi box installed it and the spark was great, screwed everything on and got about half a kilometer when it died......walked it home and checked, yup it has a very very weak spark almost not niticable

i checked with the old cdi box which had a better spark so its the cdi that has failed again &%$#@!! have i gotten a bad example or is there another problem thats making it eat cdi boxes?

<p>Don't know. I also don't know what electrically would cause a bike to
eat CDIs. They still work so maybe it's a problem with the Stator and
the red/black wire that runs to the loom and I assume CDI. Get the Stator
side case off and run the eyeometer over the wires that come from the Stator
to the loom,,red/black being the main focus..Check for any sort of weak
looking connection or break. You might need to cut back a bit of the sort
of shrink wrap and or the outer plastic covering for a proper look.
I do not mean you cut the plastic that covers the actual wire,,just sheathing.
Can't see anything then I guess it may be the CDI is faulty or the Stators ignition side is
faulty or needs a rewind. Just lean the bike over towards the right
and the oil won't leak out,,may need a new gasket once you're done or some more sealant
on the current one.Stator really needs to come out of the cover for proper inspection and major attention
focuses on the area where the wires run through the rubber grommet on the case and say the 6 inches of wiring either side of it.

Horri, on 10 February 2012 - 11:53 AM, said:

The stator and ignition coil is brand new and eveything is bolted on the right way. its just feels weird that i only got half a kilometer before the new cdi box failed.
worth noting is that it died after i let of after full throttle when it died =/

<p>Yep,,Well I don't know really. Send it back or get another cheap new
one from Ebay. Some there brand new for $35.00 US.,Shipping the things
to the likes of you or I is the problem. $35.00 US to get one sent to NZ
,,1 cent more than the cost of the product
Imagine how many I could get in a suitcase or carryon bag,,Robbed blind we are.

Sounds like the CDI has an intermittant type fault and managed to 'escape' the factory QA.
You might try hitting it hard to coax it to work.
Not sure about the quality of these units

I seem to recall somebody posting with a similar problem on a XR650L ... it ended up being a bad main ground.

thanks for your answers guys, i have ordered a new hot shots cdi box from ebay as i did before and i will double check the ground again. PS. where is the ground for the ignition? its just the one on the ignition coil and the other 2 near the cdi box is for the lights and stuff right? worth noting is that the cdi box was damaged on the backside and there was a flap open. it stood F1 on the box which could possibly mean false and it got sent anyway? weird..

I don't know what a "Hotshots CDI" looks like. I'd have simply used one of these on the 600 and altered the wiring to it to suit. They are a supposed "Hot" CDI which gives you a better rev range or some such thing. In truth I don't think there's anything "Hot" about the things..there just a CDI from the 250/350/500 that does the same thing.There's a pin schematic on that page if you want to know where ground is.

http://www.ebay.com/...ssories&vxp=mtr

Actually edit;;,,They may be a specifically designed hot item for the bikes listed but they are also hot for the 600..as XR/XL250/500 CDIs always have been. Below's a normal or supposed high performance 600 CDI from the same place.


http://www.ebay.com/...9cd756472#rpdId

http://www.ebay.com/...=item1c23cada98


I'll just add I've bitten the bullet and purchased one of these for the XR600..It's on its way so I'll report back on how it goes in the 89 when it turns up. About time I had a new one as all the CDIs I've been using are previously used items. Engine currently has a habit of just cutting out when idling for some unknown reason. This will eliminate the CDI as being part of that problem. Normally happens after about a minute to say 3 minute interval of idling when the bikes warmed up properly .Starts up again fine after the cut out ,,just darn annoying when you're sitting at lights or something.

problem fixed! got another new cdi (hot shots cdi) and 4 days later everything still works fine, i plugged in all the electric stuff including the lights which i didnt do last time. either it was just a bad new cdi box or maybe it wa because i didnt plug in the wiring to the lights which ended in some overload on the cdi box

Horri, on 13 February 2012 - 11:34 AM, said:

Don't buy that type for the 600,,Won't work,,Got one and it's no go in the 600.

Get the 600 one from the same guy..I've ordered one and it's on it's way.

My error thinking that'd work..What I can't understand is I've run XL/XR500 CDIs in my 600s before
and they've worked..His doesn't for some reason even though it's stated to work in an XL500...
Whoops,,XR500,,same thing anyway.
Plug fitment and wirings the same apart from a few wire colour variations but she's a non runner in the 600..
Dunno what's going on with that..