[tony zambos]

Have you made certain that the engine is not stuck? I’m guessing that if the spark plug is removed and it’s in gear, you can turn the rear wheels. The piston maybe stuck or the gears in the transmission are damaged.

Another guess would be that the ground wire is either broken or loose. That would cause the motor to shut down and not restart.

I’m assuming that the starter is not spinning, so the bendix is not being pushed into the flywheel. Or is the starter spinning and the bendix no engaging? At this point you might want to bench test the starter motor. But can’t see how a starter would have stalled the engine. There is an interruption of electrical power to the engine while shifting. Don’t have any idea if the interruption includes power to the starter.

If you have a voltmeter, check the on/off and start switches.

[tony zambos]

Joe, thanks for expaining the how.

[tony zambos]

Austin,

Unless you’re looking for a project, contact AIM. Both the service and repair turn around time is great. Call today to find out if it can be repaired by next weekend.

[tony zambos]

Joe,

Should be as easy as it looks. Look in the overhaul manual and you’ll it;s just the four screws that hold the stator in place. if you’re replacing the rotor as well, you’ll need a piston stop.

Wondering how you figured out that it was the stator breaking down without having swapped it out?

[tony zambos]

Hang in there and good luck

[tony zambos]

Matt,
Still beleive that borrowing another starter is your best bet to see if a starter is your problem. Having a spare starter is a good think to have. Have you ever tried running a jumper wire from the battery to the starter terminal?

No experience with the vibration plate. Bought our engine used and it didn’t have one. Don’t recall ever seeing one being used and I don’t think we had any more starter problems than anyone else.

[tony zambos]

Matt,
Glad you’re still having fun. What you need is a buddy with a working starter on his Leopard. Take the entire starter and bendix off of his engine and put it on yours. That’s only six screws.

If you plan to continue racing a Leopard, purchase another starter assembly. That’s a starter motor, bendix and supports brackets. At that point, swapping out a starter is quick work. Have done one on the starting grid before the green flag fell.

Have you ever moved your ground wire to the screw that runs into the starter motor? Figure #23 in the manual.

[tony zambos]

Tomas,
Welcome to karting and EKN. Start with finding local tracks and go out and watch them race. Better yet, if it’s a practice day, wonder around the pits and ask questions. The shifters will look impressive but you’re not going to have the skill set to jump into one of them right now. Look for well populated classes. That will make it easier to find answers. And just because you’ll see a large field in a race, that doesn’t mean they’re all the same class. Also find out what shops people are using.

This site and it’s older version (EKN Classsic) have search functions that will allow you to do research. Or fire away here. Good luck and have fun.

[tony zambos]

Have you tried using Chrome? I’ve had some problems with other sites with IE9 and that’s the latest version I can use with my operating system.

[tony zambos]

Sean,
Never had cracks or leaks in any battery. The cheaper ones just couldn’t turn the motor over after a few sessions. I’m not an electrical engineer or battery expert, but I’ll guess that the cheap ones were not designed to be laid on their sides and submitted to the vibrations associated with a kart. Either the plates within the battery are breaking or the isolators between the plates are disintegrating. So you are correct. It is a vibration problem, but only for a battery that wasn’t designed for those loads. The better batteries probably have stronger plates and isolators. That’s the reason for the higher cost.

[tony zambos]

Yep! That was fun. To Dave and his crew, thanks.

No one has commented on the improvements to the track amenities. That was a surprise. The track weeping after a hard rain, not a surprise.

[tony zambos]

Joe,
You might have gotten away with not having it. A new float arm was your best option unless you were at the track, couldn’t find a spare and you needed to get on the track. Depending where you race, the tech guy could have DQ’d you for having a modified part in the carb. If you can, purchase or borrow the new float arm Go/No Go tech tool to be sure your float arms are legal.

[tony zambos]

Follow Bub’s advice and buy a new one, plus a spare. You shouldn’t have been bending that tab to adjust the float heights. Never bend the arms. The tab that’s 90 degrees to the tab you broke off is the one you want to bend slightly. That is the tab that rest on the needle valve.

[tony zambos]

Nice job on both John’s and Patrick’s parts.

[tony zambos]

Steve,
Hopefully this thread will catch John’s eye. Know his email was hatched into earlier in the year and he couldn’t/wouldn’t respone. But I believe that has been resolved.

[tony zambos]

Steve,
now that I have a real computer to work with, this is the link to the FAQ page of Jet Tech.
http://www.rotaxjetting.com/FAQ.htm#Transfer

or even better. http://www.rotaxjetting.com/LicenseTransfer.htm

[tony zambos]

Go to the Jet Tech web site and there are instructions on how to transfer the software to another pc. Should not require any luck at all.

[tony zambos]

Minimun of 12. 12.8 volts would be better.

A couple of things to remember. The Rotax is a total depletion electrical system, meaning the engine will drain the battery until it doesn’t run. If the battery charges back up to 12v quickly after being drained to the point where the engine doesn’t would indicate a bad battery.

[tony zambos]

Sean,
Unless your local kart shop puts these batteries on their own karts, I’d be suspicious. Neither the battery to start an R/C plane, or the one to power the onboard electronics and servos, IMO won’t last on a kart. I’ve read the some people have good luck with cheapie batteries, but I haven’t. Bought three from a national battery retail shop and none of them lasted. Most of those types of batteries are for emergency lights. Think they were all 12v, 7.2 Ah. Purchased a 12v, 9Ah from Russell and never had another battery problem. The only caveat is the price. Russell is asking 88 bucks for the battery, but I think it’s worth it.

[tony zambos]

Avi,
A few light scratches may have resulted from debris. Contact between the rotor and stator could cause a timing issue or no spark. They are generating timing or clock pulses to the ignition system. From what I’ve seen, the rotor and stator are sold as a set which makes me believe that they are a matched. But that theory could be all wrong.
That’s a good idea to have Norm compare his resistance reading with yours.

[tony zambos]

Norm,

Just a thought, since again you’ve done the logical replacements. Do have any wobble in the crank shaft that would cause the rotor to contact the stator?

[tony zambos]

The question was to rule out the possibility that fuel was not getting into the motor. If you cranked the motor for some time, there should have been plenty of fuel in the cylinder, hence a wet plug. Also, if you cranked it for awhile, pulled the plug and cranked the engine again, you should have had a mist out of the plug hole.
Your troubleshooting for an electrical problem seems to be spot on.

Good Luck.

[tony zambos]

Avi,
When you pulled the orginal plug out, was it wet?

[tony zambos]

Pull the carb and empty out the fuel. Put a peice of hose on the fuel inlet and blow into it. Air should flow. Now, turn the carb up-side-down. You shouldn’t be able to blow into the carb if the needle valve is workiing. Make sure the floats are at the proper height and the floats are not filling up with fuel and sinking.
Check that the floats are in the proper way. With no fuel in the carb, shake the carb up and down. You should be able to hear the floats rattle.

[tony zambos]

Matt,
You’re running out of electrical stuff to replace. Appears that only ignition switch and the fuse are left. To eliminate the starter, remove the starter and battery and place them on your work bench. Connect the negative of the battery to the case of the starter. Quickly tap the positive to the starter lead. NOTE: If starter is not secured, it will try to leave the workbench.
Another item to try is to check for 12v to the starter. Use the ground lead of your voltmeter to the engine case. Unscrew the lead to the starter at the starter and connect to the positive of the voltmeter. With the ignition switch in STOP, there should be no voltage. In KEY, no voltage. In the RUN position there should be 12 volts.
The link below is to a page that has a link to download the 09 manual. The end of the manual has the procedure for rebuilding the starter, including the spots for the silicon.

http://italianmotorsusa.myshopify.com/products/used-leopard-my09-packages

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