Its electrical...that much I know..

[3boysandacart]

Ok, you may remember me from a month or two ago when I had issues with a Crossfire 150R. I had thought I had fixed the issue with a new spark plug and race CDI. Apparently I was wrong. Now its starts fine and then will just shut off whenever it feels like. If I'm running hard, it starts backfiring and dies. I have checked and rechecked the valves and the carb. I've also checked compression and its good.

If I "jiggle" the whole wad of electrical harness when its running, it will immediately die. If its died and I need to restart it, I jiggle the harness. Now obviosly I have a loose connection right? well...after individually checking each wire when its running...I cant find it. No one wire seems to be the culprit. I'm at a loss and about to just start replacing wires and parts.

I can replace the harness, but what else can I replace that may be causing this problem.

I'm fairly close to insanity at this point...

[SLESTAK75]

There could be a short inside the wireloom. No easy way. Remove all the loom and examine all the wires for visible signs of corrosion or bare wires. Definitely sounds like wiring is causing a problem. Not sure if it will account for the backfire though.

[SYCARMS]

First good luck in finding a harness for your crossfire. You will need a volt ohm meter and test light with an abundance of patients. You already identified the problem being the wires. What you now need to find is if when the engine dies if 1) your loosing 12V supply 2) your loosing a ground or 3) you have a ground shorting the ign. You will need to strip the wires of all tape and jackets so as to inspect and trace each wire. Its not hard to find just takes time.

[Miamieddie]

A friend of mine had a similar problem so we used crazy glue on the wires that went into the harnesses only with the motor running. And all other wire connections we just made it tightly snugg. Hasent had problems yet. But make sure when glueing ur wires going into harness that your motor is running...Eddie.

[3boysandacart]

I did find a wire harness at **********.com. I think for $35 I'm going to try that as I stink with a volt/Olm meter. I have one but not sure how to go about singling out the wire at just the right moment when the engine dies.

Miamieddie, the crazy glue thing seems like a good idea too. I assume you mean that you put a few drops into the plastic connectors at each point where the wires went into the connector?

[Masteryota]

LOL, what you just did is whats known in the industry as a 'wiggle' test. Really, I'm not making it up. What you might try first is going through all of the connections looking for corrosion, dirt, water, or any other schmegma. Then, if you are handy with needle nose pliers, you can tweak all of your pins in each connector to ensure a good connection,and by tweak, I mean put a slight twist in all of the male sides, and close the gap just a little on the female sides. Be sure to clean the connectors well before reassembly, and get some dielectric grease from an auto part store, and apply some to all the plugs, that will keep 99% of the mud, dirt, and water out, but don't apply it directly to the pins, as it is not conductive. I would hate to see you drop $$ on a harness you might not need, and this will rule out connector issues.

[Miamieddie]

correct ;A dab will do don't put a lot and. A very smart thing to do wich my friend didn't do is to what masteryota mentioned above. Then glue it. Gluing is to keep ur connections from moving aand losing electrical contact only...Eddie.

[Masteryota]

I cringe at the thought of gluing connectors together, because as soon as you make something permanent that was not previously permanent, you will need to have that apart(see also- Murphy's Law). The idea behind tweaking all of the connections is to create a semi-interference fit inside the connector, resulting in a positive connection. If you decide to glue them together, please don't use super glue, you will have to literally cut or break the connector to get it apart.

[Miamieddie]

That's correct. Do not glue ur harness together with the other harness where they snap together. Glue only the wires that ar going into the holes of the harness.. if you glue the harness itself you wont be able to disconnect them in the future...Eddie.

[SYCARMS]

Just from the years I have been working on these Chinese products its been my experience that when you have a loose connector which pushes out when plugging connectors together the spades female or female have small tabs on them which during assembly get compressed and do not lock the spade into the plastic plug end. I do not recoment any gluing of the pins into the plug. What I will do once a positive lock has been made and after connecting the plugs to gether is I will clean the back side of the plugs and wires with electrical contact cleanner then using a silicone seallant seal the back sides of the plug to keep out moisture then spray the complete plug with silicone spray once a year to help the water not collect between the 2 plugins . From what 3boys described it could either be in the plugin, a corroded or shorted wire or bad ground. Unfortunately the only sollution is to T/S the problem by process of elimination or replace the harness. I've had customers call for harnesses for the Crossfire but I have not been able to find one. The crossfire was discontinued several years ago. Manufactures stock the parts but the harness is one part they don't stock many of. Kinroad stopped importing back in 2010. 2009 they came out with their new model buggy and uses a different harness then 2008 and prior. You cannot find a harness for the older models in the USA. I had my connection get me one from China on his last visit and he asked if I wanted to get a few since that harness is no longer produced. Some times you just have to get your witts together and with patients,a volt meter, and test light figure where the problem is and repair it. Trying to install a harness not for that vehicle is like installing a chevy harness in a toyota, well maybe not as bad but you get my drift especially if he has no experiance with wiring, tracing will be easier.

[Masteryota]

I agree Tom, if it comes down to it, he could actually remove the entire harness from the buggy, lay it out of the floor/bench and methodically remove all the tape, zip ties and corrugated sheathing, and then start manually tracing them out. I know first hand about harness woes as well, I once had a '92 toyota truck that someone put a 4runner engine and harness in, all was ok till you got to the trans harness, and guess what, they smashed the old truck harness when they dropped the engine on top of it. Long story short, wiring diagram in hand, I had to re-pin 4 connectors of 20 wires or more each, took about 6 hours to clean, mark, and install all of the wires in their proper places, not to mention all the brittle plastic.

[3boysandacart]

Update! I replaced the coil again as it seemed the last one was loose at the coil end. I also replaced the rectifier/stator. I did get a new harness from buggy depot and it looks correct but didnt install it because one of the two above fixes did the trick!

I can't say I found either part to be defective but it starts and runs great. Took it to Carolina Adventure World ATV park over the weekend and we rode for 5 hours without even a backfire. Once it runs...its a tough little buggy. Handled the trails really well. My 3 year old daughter even fell asleep in the passenger side while riding. Hysterical...

Thanks to all for your ideas and comments. You guys are great.

[bear]

We're just glad to hear that you're enjoying it again! thats always the most important part!!!

[SYCARMS]

Glad to hear the good news

[SLESTAK75]

Sweet. Now enjoy the fruits of yøur labor.

[Miamieddie]

Enjoy and be safe.

[zman007007]

its hammer time pedal to the metal