Zircon 150cc won't start

[paul]

About a month ago, after about an hour and a half of driving with no issues, my Zircon 150cc lost all power and shut off. On first look, it appeared as though the tube from the front of the engine (around the valves I believe) came disconnected from the air filter. After replacing that, I could not get the engine to start. I replaced the air filter to carburetor hose because it was pretty chewed up. I then tried to check the spark plug but in the process of taking it out, I unscrewed the wire that connects to the head of the spark plug. I thought it was broken so I bought a new one from Amazon which did not make the problem go away. Also, the contacts on the stock ignition coil and the new one were on opposite sides, I do not think that has anything to do with the problem but it threw me for a loop. I replaced the old spark plug because it had a little wear and I wanted to eliminate the possibility of that being the problem. From there I replaced the fuel filter because the old one looked pretty dirty. I took off the carburetor, opened up the float chamber and used compressed air to clean out the float needle port to make sure it was not sticking. After putting everything back together(with no leftover parts) and reconnecting the hoses(I took pictures at the time to be sure of they were put back properly), the engine would still not catch. The engine would turn over but not respond to anything else. There was no difference in sound when using "Quick Start" spray and revving the gas pedal.

Today, I tried looking at the electrical system because I could tell gas was at least getting to the carburetor. I put jumper wires in the engine shut off switch and at the dashboard shutoff. Then, I tried doing a spark test and got nothing. I used a volt meter on the contacts to the ignition coil and at first got nothing and then after correctly plugging things in, got a volt reading of 170v and then slowly decreasing after the initial turning the key to start. I still had no spark after that. I tried to use the American Sportworks service manual to diagnose some of the electrical problems but I had trouble getting through it as a lot of the directions seemed unclear and really made no sense. At one point it says to only use one lead from the multimeter to test something on the cdi.

At this point, I am very confused. As of current, I get no spark and after removing the sparkplug and plugging the hole with a paper towel, I do not get gas from the carburetor to the cylinder. Are there any references I should look at or should I just take it to a professional?

[2SlickNick]

Nice to see you here too, LOL.

[scjeep4.7HO]

Start with the basics. fuel, air, spark, compression. Make sure no wires got pulled off and all grounds are good. Make sure batter terminal connections are clean and tight. Do a compression test if you have the tools. Check/Adjust the valves.

[paul]

I checked the ground wires tonight and they all were connected with no obvious breaks or disconnects. I looked for abrasions on the wire coating, slightly tugged each of the connectors and looked for shorts. I followed the ASW service manual guide for checking the generator and nothing seemed to be wrong. From a little bit of research it appears as though the problem might be the voltage rectifier. Should I try replacing it or test something else?

Also, I am getting gas to the cylinder now, I was able to actually observe it today.

[scjeep4.7HO]

Are you getting spark at the plug?

[paul]

Not as of current. But I'm not sure if that's a faulty component or if I damaged the coil switching them out because the cables came unscrewed and I think I may have messed them up reconnecting them.

[scjeep4.7HO]

Coils are usually pretty tough unless you do something crazy.They are basically just a bunch of copper windings. I would try and check the reristance/continuity of the coil to see if it is there. Check the wire for the firing trigger puickup sending the signal to the CDI to fire the plug.

[paul]

Ok tonight I used a voltmeter to check around the ignition coil. What I found was the coil contacts had power. When I took off the cable from the ignition coil and I used the little contact in there to test, I could not get a reading from the ground to contact. I could however get a reading from the ignition contact to the ground contact. I think there's a ground wire or something that is messed up. I looked over the ground wires and their contacts and found nothing worn, abraded or particularly dirty.