Modern Buddy

Was riding my roughhouse along and the engine just died abruptly as if someone turned the key to off position. This happened once before 6 months ago and at that time I took out and cleaned the spark plug and made sure the coil was on tight. It solved the problem. It was either a dirty plug or loose coil.

When it happened again this time 6 months later I figured it would be the same thing. Here’s where I’m at. Put in a new plug and tested for spark. I can see the blue arch during start which should mean I’m getting spark and since I’m getting spark I have ruled out a bad cdi and wiring harness which leaves one thing left. The stator. I’m pretty sure the problem is electrical because of the way it died abruptly without any metallic noises that would point to an engine issue. So if my stator is bad it would seem that my engine should still try or almost turn over right? After all it’s getting spark. Would an engine that gets spark not turn over with a bad stator?

Again ruled out the plug, coil, wiring harness and cdi and pretty sure it’s electrical due to how it died. When kick starting I can feel air and pressure coming from exhaust so it must have compression. Also has gas and air. I have the clear see through gas lines and can see gas getting to the engine. Also ruled out kill switch So that leaves the stator. Guess I could try putting a new one in.

Update;

Already tested spark and has spark and still think it should turn over or sound like it is with a bad stator.

Today I took off the carb and thoroughly cleaned it. Put it back on still nothing. So I have spark have gas which leads
To compression.

Took off the fan shroud and inspected the engine saw a little gap on the top part of the head I think is missing. I can see the rest of my head gasket on the lower part but see a gap up top. I’m talking about the paper one not the metal gasket up higher. So now I’m thinking I don’t have enough compression to kick over and might have a blown head gasket.

I just rebuilt and put a new top end on it about 3000 miles ago. Been running great until it died. One thing I remember while doing the rebuild was where the two cases of the bottom end mate together. The cyclinder head and gasket also go on top of these two pieces. The bottom was flush when running finger over it but the top was a little uneven when running finger over it. This is also the area I believe the head gasket fails, had some oily fuel looking residue nearby and a little gap between metal where you normally might see gasket.

So the next question what to do about that uneven area during the next rebuild and gasket replacement? I have heard never use rtv high temp sealant in combination with a gasket The only other idea I have would be to dremel the area to make it more flush when running a finger over it but that also worries me if removing to much and again gasket doesn’t seal or fails down the line. Kind of stumped about how to handle the uneven area where the two bottom end cases meet. It came like that from the factory.

Update; it was a failed c clip leading to compression issue. Saw it seated tight but wasn’t perfectly c shape Will need to get g clips next time around for the rebuild. Won’t rebuild next time unless perfectly c shaped and seated.