1997 GTI, little/no spark

[Mr Mufakka]

I've got a 1997 GTI. Ran great when I put it up last season. Got it out, put a new battery in it and it turns over great but it won't fire. I've pulled the plugs and the is a spark from the rear plug although it appears to be real light. As for the front plug, there is no spark. I'm the original owner so I know the history. It's been garage kept and well maintained it's entire life. I've open up the black box that the battery cable goes into and the spark plugs come out of (forgive me but I'm not sure what this box is referred to as) and everything in there looks new. No corrosion, moisture, loose connections.

Any ideas?

 

[timmyboy76]

check the ground cable for corroded/broken ends and clean the terminals and where they attach to, before spend'n money..

 

[cbjrumble]

Heard rumors you can cut the coils 1/4 of an inch to increase spark.

1/4" from the boot.

 

[Mr Mufakka]

Alright, this morning I pulled the wires out of the boots and trimmed aobut 1/4" from both of them. Resinstalled them into the boots and now I have a good spark coming from both plugs. However, the engine still isn't firing. Could it be flooded? The plugs seem a bit wet when I take them back out. Any thoughts? I thought about leaving the plugs out of the motor and maybe even spraying in a touch of brake cleaner to try and dry things up in there. But that might not even be it.

The carb was rebuilt last season. Brand new battery was put in yesterday.

 

[timmyboy76]

you run'n choke on, while firing? Poor cup of gas down plug holes, then fire, without pull'n choke.

 

[Mr Mufakka]

Poured a bit of gas into each cylinder. Fired right up... then quit. Repeated the process and again fired up but then quit.

Gas switch is in the on position. hmmm...

 

[robatoocc]

Have you changed your fuel lines yet or has the previous owner? If not your probably looking at the infamous crappy oem lines dissolving into your gas. If thats the case you are probably looking at a carb rebuild. Before you go and tear down your carbs take out both plugs and dry them. Throw them back in and turn the ski over a few times. Pull the plugs and see if they are wet. While they are out check the gaps should be around .23. If they are not wet you know its a fuel problem. If they are wet I would then proceed to the good old compression test. 2 strokes only need fuel, spark, and compression to run. Unless your timing is WAY off it should still run/sputter on its own.

 

[timmyboy76]

make sure, battery is good..have load tested at auto store..then, hit start button, no choke, and that should get system primed and fired. Might need to go thru carbs and clean'em.

 

[Mr Mufakka]

So on closer inspection of the gas tank (my gas gauge is experiencing the common broken blues), I realized I had next to no gas in the tank. Being 12 years old, the tank has yellowed quite a bit and is hard to see the gas level inside.

Long story longer, I filled it with gas and it fired up on the second try. At least it should run a bit better now that I have better sparks!

Thanks for the help and hopefully I've gotten the idiot out of my system.