Help with an electrical problem

[killermrob83]

Checked almost every possibility in the downloadable pdf manual for a Spree ('85 NQ50 with 12/84 build date) that won't start, but to no avail. This is all good because I think a mechanic should be intimate with the workings of their machine; at least now I know the condition of all the parts after tearing everything down.

Must have been scratching my head hard enough that I hit some gray matter and an idea came to me. I checked for power going to the auto bystarter and found none. IMO, this is a step that should be included in the troubleshooting section (NEVER assume anything!). As soon as I ran jumper wires from the battery to the auto bystarter, she fired right up and runs like new.

Why am I not getting power at the bystarter connection? I tried looking through the diagrams in the pdf, but they are not easy to read through because they are split up between pages and the diagrams are positioned differently from page to page. Can someone send me some better (full view on the same page) diagrams? Has anyone had this issue before, and if so, what do I look for? I'd rather not remove the entire wiring harness and pull all of the tape to figure this out. Also, according to the manual, there is supposed to be a 5 ohm resistor somewhere mounted to the frame, but for the life of me I could not locate one. Does this model have that resistor? Thank you for your time and consideration. Rob

PS Is it possible to set up email notifications for replies to a post? I looked through the user control panel and did not see that feature, but may have missed it somehow. I am a member of several other forums and the feature is easily identifiable in the control panel section of those forums. Thanks again for all of the assistance.

[Johnniespeed]

If you look at your owners manual section 15-1 you can clearly see that the power going to the bystarter comes directly from the lighting coil of what they call the alternator. That means that when the engine is not running there will be no voltage going to the bystarter heater.
The bystarter requires no voltage to be in the "start" position, since temperature activates it, once the engine is running the "alternator" provides voltage to the bystarter heater, heating it's element and causing the bystarter to move to the "run" position. The bystarter provides additional fuel ( and air on some models) when it is cold and becomes heated when power is added. When the bystarter is hot, the fuel enrichment does not operate.
The resistor is bolted to the frame in the rear and is the terminating ground for the bystarter.

[killermrob83]

I checked for power while cranking the engine (figured there wouldn't be any voltage with the key in the run position) and got none. Obviously, from what you're telling me, there shouldn't be any power at that point in time (until the engine is up and running), which leads to another question. Why won't this thing start unless I jumper power to the bystarter leads?