72 yamaha rd 200 not starting help!

[dentoncafe]

it was running awesome a couple days ago until i switched the lights on and it slowly died, i went throught the whole bike and cant find anything wrong.

I went through the carbs, checked all my lines, it is getting fuel i know this cause it slowly leaks everywhere, i checked the spar plugs, they are clean, i swapped the battery with a fresh new one. Used to be able to start on kick start easily, now it wont even sputter. what else am I missing?

 

[clem]

Electrical charging system. Directly correlated to your lights. They're a couple of gurus here that may lead you on a more direct path but you need to see if your getting voltage from the rectifier at the battery to start out.

 

[Redbird]

May have been coincidence that it died when the lights were turned on. A new battery should still fire it up even if the charging system is toast.
You mention the carbs leak. If they're flooding the motor, it'll be an absolute bitch to start. If they're not leaking into the motor, but leak onto the motor? Fix that immediately! That's a fire wanting/waiting to happen, and I'm sure you don't want a charcoal briquette for a bike
You didn't mention if you checked for spark or not. I'd do that next and go from there. Could be the points closed up or condenser went bad.

 

[dentoncafe]

i cant find any shorts in the system, however when i push the start button, a bit of white smoke comes from the generator, is this normal? also, i have spark in both plugs and still nothing, not even starter fluid works

 

[Redbird]

You shouldn't be getting any kind of smoke from the generator.
If you have spark, and the carbs leak, it's possible it's flooded. Try turning the fueltap off and pulling the plugs. Let it sit for a few hours, reinstall the plugs, and with the fueltap still off, try starting it.

 

[VonYinzer]

On the 200, the generator and starter are one piece and as Redbird stated... They should NOT be smoking. Install new plugs and check for spark.

 

[VonYinzer]

Oh... And it's pretty easy to screw timing up on the 200. If it's not just right, you'll never get it to run.