Hello I am new to this board and I am glad I found it. I have a old mini bike (70's era) my son got from his friend that recently move away. I dont know anything about these engines (tecumseh 4 hp) but my question is how do you turn off the mini bike engine if there no kill switch (I do see a wire coming from the engine that may of been hooked up to a kill swith or ground or something to that effect that turns the engine off I know its not the throttle becuase it hook up and ready to go so I am guessing this other wire may of been the kill switch this is where I am depending on you guys knowledge here to lead me to the right conculsion). I know this may seem like dumb question to all you mini bike and engine experts but I wanted to try to find out before we start this engine up. Everything elese on the bike looks to be functional but if you guys can help me out it would be appreciated.
How to turn off mini bike
- Thread starter mjohn14057
- Start date
- Tags bike mini turn
If you want to shutoff your engine without any wires you can always make a simple shutoff bracket. Just make sure you don't touch anything else with your hand besides that bracket. Also mak sure tou are wearing socks and shoes! :thumbsup:
Here is mine pictured on a 5 HP Tec
This is the ON Position
This is the OFF Position
*When turning off you may need to hold it to the spark plug for a couple of seconds*
Hope this helps
Here is mine pictured on a 5 HP Tec
This is the ON Position
This is the OFF Position
*When turning off you may need to hold it to the spark plug for a couple of seconds*
Hope this helps
Strigoi,
You bring up a great point. This set-up is not that safe when riding but could a guy buy a kill switch and hook it up to his engine and use both?:shrug: I don't mean to take over mjohn's thread (I should make my own) but my Tec has this..
To me this looks like a connection for a kill switch. Would I be able to hook up one wire on my kill switch to that male end and the other wire grounded to the frame? Thanks
You bring up a great point. This set-up is not that safe when riding but could a guy buy a kill switch and hook it up to his engine and use both?:shrug: I don't mean to take over mjohn's thread (I should make my own) but my Tec has this..
To me this looks like a connection for a kill switch. Would I be able to hook up one wire on my kill switch to that male end and the other wire grounded to the frame? Thanks
Strigoi,
You bring up a great point. This set-up is not that safe when riding but could a guy buy a kill switch and hook it up to his engine and use both?:shrug: I don't mean to take over mjohn's thread (I should make my own) but my Tec has this..
To me this looks like a connection for a kill switch. Would I be able to hook up one wire on my kill switch to that male end and the other wire grounded to the frame? Thanks
You bring up a great point. This set-up is not that safe when riding but could a guy buy a kill switch and hook it up to his engine and use both?:shrug: I don't mean to take over mjohn's thread (I should make my own) but my Tec has this..
To me this looks like a connection for a kill switch. Would I be able to hook up one wire on my kill switch to that male end and the other wire grounded to the frame? Thanks
It is a generally not considered good practice to kill the engine by removing the spark plug wire from the spark plug. The current stored must go somewhere and if it cannot jump to ground across the plug gap [per the design of the ignition system] it WILL jump some wheres inside the coil windings. Coil failure may not be immediate but the tiny 'carbon trail' that was produced in the coil will often get worse and at some point will prefer to arc in that location when the engine is under load or perhaps fail completely so that the engine will not even start.
I rode two of my minis this afternoon, and tried to see if I could actually manipulate that little toggle switch bolted to the top of the starter shroud. Seeing how I got a little yard rash a few weeks ago when my Coyote's throttle stuck wide open, I thought it would be a good idea. Even under normal riding conditions (engine not stuck wide open) on the Stellar, It was hard to locate the switch without looking. I still had to worry about touching the plug wire in the process. Yeah, I'm very afraid of getting shocked. I even did some practice sort of like drawing a pistol out of a holster. Tried to get the old muscle memory thing going. That did not work so well either. Next was a good work out on my Z50. Riding it was much safer due to the little pointer shaped kill switch right next to the throttle. I did not even have to move my hand to operate it. I also found out that using the choke to kill the engine is not as easy to do as I thought while riding. It also is no guarantee that you will kill the engine soon enough this way. While I have used this method many times, it did not build my confidence when the engine kept going for a little while after fully choking it. I guess my point it: for me, a handle bar mounted switch that does not have to be held or pushed down until the engine dies is the way to go. I'll be getting some more wire, and figuring out a way to mount a toggle switch within close reach of my grips. Sorry that was so long, just some observations.
I'm now going to put toggle kill switches on all my minis! :thumbsup:
I didn't know OldMiniBikes sells them..:drinkup:
OldMiniBikes.com - Discount & Replacement Mini Bike Parts
I find the fastest way to turn my minbike off is to let it catch me eyeing up another minibike, that seems to turn it off quick and makes it very difficult to get running again.
(takes alot of tinkering and fooling around and sometimes a shiny new part to get it playful again:shrug
(takes alot of tinkering and fooling around and sometimes a shiny new part to get it playful again:shrug