Inherited Chinese ATV

I recently inherited a Chinese ATV from my brother in law who kindly asked me to "please take this piece of *** out of my garage". He told me he bought it new and rode it once for about 30 minutes and it died. I got it home and I was able to get it running but I have no clue as to who manufactured it or what size it is. I looked for some kind of id plate but am unable to find one. Does anyone have any ideas?  

sell it. you dont wanna keep it, chances are you wont even be able to pronounce the companies name. i wouldnt waste your time.  
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2005 honda trx450 golden west graphics, hot cam, high compression piston, hmf exhaust, nerf bars,works shocks, golden west seat cover, one industries bars, and more

Thanks for the reply however, if anyone can help me I'd the atv I would appreciate the info.  

is there any way you could show us a picture? i might be able to tell you then. otherwise, check the engine case itself for any names or numbers.  
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2005 honda trx450 golden west graphics, hot cam, high compression piston, hmf exhaust, nerf bars,works shocks, golden west seat cover, one industries bars, and more

I found the numbers - 171MMXZ153947 - Located on the lower case on the left hand side.  

Ok, after much research I think I have identified my new problem child as a Tao Tao ATA250E, however I am not sure about the "E". Anyway I can't get it to start. First of all I would like to say thanks for this forum. Had I not read all of the articles, especially the one about the fish oil, I would have made some major health threatening mistakes. I spent all day Fri and Sat going over the fasteners, frame and engine, the wiring and oil. At this point I believe I am ready to ride but cannot get the bike to start. I made sure the battery was charged and took it to a battery shop to make sure it was good with a load. The battery shop gave me the thumbs up. Got home and installed it. I made sure the brake was set, the safety switch above the start switch is in the middle and pushed in. I turned the key and the lights come on but when I try to start it the solenoid clicks but the starter does nothing. I put a multimeter between the starter power wire and the starter ground and when the started switch is depressed the voltage drops to 3 to 4 volts and the red wire from the battery will get smoking hot if I continue to try to start it. I measured the solenoid and across the two big terminals it's open. Across the two connector terminals it measures 4.3 ohms. I removed the starter and checked the inside and found it clean and the brushes look to be in brand new condition. I connected the starter directly to the battery and it worked like I think it should. Put it all back together with no change. Any ideas???  

sounds like engine is locked up,try turning over manually with plugs removed.If engine seems free, you'l need to test the starter under a load..good luck!  

the e just means it is electric start. and before you go looking at the engine test ALL electrical. put a screw driver across the two main poles of the solenoid with the key on, if it turns over then either your solenoid is going bad or you have a short or melted wires somewhere between the solenoid and the starter. good luck and keep us informed!  
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2005 honda trx450 golden west graphics, hot cam, high compression piston, hmf exhaust, nerf bars,works shocks, golden west seat cover, one industries bars, and more

Checked for burned wires and found none. Used a screwdriver between the big poles on the solenoid and it turned over a few times then nothing however it still clicks. Bad solenoid??  

All the solenoid does is short those two big posts together when the start button is pushed, just like you did with your screwdriver.  So normally I'd say the solenoid is fine since your quad still isn't acting different.  But the "click" shouldn't be happening when you short the two posts together.  The click comes from the 4.3 ohm coil inside magnetically sucking down a plate across the two posts, and that should happen only when the ignition is on and the start button is pushed.  Are you sure the "click" is coming from inside the solenoid and not from either the starter motor or the sparks from the screwdriver?

You also said earlier that the heavy wire from the battery gets smoking hot.  What about the wire from the solenoid to the starter?  Does it get equally hot?  They are the same gauge wire and are wired in series, so they should dissipate the same amount of power per foot and be equally hot.  What I'm wondering is if the solenoid has an internal short to ground on the starter post side.  If so then the current from the battery will be shunted to ground at the solenoid, and then only the heavy wire from the battery to the solenoid will get hot.  

You could always try using a set of jumper cables to connect the battery directly to the starter.  To eliminate any shorts in the solenoid disconnect the wire at the starter first before jumping the starter to the battery.

If jumping the battery directly to the starter motor doen't help then you're back to frozen engine or a starter that fails under load.  

When you say "Jump directly to the starter" do you mean with it on the bike? Because I already tested the starter alone that way. The wire from the starter also gets equally hot. Also, there was no click when I used the screwdriver, I miss spoke. When I use the start switch that is all that happens. I think we can look past the siezed motor scenario as the motor will turn over. If this works and the bike starts then I am back to the bad solenoid right?  

savannahkid:
When you say "Jump directly to the starter" do you mean with it on the bike? Because I already tested the starter alone that way. The wire from the starter also gets equally hot. Also, there was no click when I used the screwdriver, I miss spoke. When I use the start switch that is all that happens. I think we can look past the siezed motor scenario as the motor will turn over. If this works and the bike starts then I am back to the bad solenoid right?

Yes, use the cables to jump directly to the starter on the bike.  It is worth doing just to verify that there is no other problem between the battery and the starter, but based on your test results so far I expect you will find the starter still doesn't turn.  But verify it - battery plus goes to starter terminal, battery minus to starter frame.  You can also jump it to your car battery which would eliminate the battery as a problem.  Once again your tests so far indicate your battery isn't the problem (i.e. wires get hot).  It is still worth verifying just to see that differents tests all lead to the same conclusions.  But be careful when jumping to your car battery.  It can put out 1000 amps into a short circuit while your quad battery can only muster 150 amps or so.  Your starter normally will only draw 50 amps, but your starter may have an internal short.  Hook it to the car battery for no more than 1/2 second.  If it cranks then leave it longer, but if it doesn't then disconnect it immediately.

Note the above tests bypass the solenoid completely.  So if the starter isn't turning then the solenoid is not the problem.

I'm not sure that a siezed motor is out of the picture simply because the starter turns a little bit.  Parts could really be dragging inside which would cause the starter to run really slow and draw lots of current.  I'd remove the side covers and turn the engine with a wrench to see if it is siezed.  If you pull out the spark plug then the compression goes to zero and you can get a better feel on how much drag there is.

If your engine turns freely and jumping to the starter directly doesn't make the starter turn fast then your starter is just bad.  

Cool,,I will try the bike battery first, but I will also try the car battery just to eliminate that half of the system all together. I will let you know what happens. Thanks again.  

Well, I think I found the problem. I performed the suggested tests and the starter turned but the engine didn't. OMG!!! I removed the starter and the side cover and  found the little pin on the shaft that aligns the planetary (don't know how to describe them) gears between the starter and the motor was broken and the gears had moved off of the main gear. I guess I can take pics if my description is too confusing.  

in other words. the gear that the starter turns to cause the engine to turn is broken?  
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2005 honda trx450 golden west graphics, hot cam, high compression piston, hmf exhaust, nerf bars,works shocks, golden west seat cover, one industries bars, and more