Using a OHM meter Have questions

[ccogswel]

Alright I need help and I know I may need to ask this in the other bike thread. So please forgive me for posting my question/questions here.

Ok I'm needing help using my OHM meter as I'm not really sure I'm getting the right readings. What I'm trying to do is check a stator/magnito on a chinese atv. I'm using this link http://forums.atvconnection.com/chin...-wire-cdi.html

Hope it works.
I've followed the directions listed for checking the ohm and voltage to the AC Ignition power from the stator/mag. Now this is where I'm needing help. On my meter I don't have a 100 ohm listed. But I do have a 200 ohm listed followed by 2k and so on. So I'm assuming I set my meter to the 200 ohm setting to take the ohm reading. But when I touch the probs as described I don't get a constant reading. It just flash's a number. One time it'll flash .60 or .135. It's just random numbers everytime I touch the pins in the connector. Nothing close to the 400 listed. AND! When I do the voltage test as described I set the meter to 200 volts. I don't have the 100 listed in the volts sections. Well either way with the meter set to 20 or 200 volt setting and I crank the engine all I get is like 1.5 at the first then it drops to -.5ish. I don't believe my meter is bad as I can check other things and it seems to read just fine. I'm assuming anyways. The reason I'm asking is as you can see I'm having a spark issue on the atv. I have bought a stator/mag and a new cdi and a new coil. And I still have no spark. And I compared the readings I'm getting from the new stator to my old stator and I get the same results. Now either I'm not using the correct settings on my meter to check both my stators or I bought a bad stator? Any help would be grateful. I've been beating my head on this thing for a couple weeks now and I'm at a loss.

[fredintoon]

Alright I need help and I know I may need to ask this in the other bike thread. So please forgive me for posting my question/questions here. - - -

Hi Chris,
the average multi-meter is only accurate to ~3% so if you are looking for a small number on a large range; like (say) 2 or 3 on a 200 scale you will not get a good reading.
Use the scale that's closest to the reading you want to check.
The classic "is this effin' thing charging?" test needs to see the difference between 12V (battery voltage) and 14+V (charging voltage) Using the 0 to 20V scale, you'll see that 2V difference.
Switch to the 0 to 250V scale, not so much.

[crazy steve]

http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread.php?t=35338

[ccogswel]

First off want to say thank you for the help. Steve the write ups you had helped out a lot! Thanks.

Found my problems. One I wasn't using the correct scale on my meter. The second the coil that was on the quad must have been replaced with a DC coil and not the AC coil that it calls for. Waiting on a new correct coil for it. Thanks again for the help.