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Am I getting ripped off on my Mojave repair?

I bought a 1990 kawasaki mojave that was in overall good condition, it just wouldnt start. Brought it to a guy to fix it....he told me that the parts (spark plug, ignition coil, ignition module) came out to be $260, and he wants $200 for labor. I looked up the parts online, and I can't even find an ignition module for a 90' mojave. Is anyone familiar with this ATV to the point they can tell me if I am getting ripped off?

What I see here is a mechanic that doesn't quite know what he's doing. If he's reading this and I've offended him, then that's just tough. And i get this sneaking suspicion that after plug, coil and igniter was all replaced, it still wouldn't start. But I guess I can't be too hard on him because there's plenty of very good mechanics that know very little about electricity and ignition system, other than to start replacing expensive parts if it doesn't work.

Apparently he has narrowed the problem down to no spark, which means at least he isn't a complete idiot. Spark plugs are cheap and therefore it's always a good thing to replace the old plug, even if it runs ok and is just in for a general tune up. For test purposes, ignition coils can be made to function independently of everything else with nothing more than a couple pieces of wire and the battery. That said, he should be able to determine if the coil is good or bad, period. If the thing was running and was having high rpm or heavy load misfires but ran fine otherwise, then yes, the coil could be on its way out. But those coils will still start and run the engine.

The igniter can be tested as well. If he has a Kawasaki shop manual, it will tell him how to. They can be tested either on the machine while powered up or tested on a workbench using a multimeter. I've opened up and repaired faulty electrical components in several Kaw igniters, so I know what I'm talking about. So, the igniter should either work or not work.

The odds of both the ignition coil and the igniter failing at the same time is astronomical, unless the machine burns up in a fire or gets run over by a freight train.

The reason I said earlier that I figured he'd replace the parts and it still wouldn't run is because he totally ignored the third electrical component of the ignition system, the magnetic pickup coil. This is the thing that replaced the points on old engines. It can be tested with a multimeter, but you can sometimes get false "good" readings on a bad pickup coil. However, it can be tested on the machine by energizing the ignition system (turning on the key) and tapping the center of the coil with a ferrous object like a small screwdriver, which will make the plug fire if the coil is good. This is another one of those components that many mechanics miss because they have no understanding of how the system works. The pickups will fail and I've had several fail over the years on my Kaws.

Now do you understand why I'm so cynical and probably coming across as a smarta$$? Other than the spark plug, the mechanic totally missed or ignored the component most likely to fail on a Kawasaki (talking from experience here). So to answer your question, yes you are or would be getting ripped off. Ask the mechanic how he determined that both the ignition coil and igniter are bad? And if he says "no spark", that's a lame answer meaning he knows nothing. And then ask him if he checked the magnetic pickup? And if he gives you some jive explaination about how someone probably jump started it but reversed the cable leads and fried things, remind him that ignition coils don't care about polarity and therefore it wouldn't have been damaged. And that pickups are not electrically powered by the ignition system, but rather generate their own current through induction (bet he doesn't know what that term means), so it would not have been damaged either. The igniter is the only thing that may get fried, but most have diodes internally to protect them from such things. Good luck.

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