i started working on my wiring problems on my 96 sportsman 400 4x4 i got a few bugs worked out but i came across a brown wire on the left side that has 2 places to conect it to somewheere but i dont see anywhere that it could go any help would be appreciated

 

Brown is always ground on Polaris and depending on model you will have an extra ground or red/white (powered when the key switch is on) The main grounding area is at the bottom of the coil mounting bolt. You will see all the other ground wires. You can tie the eyelet in and just leave the bullet plug loose if you just want to tidy it up a bit. This looks like it came from the stator wiring?? Was anything recently replaced? OPT

 

the machine is new to me so im not sure whats been replaced i would assume not much by the look of things the plug at the end isnt a bullet plug its like a speaker type plug im trying to get lights an fan to work thanks for the help

 

alot of the bikes have an extra ground like that on yours. just helps when you add other items to it if you need an extra ground. just check the light switch to trace power to the lights to see if theres power. should be just a basic hot and ground wire w/ the switch being on and on and high. you need to make sure the temp sensor is working so it will send power out to the fan to work.

 

how can i check the temp sensor i checked the fan an it works its a lil tough to get to the wires i cant tear it all the way down yet as i still use it for goose hunting

 

Most of the time the radiator thermal switch burns out since its located at the top of the radiator and when coolant level drops it's left high and dry and just gets too hot and shorts! Polaris #4110189 located behind the radiator cap screwed in the radiator with two leads,BUT you can take to any auto supply and match it up at a lot cheaper price! You can easily check if the fan is working by just using a pair of needle nose pliers and touching both leads of the sensor with the key on.If it gets hot and fan doesn't kick on,its usually the sensor! Make sure you leave the radiator cap off when you top off coolant if you do replace the sensor to purge any air when the fan kicks on,then replace the cap. OPT

 

I know I'm reviving an old post, but I was trying to get to the bottom of an electrical issue of my 2004 sportsman 500 not charging the battery and I came across this same ground wire as in the original post picture, not connected. The atv runs fine, other than the carb needle clip having come loose (but that's another story). So yes, the atv runs well but the battery light flashes and after a few hours, a fully charged battery, and even a new battery are dead and need to be recharged. Wondering if this ground not being connected might be the culprit. If this ground from the stator is supposed to be connected, would the atv even run without it being connected? Thanks in advance!

 

This extra ground wire by the coil is just for accessories if that's the one you're talking about. First check to see if it's charging at the battery while a little above an idel. Should be around 14-14.5 volts. If not then sounds like either the regulator is bad or possibly has a wire is loose. A lot of 500s had that problem on the regulator wires coming loose.It's located under the front panel in front of the radiator.
"IF" you happen to have the ecm model,it could be another ecm burnt out. If it still has the black finned Chinese ecm module,it's still covered by the recall.Polaris Industries Expands Recall of ATVs Due to Fire Hazard | CPSC.gov
Here's the ecm.http://www.ebay.com/itm/OEM-2004-2005-2006-Polaris-Sportsman-Scrambler-400-500-Surepower-ECM-/120976916750?hash=item1c2ac9410e&vxp=mtrHere's a regulator if you happen to need one. http://www.ebay.com/itm/REGULATOR-RECTIFIER-for-POLARIS-SPORTSMAN-500-2004-/271516086966?hash=item3f379eb2b6&vxp=mtr

 

Thanks for the info Old Polaris Tech! That is what I thought too but just wanted to confirm. I do have the voltage regulator that you posted so will focus on that. There are lots of wires and things disconnected so I will work on cleaning things up, but I did notice that the red wire coming out of the regulator was loose in the connector, so hopefully that was my issue - I'm usually ok with following instructions on a mechanical level but electronics are hard to get my head around! Do you know what the specific wires coming from the regulator do? Thanks again.

 

That's the main power wire to the regulator.. If it was loose it wouldn't charge. Just make sure all the regulator wires are plugged in and recheck charging back to the battery. Hopefully that's all that's wrong. These funky red wires with the slide type connectors were all bad on pulling apart from vibration. If it's charging ok just run a strip of electrical tape around this connector to keep it from happening again. Plus here's the best 5 bucks you can invest.. Can help you on the electrical wiring with the wiring schematic,plus can help on service and repairs.http://polaris-atv.brssm.com/2004-Po...ce-Manual.html