I joined this forum after tons and tons of research. I saw a lot of post from this old polaris tech guy so if someone can tag him that would be amazing lol so i will give you the run down:

"supposed " to be 2001 polaris 500 the last four of the vin on frame are 99 so maybe 99. it is a 2wd 4 stroke. I bought it and they said pit **** broke needed to be replaced and battery charged. so replaced the pit **** and no start. pulled the plug and only gets spark if you flip switch on and off like many others. Had a guy ohm ignition coil said it was good. pulled a better switch from the junk yard becuase they had the old one cut and bypassed to turn over by arching two wires. now it turns over with button but still only spark when first turns over and i let off. he swapped a different cdi he had lying around and it did the same thing. i am going to check the etc ( make sure there is clearence. that 1/8th in between the connectors?) and am going to pull of flywheel cover to check for trash. there is no pull cord on it so i cannot check to see if it will start that way. how much gas should be on plug to know if i am getting enough? any other ideas would be awesome with details. very good with cars but first atv.

 

Sounds like something the pick up coil would do. Clean the flywheel tab and check for dirt on the pick up coil face. Plenty of pick up coil brackets have been hit when ropes break,etc moving it too far out from the flywheel.You can just tap the bracket in a tad if needed. Distance between the coil face and flywheel tab should be between .020-.040 or so plus coils can weaken from age also. Check the resistance on the white and white/red pick up coil wires. Should show around 97 ohms.Plus yes have no more than 1/8" slack on the thumb lever.If none of this helps pull the black wire from the cdi(kill circuit wire) and see if it cranks. Could be a short in the left control switch or in the cdi itself.

 

The 10th digit of the VIN is the year code. You can check it here. It may help out on getting the right parts. ATV Vin Number : Check and Decode Your VIN

 

I pulled the black wire off cdi and it did the same thing. What about the black box in front of cdi? anything with it?

 

If you have 3 modules under the front panel(cdi module,reverse limiter module and reg/rectifier)you have at least a 98 model. Yes pull the black lead from it also and leave it unplugged as they all fail eventually. Can cause problems if it shorts out.Plus you'll have full power in reverse without having to push the over ride button.Item #32.Dirt Cheap Yamaha, Polaris, Suzuki & Kawasaki OEM Parts & Accessories – Cycle Parts Warehouse If this doesn't help I'd still check the pick up coil and flywheel.

 

All i see under the hood is cdi box, coil, and a box right above radiator. there is also a brown wire that goes on bottom of coil it splits to another brown wire that has a plug connector but i cant find anywhere to put it.

 

Brown wire are just grounds. The one mounted on the coil has an extra ground wire that's not used.

 

Per vin looks like i have an 01.

 

I'd still check out the pick up coil and flywheel along with pick up resistance. At least you can eliminate that as the cause of the spark problem.

 

I am off all day tomorrow so thats what my day will consist of lol got to get this running. Once this is taken care of is this thing pretty reliable?