I did something dumb. I went on a ride with a bunch of other guys, many miles from where I loaded my 4 wheeler. But upon arriving at the site, I realized I had lost my key (I found it laying in the grass when I got home). But I had the service manual with me and I didn't want to drive all the way home without getting to ride, so I tried to hot wire my P650. I tied the wires together just like the key would do and tried to crank it but it wouldn't crank. And afterwards, the belt light had to be reset. I found out that it won't crank without the key and don't know how that does it. But it's a good thing to know that if someone doesn't have the key they would have a hard time starting it if it was stolen. Is that a function of the CDI that keeps it from cranking without the key and will that disappear with the new CDI?

 

Yes, it is a feature of the stock CDI. Don't know about the new CDI, you can email Dynatek and ask. I asked for the price and they responded, said tentatively April and don't know the price yet.

 

RebelDS, I don't know if you can get the answer fom Dyna either. I called them and they wouldn't let me talk to any tech people. The sales guy told me some things that didn't make a lot of sense, like that it will fit a 2001 Prairie? Whats he mean by that? And no belt fault indication. I think on the 2002 Prairie, it will still flash the display on a belt fault even with the new cdi, it just won't go into the "slow" mode which is actually the same map as reverse uses. To answer your starting question you are right. They call it their "anti-theft" system and the key switch contains a resistor to divide the battery voltage to a range that the igniter is looking for. If it is out of range, no spark. It is the gray wire on the key switch and igniters. Turn on your key and measure the gray wire voltage and you'll see what it does.

 

I really like that anti-theft feature. I had a 2002 Prairie 650 that was stolen, but I was a dummy and left the key in it while it was strapped down to the back of my truck. I don't keep the key in it at all now and it gives me warm fuzzy feeling to know that if it was stolen again without the key, that they'd be out of luck trying to crank it.