I have a 2000 sportsman 500 and it won't charge. I can charge it and jump it and it will run fine for a few minutes until the fan drains the battery. Then the fan shuts off and it overheats. I would have to guess it would be a problem with the charging system. Does anyone know where the alternator is located and how it works or anyway to test it? Any ideas???

 

have you tested the battery?

 

check the recifier which controls the voltage. its in front up under the radaiotr area. should be flat and have fins w/ a wire harness plug in. you said your fan is running. is it staying on or just when it heats up and shuts off?

 

Put a voltmeter on the battery and start it. It should read at least 13.5 volts and not go over 15 while revving the motor.
The alternator is actually called a stator and is located inside the recoil housing. Remove the recoil assy and you will see the flywheel, the stator is under that.

Look up in front of the radiator and see if the wires on the voltage regulator came unplugged. That seems to happen once in a while around here. Worth checking.

IF the battery is good, it's not charging still and the wiring is plugged in on the regulator you will need to check the stator. let us know and we'll help you with testing that if needed.

 

thanks for the ideas I will try them hopefully today and get back to you guys

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote> have a 2000 sportsman 500 and it won't charge. I can charge it and jump it and it will run fine for a few minutes until the fan drains the battery. Then the fan shuts off and it overheats</end quote></div>

You need a good batter to ride? I was using my old dead battery for months and just using the pull start and had no problems with fans. I finally bought a battery and the electric start works fine now for the last year.
I did not think a healthy battery mattered once the ATV is running. I rode my 350 Yamaha Big bear with no battery whats so ever for 2 years.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/img]

 

it does on the newer ones. no good battery, and it wont run good or maybe at all.

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: stendori

it does on the newer ones. no good battery, and it wont run good or maybe at all.</end quote></div>


Does the new models have any advantages?

 

OK so the battery was good I charged it and when I started it was reading 12.5 volts. All the wires are plugged in. I disconnected my winch. As I rode I continuouslychecked checked the battery and it slowly went down. after about and hour or 2 it was down to 9.5 V. So maybe the stator is bad? How do I test it? It never got to the point of overheating yesterday because I was crawling through some wash-outs and being stupid I ended up breaking the front left CV Joint. So if anyone knows anything about replacing these please see my new post.

 

im still guessing thast you want to start w/ the recifier first b4 the stator. make sure its not unplugged or broken wires. theres 100's of post on the cv fixes.