I have the 4-stroke 90R that Eton came out with in '07, and all of a sudden the starter won't even engage. I had been having intermittent problems with the key not turning on the electric circuitry, but after palying with it awhile we would get it to come on. Now, the circuites light up (e.g., the F/N/R indicator, the horn), but it won't engage. I cheked the kill switch, made sure it was in neutral, and played with the brake safety mechanism (whereby you have to put the brake on to start it), all to no avail.

Does anyone know if the starters go on these quads, or what the problem might be? Any help would be much appreciated.

 

Have you tried jumping across the starter solenoid to see if the starter turns? I haven't seen your quad specifically, but normally the solenoid is mounted between the heavy gauge red wire from the battery and the heavy red wire from the starter. Find the two heavy gauge wires and short them together with a screwdriver. Don't mind a few minor sparks while doing this.

Does the starter turn?

I'm betting yes. If not report back and we'll change the troubleshooting direction.

Then the next step is to see why the solenoid isn't getting the actuating voltage. The solenoid works by shorting the two big wires together (as you did with your screwdriver) when 12 volts is applied across the two smaller wires.

According to the wiring diagram on AnythingATV.com the 12 volts is applied to the starter solenoid actuating coil (the smaller wires) as follows:

1) +12 volts from the battery goes through the main fuse.
2) Fused +12 volts goes through the ignition switch when in the on position. This allows horn and other functions to work, so from your description we're OK so far.
3) Ignition voltage goes through the brake switch when the brake is on. You played with this, but all you need to do is look to see if the brake light is on. If the brake light is on the switch is working.
4) The "brake on" signal goes to one side of the starter solenoid actuating coil. The other side of the actuating coil must connect to ground, and in order for that to happen it has a lot of series connections that must all be working as well.
5) The ground side of the starter solenoid goes to the Forward/Neutral/Reverse Switch.
6) When in Neutral the ground side of the solenoid actuating coils connects through to the handlebar Stop Switch.
7) When not "stopped" the ground side of the solenoid actuating coil is connected through to ground and back to the minus side of the battery - completing the circuit.

I would start by measuring the voltage at the solenoid actuating terminals. If they are both 12 volts then the problem lies in the ground side wiring which you can follow through. If they both read zero volts then the problem is on the +12 volts side of the actuating coil. If one actuating terminal reads ground and the other reads +12 volts then the solenoid is bad.

Lynn Edwards

 

I left out an important step:

The "Brake on" signal (#4) goes to to the Start Button. The other side of the start button goes to the solenoid.

 

Holy Smokes Lynn - what a great reply! I'll print it out and check all of these things when I go up again this weekend. Hopefully, I can then diagnose the problem and avoid another $200 + bill from the dealer. (That's what he charged me last time I took it to him for what apparently turned out to be a minor dirty carb problem.)

Thanks again!

 

LynnEdwards, I followed your instructions and the problem was with the brake switch. (thanks again - you saved me paying for a lot of dealer labour costs.) So, a new switch is about $20 U.S., which I will go out and get from the dealer who is about an hour from here. Then I'll be selling the ATV, since we already picked up a 2008 AC DVX90 to replace it. Anyone near Toronto interested?