Lost my speedo illum. light, odometer, high beam, gear position lights. I have been checking with a power probe and get a positive voltage at the brown wire at the speedo and the high beam plugs. Don`t know where a ground wire could be getting 12 volts from? Starts and runs good. No hi beam or 4wd. Hi beam light is on at the handlebar switch, no awd light at r/handlebar sw.

 

Look inside the pod at the headlight connector and wiring along with the main harness. This is a bad location for shorts because of all the wiring bends.Plus not uncommon to have shorts or melted wires in the wiring from the left control switch. You can slice open the sheathing and trace the wires down into the pod area.I've found melted wires here before that have caused problems. Could be the source of ground wire powering up and loss of indicator lights. If it at least electric starts,the main circuit breaker by the battery is supplying power forward,but don't overlook circuit breakers under the panel also when doing wiring checks.

 

Found a brown wire broke off a splice into 2 wires to the hi-beam plug. Go figure why it had battery voltage. Now the hi beam , gear position indicator, and speedo illumination/hr. meter work. Feel much better with it fixed. Oh yeah, I`m retired now so know that feeling too. Thanks OP. Just got back from a road test and noticed the speedo is reading accurate again. Last fall it was reading all over the place. At idle it would move and when revved up the needle would bounce around. That should be noted as a symptom of a bad ground up to the pod. Means my AWD was working by a thread while plowing last winter. And a lot of plowing was done.

 

One little wire is all it takes to screw things up. Glad you found the problem. Plus if you ever lose the awd light and the awd function itself,could be caused by a bad ground issue also. Have to figure the brown/white awd wire circuit goes from the switch,through the speedo then to the hubs.On some machines the speedo was the problem on loosing ground and jumping the speedo harness brown/white to a good brown wire solved the problem or if the thin wiring from the hubs is the problem,a common ground for these two wires can solve a lot of awd issues.

 

I should make it a point to improve these grounds. Sure won`t be using a wire nut like in that video. That`s going to last until mid winter so he can redo it properly out in the cold. A wire nut in the elements : that`s just wrong.

 

My sentiments also on wire nuts. Some have used the blue scotch locks and are happy with them,but to me they can allow moisture in also as I've seen a lot of rusty ones when I've opened them up. Just my I preferred soldering wires and shrink wrap tubing when I repaired wires,then you wouldn't have to worry about any weather/moisture related problems and had a permanent repair.You can get shrink wrap in several different sizes.

 

blue scotch locks are temporary fixes at best. Some lazy people use them but they are nothing but trouble where salt is used on roads. I was in the 3rd Marine Airwing and soldering was a temporary repair until but connectors came in. Check out Loctite Insulating and Sealing wrap. It is some good stuff and can even repair a radiator hose.http://www.grainger.com/product/12Z2...140828180924:s

Hollow points_ for those who care enough to send the very best.