First off wanted to say thanks for responding to my other thread... looks like a new ecm fixed the battery light issue. My next issue is I can no longer get the awd to engage. When I slide the switch and the awd DOESNT come on and the front tires wont engage. 2005 500HO sportsman fyi. Not sure if its the switch or something mechanical so I guess im asking where to start to diagnose the issue.

 

Are you sure the AWD does not work? The fronts wheels will not engage unless the rear wheels do a slip.

 

Does the awd light come on when in gear? Could be anything from a grounding issue,speedo problem on the awd circuit or even a front gear case problem.Easy way to tell if you just jack up the front and rear tires off the ground and test the awd out.

 

AWD light doesnt come on at all even when in gear, I know the awd doesnt work because I was towing a trailer load of wood out back and got stuck in the swampy part of my lawn. back tires were spinning in ruts and no movement or even torn up grass from the fronts. I cant remember if there was anything on the digital screen saying it was in awd before but there isnt anything on there now.

 

The awd slide switch itself should light up on this model if I remember correctly. You can check for voltage directly at the power wire at the gear case with a test light when in gear,awd switch on. If there isn't power,could be the speedo has faulted on the ground issue.Awd circuit runs through the speedo which is stupid.. Try jumping the brown/white wire(awd ground wire) on the speedo connector wiring to any brown(common ground) and see if the front wheels engage.Many have had to do this.

 

spot on advice in both areas... battery was getting 16.6V back from the ecm, replaced ecm and now at a solid 14.2V (no more battery light!)... Problem fixed! AWD Brown/white wire was on a faulty ground... re-grounded it to another common ground and AWD works fine now! Not getting the switch to light up but am getting the 4x4 symbol on the dash now that wasnt there before. Thanks again!

 

Glad that jumping the awd ground wire solved the problem,but be aware also that another problem on this model,besides the ecm and speedo were the plastic roll cages in the front diff cracking. cage.Item #8. Dirt Cheap Yamaha, Polaris, Suzuki & Kawasaki OEM Parts & Accessories – Cycle Parts Warehouse If this ever happens replace with an aluminum roll cage.Sportsman 500 ALUMINUM Front Differential Roll Cage | Quad Logic