Hey guys. Ive been doing my research on these forum for a while now (Old Polaris Tech, you have no idea how much money, time, and headache youve saved me lol. youre a good man).

Well, I have a 98 polaris 500. Last week I drove it about a mile to pickup firewood. Pulled it into the backyard and cut it off. About 30 minutes later, i got back on it to pull it into my shed and she turned over but out of the blue wouldnt start back up.

The first thing i did was get a new spark plug. Nothing. Removed the gas tank and throroughly cleaned the tank and gas lines and put 3 gallons of fresh 93 in her. Still nothing. I then took the carburetor off and soaked it overnight and cleaned it thoroughly. i put the battery on charge overnight just to eliminate that causing any types of problems. When i turn the key on my lights and everything work. But she still wont start or even pull start.

I went and bought an ohm meter and did a resistance test on the spark plug wire with the boot off and got a reading of 5 ohms which ive read was okay. I put the spark plug boot back on and the most I could get it to register was 2.6. This is certainly enough to be a problem, correct?

My 500 is old but shes my baby and im about to go crazy. Any ideas? Id appreciate any help folks.

 

If you don't have spark,pull the black wire from the reverse limiter first and check.If no spark,then pull the black kill circuit wire on the cdi from the terminal board and check for spark. I this doesn't help then time to check the stator.
Red to Green 3.2 ohms
Black/Red to Green 446 ohms
Trigger coil white to white/red 97 ohms
Ignition coil tab to ground 0.3 ohm
Ignition coil secondary,tab to plug cap 6.3K ohms
Plug cap 5 k ohms

 

How can i check if i have spark? I know my dad showed me to stick a flathead in the spark plug boot and pull start our lawn mower a long time ago...is that how you would check for spark? And if no spark , ill unplug the black wire running from the left handlebar correct? I really appreciate you for taking time out of your day to help me....i was hoping you were around lol.

 

Just have the plug in the cap and let the base of the plug lay against the cylinder. Then crank the engine over. The black wire is from the limiter module under the front panel.Item #32.

 

Well I just got done checking. I do not have spark. I am having a little trouble figuring out which one on mine is 32. Also, when you say for instance red to green, which ones exactly am i testing? I picked a red and a green and got .02. I had my multimeter set on 20. Thanks so much opt

 

Also here is a picture of mine.

 

You need a service manual that can help you.https://www.tradebit.com/filedetail....service-manual

 

Downloading it now. I am not as dumb as I sound, ive had to fix just about everythi ng myself on this thing. One thing ive never had issues with is my cdi and stuff other than an ignition switch which you helped me with. Will read the entire manual and do the tests and get back with you. Thank you man

 

I've been trying to tell my wife that for 45 years.. Hopefully with the step by step trouble shooting guides,checks and resistance specs you can narrow down the problem.

 

Okay so ive done as you recommended and been reading and reading and then a little more reading. Right before i left work, i noticed it said the reverse limiter can be damaged if ran without a battery. And now thinking back, before i left that day, i had to wiggle my battery cables to the terminals to get her to turn over and go. What im thinking is as i was riding, those cables were moved and i was basically running without a battery. But i did finally learn what the heck the cdi is and i disconnected the black wire and got no change. And i read that bypasses the limiter...so it couldnt possibly be that right? Just that one question and ill go back to reading