Gee Bluethumb, now I'm disappointed... I thought that mount was steel. It sure looked like it in the photos.

We LOVE the autos. We initially intended to buy 'shifters' but my wife balked at that, and when the sales guy put her on an auto and she drove it around, that settled it for her. So I decided to see what all the hoopla was about and damned if I didn't instantly fall in love with it too. All our cars are shifters (92 Explorer, 83 Honda beater car) and I drive a truck for a living. An auto shift is verrrrry welcome. We're strictly recreational riders so lack of stump pulling power is of no consequence.

Yeah, sounds like you're in a world of hurt up there with all that snow. Good luck. We just decided to take advantage of the fact that it's just not getting warm lately by defrosting our top loading freezer. We took all the food out and put it in the back yard (in metal milk crates covered with insulated blankets and held down with bricks) because it's still 19 degrees. Better now than during the summer when it's in the 90's.

But, when we go out to start up the Cats, that might be a whole other situation.

 

well I left my cat outside last night and it got down to 0, maybe a bit below and it started up fine this AM. It turned over kinda slow, but pretty much started right up.

 

Well....... WE went out to start our Cats today and while my wife's started right up, MY battery was dead. D.E.A. D ! I looked in the battery and VIOLA, bone dry. I would think there had to be some kind of battery drain for that to happen. The only difference between mine and my wife's is that I installed a winch last year on mine. And it's one of those Ramsey wireless remote units (which I now think is a useless option and when we put a winch on my wife's machine later this year, it won't be wireless).

The sad part is, I just got two solar battery maintainers from eBay last week and part of today's project was to hang these two things on the fence (for access to the sun) to prevent dead batteries... Grrrrrrrrrrr......

So, do you guys think the problem is the winch, or can some other sinister problem be at the heart of this? I'm thinking of disconnecting the winch wires from the battery until spring when we ride all the time (if the winch is the problem). Can that 'radio' that sends/receives the remote signal be at fault?

I've got my battery on charge right now but I'm fearing that the complete dry-out may have killed it for good. Although once I jump started it and ran it for a while, it almost started on its own ("almost" being the key word here - ha). Before I hooked up the charger about a half hour later my multi-meter showed 11.7 volts in it. I've got my fingers crossed.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-disgusted.gif[/img]

 

Don't know if this will help but, I've noticed that if I hit the gas at all during cold startup the engine won't fire. Hard to do but if I keep my thumb off the throttle it starts up every time!

 

I always hate being the dumb one but here goes, I have an 03 500 someone mentioned a primer on them where is it and how does it operate, if I have one, and on a side not I just bought one of those magnetic block heaters to try out, got it at advance for like $25 so I will see if that will help maybe plug it in half hour or so to see how it does.

 

Tommy, I think your battery is toast. You can try to add electrolyte to it, and charge it up again, but you may be better off with a new one. I don't know how reliable it would be in the future. Can't see the wireless system drawing on the battery when it's not being used. I find it funny that it was dry, it may have not been filled properly when it was put in the bike.
I have mixed feelings about those battery maintainers. They're putting a constant charge on it, whether it needs it or not. If it's hot, the water in the battery will evaporate off faster than if it was just sitting. I would just disconnect one of the terminals if I wasn't running it weekly. Make sure it's fully charged, should be 12.5Vdc or so. Thanks for the reply on the auto's, that will be my next choice. Cheers

 

As an aside, the battery maintainer is 'supposed' to have a regulator that keeps it from overcharging the battery. But we'll see.

 

Shooter is right on with the "Leave the throttle alone while cranking!" Mine won't even think of starting if I touch it at all!
I don't think your winch would have killed your battery unless something was pushing the button on the remote while in storage and it was close enough to the machine to "reach" the winch, however I would think it would have blown a fuse or something first, I guess you never know. I would re-fill the battery and start from scratch without changing anything and see if it was just a bad battery,IE the water level was low to start with and that is/was your only problem. I have to agree with Blue Thumb, your battery may be toast but you never know and it won't hurt to try. Good luck

 

MrTommy; There are 2 things that make a battery lose water. A crack in the case and overcharging. A draw on the battery will kill it, but not make the water disappear. When getting over charged the water gets boiled off, not the electolyte(the battery acid - H2SO4. The added concentration of the acid eats the lower part of the plates. Top that puppy off and slow charge it (no more than 5 amps) overnight, should end up at about 12.7 volts with the charger off. Should at least start the thing after that. If you haven't been charging the battery since you stopped riding, then you need to check your charging system on the engine. The rectifier or regulator could be bad. My policy is to go start and run them until warmed up every 2 weeks. That way the battery and all the controls and such get a work out, the oil get warmed up and dried out and the fuel system gets flushed because you ran the thing.

 

I would trash that battery and get yourself a new one. If you re-fill the old one and it does take a charge, there's no telling when it will crap out on you, maybe in your garage or on the trail.

when I brought my atv home from the dealer, the water was low (below the low water line) across the board.