Hello All: Here is the scenario. 2001 Artic Cat 500 Man. I was snowplowing yesterday and noticed I had no winch, no indicator lights. Backed into the garage and shut off, removed seat thinking a fuse had blown, checked fuses - all ok. Tried to start bike but not electrical power - dead as a door nail! Played with key switch several times but nothing... usually fan and indicator lights start. Tried turning key on and pull start- it started and I had winch, indicator lights , everything. Turned off with key and pulled battery - it read 12.4 volts so I am assuming its fine. Friend suggested key switch as he had similiar problem.. I think it might be regulator? I humbly ask for your expertise on this - Thanks

 

I had a bad connector in the wiring that runs along the steering column, caused some flukey behavior but was a snap to fix. It wasn't the same as what you describe, but the harness in there is strung a little tight and is known to cause a few problems.

 

had similar problem about 7 months ago, no start, no indicator lights, no 12 access.,but would start i f rope pulled- tracked problem down to wiring harnes short- main power lead was broke off butt connector in harness where factroy crimped 3 wires together with butt conn. , and did not use heat shrink on it and the vabration broke a wire causing loss of connection to start and dig. dash connector located inside harnes (have to cut wraping off) about even with front of airbox hope this helps i took a length of wire and soldered it to the two from the rear at one end and the other end to the wire going to the swithc/display used heat shirnk and no more problems

 

Sounds to me like you have a short that blew the 30amp starter selionoid fuse. It is what the positive wire of your battery hooks up to before going to the starter. There are a few other wires attached to it as well, one goes to the ingnition, one to the brake lever (start in gear feature) and I think the other goes to the neutral relay switch.

This selinoid is not under the seat. It should be located underneath the right rear fender if you are sitting on the bike. Follow the positive battery terminal OR follow the larger wire that is connected to the starter backwards to the selinoid. It should also have a replacement fuse onthe underneath side of the rubber housing that attached it to the machine.

I would suspect though that is you replace the fuse with a good one and then turn the key on, and the fuse instantly blows again you have a short between the seniloid and the ignition switch.

I had this happen to both my machines as the wiring harness under the instrument cluster had pinched the wires and they wore through and shorted out.

To keep from wasting fuses (I blew about 20 before I figured it out) use a volt meter to read the voltage draw across the fuse terminals with the key on. It should be zero until the starter button is pushed. Which would have been my second place to look if I had not found my bare wires under the instrument pod.

Hope this helps.

SJ