My 400 has a short in the ignition wiring someplace. When turning the wheels to the right, it shuts the machine down. AC says they have had no other complaints on this but wanted my serial number. This machine has 49 miles on it and is just out of warranty. Anyone else had a similiar problem?

 

I don't know of any trouble like that, but my guess is that it is in the wiring below the plastic just below the handlebars.

This might explain why when you turn the wheels (to the right) it grounds out (probably on the frame.

 

You probably have rubbed a wire bare at the steering stem. You can get a good look at it by taking the gas tank off. This is not the first one that I have heard of. It should be an easy fix, maybe even be able to talk yuor dealer into it.

 

Hey dude , I have to agree with the answer he gave , My sons kawasaki did the same thing , the steering was rubbing the wiring , but it was not new either , I know this sounds smart ,DId you take it to the dealer ,My dealer would at least look at it , ANd i think he would have corrected it, but i have had bad dealers before, IF YOU ANI'T TAKE IT BE HONEST WITH HIM , HE MAY fix it anyway , just my thoughts , CHUNKY (I) stand's for ( INCREDIBLE)(INCONCEIVABLE)

 

Jeff, I have same machine you have, and I would have to agree with arcticstomper and mudcat. There is so many wires that are stretched right in front of the handlebars, that I bet some wire is exposed.

 

I'm not sure, but I'll look at mine tonight for you. I still have the steering post/stem removed, the tank and all the plastic. So I can easilly see in there. If I see something obvious that might be your problem (like these guys are saying), I'll take a picture for you and post it tonight. I'll also ask my dealer if he's heard of this, or what it possibly could be.

 

Im gonna take a shot in the dark here and guess that you had a winch installed on your quad. I had the exact same problem on my 98 500Man. There is a small two piece snap together connection in the wiring harness on the steering column just below the plastic, if you look closely you should be able to see it. When i had my winch installed it was keyed to the ignition switch. This required removing the plastic around the steering column.The connection in question was not securely snapped back together when everything was put back together. Consequently with only 25 miles on the bike the connection vibrated enough to break contact. It started with the lights going out everytime i turned to the right. I could stand on the bike , rock it back and forth and the lights would go on and off.Eventually this lead to the bike shutting it self off everytime i turned right. The fix was simple... just snapped the connection securely back together and havent had a problem since. Im willing to bet thats your problem.

 

If you do a search there is a post by "Pechmial" (in the Arctic cat area) describing a very similar problem I believe. He took his in to a dealer and it was repaired very quickly. It was something to do with the brake light wiring. This could be your problem possibly.

 

I bumped up a thread with the fix I did on My Dad's 500 Auto. His short was blowing the ignition fuse, but I'll bet your problem is very similar. It took about an hour to disassemble & reassemble everything, but the actual fix took about 1 minute.

Hope it works out for ya.

 

Thud raises a very good point. If you aren't blowing fuses or hearing a crack, then it could be a connection going open.

Right now my 300 is apart. A friend wrecked it and we had to take off the front rack and the large plastic piece. With these off (doesn't take to long on mine) you can really see all the wiring well.

I even saw a place where the brake line was getting rubbed on the frame. I have had mine since July.