Hello ya'll. New here. Had a 1996 Polaris Sportsman 400 4x4 given to me a month ago. Replaced some electrical ignition parts and not gettin' spark.
Lookin' for OPT to jump in here.
I know this is age old discussion, but, I cannot get spark to save my life. Ohmed & volt tested everything and all checks out. New stator, CDI, solenoid and spark plug. Tracked down all wires and cleaned them and put dielectric grease on 'em. Got small spark a week ago pullin' rope, it even tried to start a little bit with push button and starter fluid. But since then, NOTHING !
I am very mechanically inclined but, What's next ? What am I missing ?

 

Welcome to the forums. Pull the black wire from the cdi and see if it will start either by electric starter or recoil starter. If it does the could still be a wiring problem in the ignition switch or left control switch or either of the switches themselves could be faulty. Tries to start by recoil starter and not by electric starter is becoming another common problem on these. Even though you have a new stator,the pick up coil may be too far from the flywheel strip.This is what happened to this member when his Sportsman 500 rope broke.http://forums.atvconnection.com/pola...ml#post3155476 Plus have you checked the basics like compression? Could be that or leaking crank seals on the 400 2 stroke.

 

Welcome to the forums.

 

did all that. Compression feels good with thumb over spark plug hole, blows my thumb off hole. Where would crank seal be ?
How can it turnover with bad key switch or kill switch ? They seem to work as they should ?

 

Thumb pop test isn't always accurate. Crank seal behind the drive clutch is the worst one to either leak or even pop out as some have found. A simple short in any of the switches wiring can cause problems as they both tie into the cdi kill circuit.That's why the first test is to isolate the cdi from the switches. Do a good compression check first. Anything under a 100 psi isn't good. Also a leak down test can tell you if crank seals,head gasket,base gasket or the engine case itself could be the problem.

 

I get no spark with kill hooked up or not. I'll try to find someone with leak down tester.

 

No spark with the cdi kill wire unplugged,then it could be a faulty pick up coil,stator or even the cdi even if they are new.Best thing on this is to use the resistance checks in the manual to narrow things down.https://www.tradebit.com/filedetail....400-500-repair

 

Sorry so long to get back. Finally got it to pull start. did not have proper spark plug gap. Still no spark on push button start. Had it runnin' and would shut off with black wire hooked up, but with it unplugged the key nor kill switch killed it. I choked it out to kill it. Is the kill switch or key switch bad ???
Also, i need brakes on this dude. Know where a reasonably priced calipers, pads and hoses would be ?

 

Problem can be in the ignition switch or the left control switch or their wiring. This you have to trace down plus ohm out the switches to eliminate them. Rare instances the cdi itself can be the problem if the black kill wire shorts out internally. The machine will die every time the kill wire is hooked back up.

 

hi ya'll. 1996 polaris sportsman 400 4x4; I am going to block off oil line into intake and just premix my fuel/oil mixture 40:1. What effect if any will that have on crankcase ?