Hello all, my 500 Sportsman has been down for a while and had voltage at the battery but noting at the instrument cluster. No lights, no clicking, nada. Today after trying to clean the sloppy wet snow, my Airens snowblower crapped out. So I went back to the ATV and started yanking on all of the connections in the headlight and under the panel in the front compartment. I hoped that I could finish my snow removal if I could get the ATV to fire. I tapped on the module in front with a screw driver butt and lo and behold while turning the key she fired up. Plowed the rest of my driveway and life is good again.

My electrician buddy brought over a can of electrical contact cleaner and a can of moisture protector. He suggested that I break all of my connections and treat with both products while everything was apart. After completing my mission I began reassembling my machine and found a black rubber boot about 3" by 1.5" loose in the front compartment. For the life of me I can't remember where this rubber cover came from. It has a flap on one side that looks like wires might come out of it.

I will try to post a photo if I can figure out how but either way, does anyone know what this black rubber boot might be for. I looked all around the machine where I had been troubleshooting but for the life of me, I can't seem to see a place to reinstall this item. It's been a while since I had taken her apart and my mind is mush. It is possible that its from something else (I usually have several broken things being worked on at any given time) but assume its from the ATV as it was in the front compartment.

Thanks in advance.

 

We used to be able to remove the cdis from old Hondas, drop em on the ground and hook em back up, and some would fire up and run awhile.Usually we'd have to end up replacing them. I'd do like your friend suggested and clean the connections and use electrical grease.
As far as what the picture is of,a better shot of it at a different angle might help. Unless it's part of the plow wiring(which we didn't have any dealings with down here)I can't tell. Maybe others can. Only thing I can think of is the winch wiring harness protector or the black rubber cover that went over the winch commutator that was mounted up under the right front fender. Dirt Cheap Yamaha, Honda, Arctic Cat & Polaris OEM Parts & Accessories – Cycle Parts Warehouse

 

Here are a couple more photos

 

That does look like the protective cover that went on the winch commutator. Some people left em off because they were a little trouble fishing the 4 power wires through and hooking up,then sliding the cover over the commutator.Must have been in the front panel all this time.