I looked at a 2006 Sportsman 500 HO EFI over the weekend. The guy's really hot to sell it. Not in overall bad shape. Melted plastic on the right side near the exhaust and a crack in the front bumper and rear rack. Typical stuff. Everything seemed to work well mechanically except...I thought the engine was a little noisy. The engine only had about 100 hours and 500 miles. Not bad at all. I just thought the engine had a little bit of a "knock" for lack of a better word. It seemed more pronounced that just a valve lifter "tick". It seems louder than my '08 500 HO EFI. Several folks have said these 500 motors can be a bit noisy and they'll sound like that for thousands of mile. Makes me a little nervous though. Especially since it's noisier than my '08. Are the 500 engines typically a bit noisy? If so, why?

 

Would help if you had a video of it,but realize sometimes it's not possible. The 500 does make a little ticking noise,but nothing drastic,since you should know as you already own one. Same as the 700/800 that make a different noise because of the hydraulic lifters. Also the noise may not be in the engine,but clutch noise can radiate and sound like it's from the engine. Like anything else you're taking a chance on a 2nd hand machine. With a 100 hrs and 500 miles,he hasn't been traveling fast and burning up any trails.Generally just check over the machine,see if the oil is thick and black,hopefully not. If in doubt go with your gut feeling on it.There's always other machines out there.

 

Thanks. The guy selling it is the second owner, but he didn't put most of the miles on it. Previous owner mostly used it for hunting. Could be the clutch making the noise. Like I said, it didn't have the "tick, tick, tick" sound of a lifter, but it wasn't a deep hollow sounding rod knock either. Oil was full and looked okay. Like you said, there's always another one.
You're right about anything used. I looked at a Yamaha Grizzly once. A quick ride around the yard and I thought it was pretty noisy. Pulled the dipstick, no oil. Added a quart and pulled the dipstick, still no oil. Added almost another quart before it was full. It did quiet down a bit, but now it looked like tar on the dipstick. He said his kids only rode it around the farm and he changed the oil once a year. Of course it didn't appear that he ever checked the oil between changes. I passed on that one.

 

I listened to several Sportsman 500s on YouTube and many if not all of them sound pretty noisy to me. I guess it's pretty normal.

 

If this is the machine you want,the price is right,then go get it..