hey guys, ive searched over the forums and cant seem to find the answer to my problem. so i bought a used 96 polaris on craigslist. i got it starting up good and than i was riding around the backyard and she just shut off. wouldnt start back up so we gave it a jump and now it wont turn over on her own. the start button worked last time i got it started. Now the only way i can get it to start up and turn over is the old screw driver trick were you touch both the solenodes. i have a clymber manual and it seems to be hooked up right. we have one red wire off the battery on its own solenode terminal and the other terminal has the red starter wire and the red/white wire coming from the starter. so basically my question is what problem does the screw driver hack fix? that is i guess were the weak link in my system is.
P.s. is there any good stickies on the brakes for these? came with no working brakes so im working on getting that going.
thanks guys!

also a friend reffered me here, said old polaris technician could help me?

 

The small r/w wire on the solenoid should power up when you hit the start button. It triggers the solenoid to jump power from the battery side to the starter side wire. If it has power to this small wire,but starter doesn't engage,check that you have voltage to the starter wire on the solenoid.Could be a bad solenoid if the r/w wire has power or a wiring problem on the left control switch or ignition switch if the r/w wire doesn't power up.By jumping the leads on the solenoid,all you're doing is making a direct voltage path to the starter hot wire from the battery.The best "stickies" on brakes is your manual.Start at the master cylinder and see if it can prime up. You can temporarily clamp off the brake line down from it and test.If it can build up pressure,make sure the pads are ok. Plus can be sticking caliper piston or leaking seals. The manual addresses most of this.Plus a good mityvac or a cheap one from Harbor Freight,Northern Tool can help bleed air from the brake system.

 

and this might be a dumb question but on the wiring diagram it says that a black ground comes out of the solenoid and grounds somewhere, i dont see that wire anywhere. all i have is one red wire coming out and the two terminals. not sure where the wire coming out of the solenode is supposed to go .Also the quad shut down while i was running it in the backyard so that could be part of the problem?

 

Clymer manuals may not be up to date. Even some Polaris manuals may list items that are different from what you have.On models that had ground wires on the solenoid,they just ground to the back of the solenoid against the battery box. Here's one that should look like the one you have. No ground wire. Only remember a couple older models that had a ground wire that tied to the battery box.This is where the wiring diagrams can be misleading on some things.Starter Solenoid Relay Fits Polaris Magnum 425 1995 1996 1997 1998 ATV New | eBay

 

we have the right solenoid on, and we are getting power when we hit the start button to the white/red near the starter. cant figure out why the start button isnt powering it. we connected the white red(connected the starter button) to the red coming out of the solenoid and nothing. when we touch the white red to the red starter it turns over a little. been working on it for 4 days straight and we cant friggin figure it out. any more help would be greatly appreciated

 

i guess our pr/oblem is the starting wire isnt firing what it is supposed to to make the quad turnover? we are getting power to the white/red when we hit the start button, we currently have it connected to the red comig out of the solenoid. we have the red wire that goes to the starter on its own terminal on the solenode and the other terminal has the red from the battery and another red that comes from the circuit breaker. we took the circuit braker off and tested it and it is good. so frustrating i just wana ride!!!

 

we have also tried two solenodes, both work if we do the screw driver trick.

 

when we touch the white/red to the red starter wire coming off its own terminal on the solenoid it starts up fine also when we touch the green start button.

 

All you're doing when you do this is bypassing the solenoid,using the r/w wire to power up the starter wire.Same as using a screw driver to jump the posts on the solenoid to get one to turn over.Retrace your steps plus spray some electrical contact cleaner into the left control switch and move the on/off emergency switch back and forth,same for the start button.If you've changed solenoids,the battery is good connections are tight,the problem is elsewhere. Often times in the left switch.

 

what exactly is the left control switch and what are its trouble shooting steps? also idk if this would come into play but she just stopped running when i was making a left turn and shut off. ive messed with the on/off(im assuming this is the engine stop button below the starter button) and the start button is sending power when we touch it. today were talking it to a good mechanic so hopefully he can figure it out. the brakes on it havent been hooked up for a few years i think so that will be fun to figure out. i tried to add new brake pads but it seemed like everthing was seized up. is the black part on the brakes supposed to move along with the two umm idk what to call them, the posts the brakes attach to?