hi opt.


I have a 98 Polaris sportsman 500 and the other day the battery died and when I went to use the recoil, it broke. so I bought a new one and when I went to install it I noticed that I could not find the little spring that holds the dog paw ( the piece that moves out to grab the fly wheel) and the metal dowl pin that the dogs paw sits over. I looked and looked and couldn't find it so I didn't worry about it. today I just took it out for the first time and after 5 min of riding it I just died. I did hear a very faint "tink" tink" noise as it was coming to a stop. my first thought is maybe something happened with those lost two little pieces? I do not have spark so I will see if I am getting power to the coil I guess? any suggestions on where to look?
*little background on the wheeler- someone stole it and put it in a pond, when I finally got it back it did not run. the now closed Polaris dealership told me to unplug the black wire that went to a small black box on the front of the wheeler where all the wires go, when I did this the wheeler started, so I just wired in a toggle switch so I could use the wheeler. idk if you needed to know that but it is electrical so I figured I should share.


thank you for ur time and wisdom!

 

If it runs you know the stators good.. If you pulled the black kill wire wire from the cdi then either the kill circuit in the cdi is bad or or you have a problem in either the left control switch or ignition switch. Some people have done like you and just run a toggle to ground the cdi to kill it rather than replace it or bother with checking anything else. Might not be a bad ide to pull the flywheel and check for the small spring in case it decides to gum up the works. The spring is cheap,most dealers should have it.Dirt Cheap Yamaha, Polaris, Suzuki & Kawasaki OEM Parts & Accessories – Cycle Parts Warehouse

 

I think I did not describe whats going on well enough. the wheeler was stolen 8 years ago, and that's when I did the toggle switch with the cdi box. just the other day is then the recoil broke and it ran this morning. after driving it for a 5 min is when it died and stopped running. since my last post I disconnected the wire going from the toggle switch to the cdi box and it still did not start. I did that to see if the toggle switch failed to work. so with it still not running I pulled the spark plug and I am not getting any spark. I then pulled the wire that goes to the coil and stuck my test light in the connector of the wire that goes to the coil and put the alligator clip of the test light on the frame (ground) and I got a green light. the green light come on when the ground end of the test light (alligator clip) is on the positive side and the testing part of the test light is on the ground... is that suppose to be that way? the light lights green when I turn on when I turn the red kill switch on at the handle bars and when I try to start the wheeler it lights up bright green.


sorry for the way I describe whats going on but I guess I don't know the correct lingo and want to make sure I am describing whats going on the best I can.


I would assume that if the green light is correct then I am getting power to the coil but not getting power through the coil to the spark plug. but if the coil is suppose to get 12volts of "regular power" then something must have happened to the magneto??


thanks for ur help, I understand it must be kinda frustrating dealing with people that don't really understand all this but I do appreciate you time and ur advice!

 

have you looked for anything on the stater or flywheel that might have came off of the recoil..

 

I have not taken the recoil off yet. there was that light tink tink noise that I heard... do you know if the wire that feeds the coil is suppose to be a positive ground?

 

id almost be willing to bet if you take that recoil and flywheel off you will are going to find your problem

 

I bet that is problem too but I would much rather know if I am suppose to be getting a negative reading at the coil... I just went and put the red positive probe in the white/black wire that feeds the coil and the black negative probe on the frame. I got -.4 volts when I turned the red kill switch on at the handle bars and when I tried to start the wheeler I was getting -138.5 volts. when I stopped turning the wheeler over it slowly started going down. basically I would like to figure out if I am suppose to be getting a negative reading going to the coil. if I am then the magneto/stator is fine (I would think) and it must be the coil. If I am suppose to be getting a positive reading going to the coil than I know the coil is fine and I have an issue with the cdi box or the stator/magneto. Atleast that is where I am at.

 

hmm opt or someone with the electrical wisdom will have to chime in on that...i think youre going to be testing resistance not volts tho(i could be totally wrong im no electrician by any means) -138.5 volts just sounds weird to me lol i didnt even know volts went negative, thought it stopped at zero

 

ya I am in the same boat when it comes to this type of electrical... I was messing around and found that the prong that comes out of the coil for the white/black wire that feeds the coil is grounded to the frame... idk if that is suppose to be that way or not... I found this out by putting my volt meter on ohms and putting on of the probes on that prong that comes out of the coil and the other probe on the frame, there is continuity. hopefully can figure out what is going on, I use the wheeler to plow the driveway and I live in western ny

 

other than pulling the recoil off and checking to see if maybe something came apart after u rebuilt it i would try a new spark plug..from your description with the test light it sounds like ur getting power to the coil(if its enough or not i dunno)..so id check the plug and plug wire if everything behind the recoil checks out...