So a few months ago after throwing a lot of parts stator and pickup, flywheel, starter and relay, carb and camshaft my 98 Polaris sportsman 500 still was backfiring after talking to you you had a thought and had me pull the black ground wire on the rev limiter and bingo problem solved. It has been running great since I loaned it to a friend last weekend (big mistake) he was trying to figure out why he couldn't get it into 4wd and noticed the wire off rev limiter so he plugged it back in. He says it worked fine for about 2 min then he shut off the wheeler and went back to start 5 min later battery dead. So he jumped it and all it would do is back fire. This is when he trailered it back to me I said oh I can fix that unplugged the rev limiter and nothing still backfires won't run. Any idea why the backfiring would persist?

 

Hindsight is 20/20 but your friend could have had awd in reverse by simply pressing the over ride button. You have full speed in reverse in two wheel drive with the wire disconnected,but to engage awd the button still has to be pushed.On a different note I'd pull the cam cover and inspect the cam exhaust lobe for wear.Common symptoms on this was that they'd idle but back fire if you gave them throttle. If it is the cam possible it was on its way out anyway and not your friends fault.

 

So the cam and lobes are brand new the problem here is after disconnecting the rev limiter it is again back firing and won't start

 

I am not mad at anyone at all just confused why it's back lol

 

If you have the limiter disconnected,then you have other electrical problems.This is where you go through the electrical checks and trouble shooting guide in the manual. Eliminate the new stator,pick up coil and ignition coil to make sure they weren't damaged.If these are within specs,then when your friend hooked up the reverse limiter wire again,it may have internally damaged the cdi as it's the cdi that retards spark from the limiter input to it.

 

Ahhh I suspect your right it was exactly what I was worried might have happened when it wouldn't start.

 

That's why I hated the reverse limiters so much. They could cause problems when shorted by dying when you put machines in reverse,some would limit in forward range and some also could knock out cdi modules.Hope you can trace down the problem and it's a simple fix.

 

I suspect it is a cdi shorted everything else is brand new so I'm thinking that's where I start

 

Well new cdi and rev limiter and still. Ackfiring would you persue ignition cool trigger or stator next or voltage regulator?

 

Wasn't any need to buy a new reverse limiter module! These will just fail again. Go through the trouble shooting guides in the manual.. Ohms resistance on the pick up coil white to white/red wires is 97 ohms. Black/red stator wire to Green stator wire should show around 446 ohms. Red to Green 3.2 ohms. If this checks out,carefully tap the pickup coil bracket inward a tad toward the flywheel and see if that helps on spark..