Hello all, I just went out to start my 04.5 SP500H.O. today and it was totally dead. I pull started it, it ran for about a minute and died. I then put a booster charger on it, the instrument panel now lit up and it started (only by pull-start). I let it run a bit and tried to lift the plow up with the winch so I could move it but the winch would just make clicking noises. I took off the charger and after about a minute it died again. I had it out on Sunday, and everything worked fine, no warning lights or anything. I used the winch in the morning but then rode for an hour after that, so that shouldn't have killed the battery. The engine fan was also working fine and was off when I parked it. Any ideas what would kill the battery? It started all winter long. Anyway I don't have time to play with it so I'm bringing it to my dealer. I totally trust them, they've been really good, I was just wondering if anybody else had this happen. I've heard of winch solenoids sticking, could this be it?

 

It was the Colonel in the dining room with the revolver!

Sorry, immature.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img]

Anyway, that sounds like a really weird problem. Could you have damaged the battery by over-discharging it (can that happen?) by leaving something on, or having something shorted? Did you try slow charging the battery back up?

Tell us what it was when you get it worked out.

 

ontario you say?

was the quad left outside? the cold will KILL the battery...

 

My battery saw plenty of cold this winter and it still works fine. Had one week of record colds, -30F at night, I even started it once when it was that cold to see if it could, and it turned over. Anyways, mine still starts fine and runs everthing.

 

Hah! I was just thinking it was probably a Ninja Warrior! You beat me to the punch line.

 

I had a similar problem a few weeks ago. I started my quad up with the electric start, drove it, everything worked fine. Shut it off and let it sit for about a half hour and then went to start it up and it just went click, click, click. Used the pull start and it fired up on the first pull. It ended up being my battery was shot. I purchased a new battery, set it on the trickle charger for a couple of hours to make sure it was fully charged and it's worked great since. All this in about 40 degree weather and it's stored in an insulated garage. My $.02.

 

just a little info. i used to think cold weather was hard on batteries but hot weather kills them faster.

 

Polaris had a bad batch of batteries on the 04.5 machines. Yours lasted longer than most. I have two friends that had there batteries calf on there new rides. I recall reading a post where there was a lot of 04.5 owners who were experiencing battery failure as well. This is not a isolated incident.

 

What winch are you running? I have a couple of 04.5 Sportsman and the contactor (solenoid) on the 2.5ci which is on my 400 went nuts! It drained my battery every night and the when trying to operate the winch, only sometimes would malfunction. One evening after a ride on the dunes I was hosing the Ute down and I kept hearing a clicking sound even though the key was out and all power off. It was the contactor going on and off all by itself. It was only a few months old so I contacted Warn and they sent me a new contactor and switch and said they had some that had been doing that, maybe yours is one of them.

 

As jett says, Polaris had a batch of white colored cased batteries that just crap out. Mine lasted 8 months, put in the new black colored case battery from Polaris and it works just fine. I wouldn't run it, I did and it also took out my voltage regulator. Dealer covered both.