I have a guy that brought me his 97 500 sportsman and wants me to tune it up and get it running. He said his pull start does not work anymore is this a common problem. He said he was pulling it and it just got free. I also have to replace the CDI box,spark plug,belt and the belt cover.

 

if i recal right my buds sp 400 had that happen... something with the coil spring breaking

 

Thanks for the info. I will be working on it this weekend when the parts get here.

 

I would pull the cover off and check the recoil spring. It is probably broken.

 

Thanks for the replies. I haven't had time to work on the 500 yet but I did try and pull the pull start. It comes out and retracts fine its like the little dog things don't sling out and catch anything to make it turn over. Would that still be the recoil spring?

 

http://216.37.204.206/wps/Polaris_OE...e=13&A=88&B=38

go to this web site and look at the parts.

 

Thanks that gives me a good idea what to look for.

 

I have a 1997 500 Xplorer (Same as sportsman only no speedo pod). Never had the problem described. But I do have a used working CDI box for sale ($50.00 + shipping). I replaced mine thinking the problem I was having was caused by a faulty CDI. It turns out the problem was a bad camshaft, so the CDI is fine. New one was like $200.00.

Let me know if you are interested.

Mike
mnorton227@yahoo.com

 

What kind of symtoms did it have with the bad camshaft? This one has no spark and the polaris dealer told this guy it was the cdi box.

 

The symptoms I was having was that the machine would start and run fine until you got to about 2000 - 2500 rpms (guessing as I do not have a Tach), it would then start coughing, spitting, farting, backfiring, and even cutting out.

Everyone I talked to seemed to think it was an electricall problem, so I wound up replacing the Coil, CDI, Spark plug, Spark plug wire, and the rectifier/voltage regulator.

In addition to removing and cleaning the carb, changing the air filter, checking the timing, replacing the fuel filter, checking the fuel pump, we also adjusted the valves.

We ran out of ideas so I took it to a dealer, and after he spent hours on it, determined that the exhaust lobe was worn right off the camshaft. I looked at the operation in my shop manual, and it looks pretty easy so I will probably do it this weekend.

Hope that helps.

Thanks,

Mike