I have a 98 SP 500. My problem is that the bendix gear donīt spur long enought in. By a cold engine, the bendix only spur in for one crank. Then the starter trun free again. I changed already the brushes on the starter motor and replaced the bendix by a new one.
Now I guess.. I must open my money wallet and invest a new expensive starter. Here i germany the starter cost over the dealer more than dobble the price like in the US.

Has somebody an idea what other reason can it be that the starter donīt crank the engine a few tines over.

I like to avoid the big investment in my old ATV. Next year it will be changed over by a new one.


regards from germany
reinhold

 

if the starter is cranking and you replaced the bendix i think the only things that could be wrong are the teeth on your starter gear are sheared off or the teeth on your flywheel are sheared off. if you need a new starter go to www.mfgsupply.com they have new starters for very cheap.

 

The teeth of the starter, bendix and flywheel looked verry good. Therefor I took the decision to order a new sarter from a USA ebay shop. By the way.. it went fine even with a few euro customs duty.

But now a have a new bendix , a new starter, a new battery, a new starter relay in my 97ī SP 500. But the the bendix gear donīt want to spur long enough in to crank the engine over. only a half or a full crank :-(

Now my last hope is to change the bushings from the bendix to needle bearings. Because they have a little play in the recoil and strater housing.

When someone has an other idea to overcome this problem, pls let me know!! Iīm little bit desperately right now :-(


reinhold from germany

 

Hey Dino, what did you find out the problem was, my 04.5 sp500 has similar problems but I haven't replaced anything yet. Mine starter will engage then immediately kick out and just spin. My drive gear teeth are a little rounded so I'm thinking of starting then pull the starter and clean it up.

 

Hi snowguy


The story contiuned with this thread sarter only spin

So far the problem is not fixed 100percent.

But now my first atv is a grizz 660 and i use the polaris only as a spare bike.

I guess, i narrow the problem down to the decompression issue. I still try to change the spring on the camshaft , which operate the decompression ball.

But annyway, when you find a solution to fix the problem , please let me know.

good luck
Reinhold

 

That doesn't sound too encouraging, bummer that you haven't been able to fix the problem 100%. I've got a few more things to check out before I give up. Mine only does this when it's outside in the cold, I live in Alaska. When it's been in the garage it starts fine. What's related to this is the winch does not work either when it's cold (below 0 F) which I think is the winch contactor, so maybe the starter solenoid is bad. Like you I will go with the easy and cheap fixes first. Next I'll take the starter off and see if it's corroded or needs new brushes and check the solenoid and winch contactor. Thanks for the reply.

 

Hmmm. So then, what changes when it is cold? Answer: There is more resistance in the engine system, and the battery will put out less cranking amps.

I would wonder if the battery is slightly weak. When it's cold, try using a booster battery to see if the added amps will make a difference. You could also remove the battery and keep it warm (inside the house), and then install it in the cold machine. (If the battery is low on cranking amps, and with the higher resistance of the cold engine, this <u>may</u> not help.) If you have a volt meter, you could check the voltage of the battery <u>when cranking</u>, but if it disengages too quickly, an accurate reading may not be possible.

Let us know!

 

I did go with a new battery just last week and also bought a Battery Tender Jr. and left it hooked up. I tried it after sitting out for a day or so and same thing. Your right the starter kicks out too soon to get a reading on it. I'm wondering if it's the solenoid as I read on another post when trouble shooting my winch problem that the contactor for the winches can get moisture in them and they will act up in the cold. I'm just wondering if the two problems are related somehow. I'm thinking of replacing the winch solenoid as I'm pretty sure that is bad then see what happens.

P.S. I should mention that mine does start with the pull start so I'm ruling out the decompression valve.

Another thing I was thinking of doing was to shim out the bendix with another washer as maybe it isn't getting out far enough to fully engage the flywheel. Anybody ever shim a bendix?

 

t

 

Just out of curiosity, you might want to try remove the spark plug to see what happens. That would give us some more info. If it cranks properly, then the decompression issue may be a valid thought.