I've been dealing with a starter issue for some time on my 04.5 SP500 where the starter drive won't stay engaged. It will turn the engine over for maybe one revolution then disengage and just spin. I put in a new battery. I've taken the starter apart and tested it and all looks good. The one thing I didn't do however was test the armature on a growler. During the testing the book says to test the solenoid with an ohm meter between the small red wire and the solenoid mounting bracket. The book says I should get a reading of 3.4 ohms, on mine it read 2.7 ohms. Not exactly sure how this might affect the starter but I am replacing it to see if this solves the problem. I looked at the decompression valve and it looks like it's functioning. I've also ordered a new starter drive in case the solenoid doesn't do the trick. If anyone has any other suggestions I would like to hear from you.

 

ttt

 

The starter drive is your problem.

 

I agree with Cornbread2. The fact that your starter continues to spin, means that your starter solenoid is staying engaged. That means it's working. The problem is in your starter.

FYI - I believe the coil resistance for your 04.5 sportsman solenoid should be 2.5ohms, +/- a few percent. I think the 3.4ohm refers to the 04's.

 

Thanks for the response guys, I'm hoping that the bendix fixes the problem and I don't end up like another guy on the forum did, check out "starter bendix gear don't spur in." He did everything and still didn't find the problem. The ohm reading spec I was referring to came out of an 05 manual so my specs could be different from that. My new parts are in the mail so we'll see what happens. Thanks again.

 

The solenoid is very seldom a problem on the Polaris.

I did run into an older 425 where the starter drive would not kick in. The starter would spin but the drive would not kick out into the flywheel.

At first I thought the drive was bad but it and the starter was fine.

It turned out the solenoid was bad. The contacts inside were so dirty it was not getting enough current to the starter to spin it fast enough for the drive to kick out and engage the flywheel.

A bad starter drive will engage the drive and then release before the engine starts.

A good drive once it kicks out into the flywheel will NOT release untill the engine starts or untill you stop cranking.