I have seen postings that a low or bad battery can take out bulbs and other things, but i have a hard time believing that would happen when they equip you with a pull start for just that occassion. With that being said, my problem just happen to start after i left the key on and drained the battery and pull started to get going.

 

If it is just the "Hall Effect" (sensor) which is gone on mine, you would have no speedo needle movement or odometer only. My speedo light still works and the hour meter as well as the Dummy lights forward reverse etc..... the AWD switch light works and the AWD it's self.

"Another of Polaris changes for the worst. When they changed to the more expensive($300) digital speedo from the old analog speedo($200),they Incorporated into the AWD system! On the older models if you smashed your pod on a back flip and smashed your speedo life just went on without a speedo.

Now if the speed breaks it means NO 4WD FOR YOU until you buy a Speedo off of us for $300! I don't know about you but I could care less about replacing a speedo if I wrecked it but now you have no choice."

This is the first I heard of a bypass method to get AWD without the speedo though.
[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

guys
i have old type speedo(analog) which was damaged when i flipped it, 6months ago.
Since then , sometimes i had awd , sometimes not due to the switch light coming on or not.
yesterday the bike woudnt start, removed plug , no spark.
after trying to find out where it was shorting for several hours i removed 6 prong plug from back of speedo , got great spark!!
insertd wire between brown and white and brown lines and awd lightcame on.
left 6 prong plug unplugged and taped up and re-assembled everything(speedo didnt work anyway)
Everything working great now , however i believe i may have over-rode some kind of safety feature with awd, can anyone clarify for me

 

Sure enough a new speedometer fixed my problem. Great trouble shooting advice also, the speedo bypass worked as advertised. Thanks to everyone.

Mike 1999 500 Sportsman

 

WOW thats strange, on my dads 1997 Sportsman ,it got in a back flip accident and totaled the speedo yet the AWD worked great still.

 

I believe it is 99 and newer in which they routed AWD through the speedo

 

Sorry guys
i give up on polaris and their crappy awd problems, went out yesterday and bought an 2003 500 artic cat with manual select 4wheel drive, bit slower but no worries about electronics and plastic cages, works great.better ground clearance , better suspension and seems to be lighter bike also

 

My speedometer came in yesterday, I put it in and everything - including the speedometer, odometer and AWD - seems to be working as it should. Thanks again Freedom for everything - your AWD override saved me a few times while I had it in place.

After my initial post, I've heard of a lot of people having the same speedometer issues with their Polaris machines. Leads me to believe either the speedometers themselves are bad (or very sensitive), or it's a design flaw by Polaris putting the speedometer in control of so much. Any thoughts on why the speedometer goes bad on so many machines? Is it because they are getting wet and shorting? I was thinking of maybe adding a little silicone in some areas to protect it a little more from shorting but not sure.

PA Polaris

 

i dont know if its water related or not, but personally i think it has to do w/ a voltage problem. either a lack of or maybe too much. who knows w/ electrical. i've had all my bikes w/ water getting on the speedo(carefully not use the pressure washer to near it) and knock on wood havent had a problem yet.

 

i gave up on the polaris awd and bought an arctic cat 500 with manual shift for awd, ground clearance is unbelievable