AWD and AWD light is not working on my 2000 Polaris Sportsman 500. Speedometer is not working either, I even tried to bypass the speedo with the brown/white wire and it still will not work. I have read the if the AWD light is blown the AWD will not work. Any ideas?? Thanks in advance.

 

I just bypassed my speedometer last weekend on my 2000 Sportsman 500. I had the same problem. Double check your ground.I had to move mine a few times before I got it to work. Also make sure you plug the rest of the wires back in to the speedometer or it will not work. Good Luck

 

agreed, that i have read in the past the grounding out is the key for this to work. on the older bikes the light in the awd has to work in order to complete the circuit.

 

Do you think a 2000 is considered "an older bike"

 

im not sure when the light bulb years were an issue. but a simple check of the bulb would at least eliminate that as a problem.

 

2000 is the first year of the digital speedo which has to work to have AWD, really dumb thing to do if you ask me. The analog speedos 96-99 could be smashed off in a roll over and it would not affect the AWD one bit.

You must off done something wrong in the by pass trick. I would not buy a $300+ Speedo also when the times comes,I never really even look at the thing anyways while riding. Remove the whole handle bar pod and just call it a "500 Xpedition" rather than a "500 Sportsman".[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

I checked the bulb and it did not look like it was blown out, it is sodered in though. Cleaned the AWD contacts while I had it apart, it still does not work. As far as the bypass thick, I took the brown/white wire out of the connector and ground it to the bolt that holds the handlebars on, it still did not work. I am thinking it may be something else now but do not know what to check. Anymore suggestions????

 

a multi meter is $10 at walgreens and it could find your problem, the ohm test part will tell you 100% if your bulb is good.

 

Hi, I'm having the same problem with my 99' sportsman. all the light bulbs were blown out, the speedometer don't work and the awd light and awd don't work. talked to the dealer and he said that if the battery is not strong enough it will blow out all the bulbs and the awd won't work. the bike runs fine i unpluged the 6 wire plug behind the speedometer and the bike still ran I pluged it back in and the bike stalled and would not start. Unpluged the 6 wire plug again and it starts right up. does this mean the speedometer is bad? $300 is alot to change the speedometer... Any ideas? thanks Mike

 

Just an update on this: after switching out the fluid and going for a few hour ride in some ugly terrain on Sunday, awd in reverse works perfect now. Front left wheel got stuck in awd a couple times, but other than that worked flawlessly