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I found this forum while Googling for help on my Scrambler. Be gentle--I'm a complete n00b with virtually no knowledge of internal combustion engines.

I have a 2000 Scrambler 400 4x4 that I bought used from a local ATV place. It's already been back to the shop TWICE not long after I bought it because... hm... I forget what the first problem was, but the 2nd time, it went back because they didn't properly tighten down the face plate around the ignition and I couldn't get the thing to start (as in, couldn't actually trigger the ignition).

I'm not terribly eager to haul it down to them, and I'm certainly not going to pay them $80+ to come get it. Again.

It gets used very sporadically to drag my riding arena. Hasn't been out in a couple months, I would guess. We had a couple nice days of rain, so I thought today would be a great day to drag the nicely damp arena sand.

Oh, well... so much for great plans...

I went out to start it, turned the key, got the green light, pushed the yellow button up... putt putt putt putt putt... it was trying to start, but no dice. Made sure (again) that it was in neutral--had that problem one time before--and tried again. Putt putt.... putt...........putt.... silence.

So I'm assuming a dead battery.

So now what do I do? Don't have a battery charger. Can I jump start it from my truck?

Am I better off just getting a new battery? One source I found online was going on & on about making sure a new battery was fully charged before installing, or it would never maintain a full charge, and it was talking about testing the specific gravity of the battery fluid and maintaining the electrolytes and blah blah blah... Didn't sound like my usual experience of getting a new battery for my truck, which simply involves paying someone to stick a new battery in there.

Any advice you could give would be most welcome. Meanwhile, I'm heading out to drag with my F-250...far from the ideal solution, but the arena needs to be dragged, the horses won't do it, and there's no way I can haul that 100 lb drag through wet sand by hand!

*sigh*

 

welcome to the forum. you should have a pullstart(recoil on the right side) that will start the bike even w/ a dead battery w/ the key on. yes the battery should be fully charged if new befroe installed and used. unless the battery is junk or the charging system isnt working or theres a dead short then it should be running.you really need to have a voltage tester to see how many volts the battery is putting out w/ the bike as it is and then again w/ it running and reved up to see if the charging system is working.