I just picked up my Father in laws 2004 Polaris 500 ATP so that I could fix it and start using it.

The quad runs great but the recoil starter housing is full of oil. When you pull the rope out it is saturated with oil

Do any of you have an idea as to what this could be and give me a course of action to take to repair it?

TIA,

Joe

 

When I get the time this week I am going to start pulling it apart to see what I can find

I am really hoping it's something as simple as bad seal/gasket in there.

 

It sounds like a crank seal to me,i can not picture anything else under the flywhell that would leak oil.Sorry I can not be any more help to you.

 

Do you know if I can access and replace that by pulling off the recoil starter housing?

 

and flywheel,possibly the stater plate and lighting coil as well..It's not that bad of a job to do,you will need a flywheel puller.

 

There's no crank seal on the mag side so if the ATV is tipped backwards, wheelieed or filled with to much oil, then it leaks passed the crank bearing into the housing.

There is a drain plug underneath the recoil housing. To drain housing, remove righthand footwell and locate 10mm bolt.

Check the engine oil level, air box/ crankcase breather. Prob could do with a full service. Hope this helps.

 

so you're saying this may not be a problem necessarily, just possibly something happened to it?

I know my father-in-law loaned it to a friend and who knows what he did with it.

Is there a place on this site that talks about servicing them or is all I need to know in the manual? I sell Amsoil so I will probably service it with that.

 

The work shop manual for the 04 ATP is Part number 9918064. This is what the dealers use to strip and rebuild machines.

The operators manual though will show you basic servicing procedures and intervals. Check under the seat, its usually there, sealed brand new and untouched!

See which suits you best.

 

I've been looking here http://www.skagitvalleypolaris...che_section_detail.asp at the diagrams on their site.

I see the drain plug you are talking about and will try to drain that tonight if I have time.

I still cannot picture there not being a seal on the crank. Can you explain that a bit more.

Right now I am thinking about draining the oil out of the recoil housing, checking all fluids and taking it for a ride to see if it fills back up

 

fyi you can download the owners manual, free from polarisindustries.com