Please help a newbie.

I recently have been having problems with my 1994 400L. When I charge my battery everything on the quad works perfectly. After a few runs with it I can no longer start it via the electric start and I lose all power to lights, winch etc. I have just recently purchased a new battery and the problem persists. Any ideas? I was thinking solenoid or some sort of fuse.

 

I should also state that I can start the quad via pull start after having the electrical issues.

 

Do you get spark? If not it may be your stator. I jsut replaced a stator on my 400L. Im pretty sure the 94 400L doesnt have fuses. If they do i havent seen any on mine.

 

Yes I always have spark just lose all other electrical after battery loses its charge

 

have you checked to see if your charging system is working?
when running at about 1500-3000 RPMS it should show 13.5 to 15v at the battery

 

I have not checked the charging system. I don't know much about this quad at all as I have only had it about a year. I will check that tomorrow and post results. Thanks for all the help guys you rock!

 

Yep... it sounds like your charging system or it's wiring.

It sounds like you can start it with the recoil and ride it all you want?
You just keep draining the battery?

If so, here is a little detail for you. When I bought my Sport 400 it had a bad battery. I could start it with the recoil and run it all I wanted.

But the thing is with this 2 stroke engine is that the output at low RPM is not very high. My headlight would not burn at all at idle. But I could rev it up and the light would come on and get brighter.

I slapped a new battery in mine and have not had a problem since.
Everything is fine.

You could just have a bad battery too. Go buy yourself a good one for starters... you're going to need a good one either way... right?

I highly recommend the Interstate glass mat batteries. Get one.

After you pop it in, see how it goes. The worst that can happen is that you drain it once and have to charge it. Then you know for sure automatically that the stator output is low or the voltage regulator or rectifier is gone or the wiring is bad.

Charge the battery back up and take a reading at the battery with it running with a multi-meter. Then give it some gas and see what happens. Also check it at idle while cutting the lights off and on.

I would doubt that the output from the stator is too low to run the bike and charge the battery. I'd bet that the voltage regulator/rectifier has gone bad if anything at all is wrong.

 

First I would like to thank you guys for the help. I had this problem originally and I had the battery replaced with a new /good one (hopefully). I am ordering the manual so I can get the part number for the voltage rectifier / wiring is bad. Hoping for an easy and inexpensive fix.

 

So you already replaced the battery and the problem persists?

If so...

Meanwhile in waiting... take the battery out or loose from the connectors and recharge it once more. Once fully charged, unhook... then monitor the voltage over the days in waiting.

If it holds it's charge, look to the regulator / rectifier.

A service manual for it should have a few test procedures for the parts.

 

i had a 400L with the same problem... when i took it in to fix the 4x4 the guy said sum wires on the generator...dunno what he was talkin bout but it fixed it