A friend of mine who is a new owner of a Polaris 4x4 Magnum 425 is having trouble. Any input is appreciated! Here is what she says:

" ... I was riding the ATV and it was fine, put it in the pole barn and went out to ride it the next day...it would not turn over..was dead. Got my battery charger out, put it on the right setting for the size of the battery....charged it for about an hour, and it started fine...took it out to run it and let it continue to charge....all of the sudden the HOT light came on and I took it to the pole barn and turned off the engine....it would not start up again when I tried an hour later..dead...any thoughts? ..."

Thanks much,
Steve

 

sounds to my like a bad battery or the charging system has a fault somewhere. the battery can run the fan for so long. radiator gets poor air flow causing the hot light.
check voltage of battery when cold. fire bike up and rev it up to about 1500 RPM's. check voltage at battery while at high idle. should be 13.5 to 15v. if not then its either the regulator or the stator

 

Not sure on the age of the battery. I guess she should get a new one regardless - then if the ATV dies again, or the voltage isn't what's mentioned above, we'll know that's not why. Does that sound reasonable?

 

wondering it that bike (depending on year of it)had the ecm issue that alot of the 450's and 500's had around 06'? charge battery and start and check the output voltage as mentioned and if what he said for range of voltage @3,000 rpms then charging system not working correctly. imo.

 

Voltage regulators went bad on those older bikes, it is the black box in front of the radiator.

 

This one is even older; it's a '98.

 

I have a 97 like it exept its green, been a good bike.

 

At the voltage regulator that is by the radiator, check the connector for the red wire that goes to to it. I have seen alot of those corroded to the point it just breaks in half. Its the main wire from the battery so kills all the power. Charlie