Hello atvconnection community! Help!

I'm working on a 1999 Scrambler 400 4x4 for a friend and I can't figure out this problem. It runs fine but won't shut off with the key or kill switch. I have to turn the gas off or choke it out. I took the kill switch/starter switch assembly apart to clean everything up and it looks good. The idle seems to lower just a bit when I turn the key off or hit the kill switch but it won't kill the motor. Wierd. The key switch does activate the lights etc so I think the switch is good. This particualr model doesn't seem to be covered in the manuals I have. Does anyone have a wiring schmatic for this thing so I can see what wires to test? Is this common? Any ideas are welcomed and appreciated.

Thanks, Eric

 

First off welcome to the forums!...

It could still be the key switch i would get a spray can of contact cleaner and spray with the straw and spray it good in keyed switch with the key removed and remove the wiring connector's that plugged to the ignition for corroison , if you find the connector's have corroison use the cleaner on the male and female connection's ; then use some Di - electic grease to keep this from happening again !

My guess is that you have bad ground short , so if it isn't in the key switch or connector's start looking for a bad gound somewere from the wiring harness ; I hope this give's you a starting point !

williebee.......

 

Hi Williebee,
Thanks for the info. The key switch is the easiest so I will start there.

I wonder if the kill switch and key switch work togther to kill it? In other words if the key switch is bad wouldn't the kill switch still do the job? HMM.

I did see a few posts with this issue but most posts ended before they outlined what the resolution was.

Would I just ground the black wire from the CDI to kill it?

Anyone else want to put in their 2 cents?

Thanks, Eric

 

Eric you could try to connect another ground wire by way of the safety kill switch or the ground wire at the key switch to a spot on the frame , there are 2 seperate ground wire's one coming from the key switch and another coming from the saftey kill switch on the handle bar's ; if these ground wire's are corroded with rust where they are bolted to the frame this could be the cause of your problem !

I wouldn't try to ground it at the CDI it could damage it , it would be safer to add a ground wire to your coil with a toggle switch and another wire coming from the toggle to the frame ; this is what i would do if all else fail's it would work the same way that these new lawn mower's with the blade brake and kill wire from the coil work's to kill the engine as a saftey device !

You could try this untill you pinpoint the problem whitch may be schaffing of a wire in the wiring harness from rubbing again't the frame , maybe this can get you going in the right direction ; i believe i would rather have your problem ( unable to kill the engine ) than no starting even if i had to pull the spark plug boot off to kill the engine lol !

Another thing i would check for a short in the case of a chanch that your quad continue's to draw juice from the battery when you kill the engine , to keep from running down your battery or worse burning your wiring harness and the quad ; remove your battery cable and with the switch in the off position touch the cable to battery post to see if there's a spark (you can see better in the dark) if you do see a spark then there's a short somewhere in the wiring (unless your quad is like mine) regular clock in the pod draw's current even when everything is in off possition to prevent having to reset clock every ride .

If i let my quad sit for more than a week in between ride's i remove both battery cable's to keep from having to recharge the battery , the battery that came with my 2006 AC 400 FIS Auto 4x4 had to be replaced 2 yrs after i got it in feb. 2006 it was one of the cheap vented one's AC put in their quad's ; i replaced it with a sealed type from Auto Zone with more CCA's and i also replaced the hard plastic fuel line's and vent tube's with 1/4" GoodYear Automotive fuel hose .
The GoodYear fuel hose fixed a hard starting issue that i was having from day one ( electric choke/enrichment ) would lose pressure at the primer lever , since then i haven't had any hard starting issue's ; nuff said about my quad .

Here's hoping you find the problem or untill someone else jump's in with better info on solving you problem , good luck and ride safe when you're out on the trail ; i like to run into new rider's on the trail ( figuratively speaking) hoping it isn't a crash !

williebee......