Ok, i got this sportsman about 5 years ago, total basket case, previous owners dind't deserve this machine... (wired cooling fan to be on all the time, but failed to fix hole in radiator and ad anti-freeze)... yeah, so real geniuses.

anyway, after rebuilding this thing basically from the ground up over a 4 year period, it ran flawlessly for about a year or so, mudding, snow, and just dry trail riding.

about 2 months ago, i was out riding it, and parked it in shed. when i went out to use it about a week later, it wouldn't start, cranks good, getting fuel, but no spark... its really weird... when i pulled the spark plug, and checked for spark, WHILE the engine is cranking, no spark, as soon as i pull my thumb off the starter button, it will spark... but not WHILE its cranking...

i checked the exciter coil, stator, solenoid, tried pulling the black wire, NOTHING... but still will spark 1 time when i let off the starting button...

HELP ! ! !?

 

Welcome to the forum! Did you clean up the stator area plus did you check resistance on stator? Trigger coil white to white/red 97 ohms + or - 20%. Stator coil green to blk/red 446 ohms + or - 20 % . Coil primary 0.3 ohms, secondary 6300 ohms. Plus red to green stator wire should be 3.2 ohms.First Sportsman models also bad for chunking pieces of flywheel magnets into stators (later models the magnets are encased) Plus check all grounds at coil mounting bolt. Could be as simple as a bad ignition switch also. Cdis and coils were pretty dependable,but can short out. Plus pull the black wire from the reverse limiter (if you've already pulled the black cdi kill wire) and see if you have a good spark. OPT

 

all checks out except pickup... no readable resistance when the coil is unplugged, the cdi plug has .3, but the coil side is reads no resistance whatsoever...

 

Check the wiring at the pickup coil itself. Have had these small soldered wires vibrate loose and barely touch. If wires are intact,you can lightly tap the pick up coil inward toward the flywheel and then check for spark. If doing the same thing I would replace the pickup (pulser) coil first. Ricky Stator
OPT