Hello All,

My sportsman 500 speedometer quick working recently, I have replaced this unit once before when everything on the speedometer quit working and that fixed it. This time however the speed is the only thing not working. The unit still lights up and the odometer still continues to count up miles just fine. The speedometer needle is wrapped all the way around to where it is now under the odometer reset button instead of resting on top.

I have researched on these forums and the Halls effect senson seemed to be the most called out problem so I replaced it this morning and my speedometer is still not working. I lifted the ATV and turned on the AWD and put it in gear and gave it some gas and I could hear the front hubs lock in while they were turning. I tried to stop the wheels from spinning but there is plenty of torque which tells me the AWD is working. How do I get the rest of the speedometer working as it should? I realize a lot of people would just not worry about the speed but I am one of those folks that like my stuff to work as it should.

Any ideas on what is causing the speedometer needle to wrap all the way around to the max position? I am thinking the reference voltage it needs to work correctly is messed up causing the needle to go all the way to one side. Question is where is it getting the reference voltage from? The schematics don't show what goes on inside the speedometer but my guess is it is coming from there. Which means my speedometer is bad again. Ok, I'm done for now, any thoughts are welcome. Thanks in advance for the assistance.

Jeff

 

You can try to remove the harness and see if it helps,along with a good tap to the speedo body.. If it doesn't help,look at the post by TaterTots that may help. May have to pry off the bezel and pull the needle off and reset. Either that or a new speedo again.. http://forums.atvconnection.com/pola...ml#post3232409

 

I replaced the Halls Effect Senson on the front right hub, but that didn't help. Is it fair to assume that the reference voltage for the Halls Effect Sensor is produced inside the Speedo and the speedo could still be causing my problems? I think I already mentioned that the lights and the odometer on the speedo are working fine. The AWD seems to be intermittent, the reason I say this is the day I noticed the speedo acting crazy was the same day I got stuck and noticed when I put it in AWD the front wheels were not spinning at all. However, when I put it up on the ATV jack and placed it in AWD the front wheels were spinning fine and I could hear the hubs lock in, plus there was so much torque on the wheels I could not stop them from turning no matter how hard I tried. I know when the whole speedo is dead the fix mentioned in another thread was to replace the SCR between the two capacitors inside the speedo. Is one of those other transistor looking items inside the speedo the source of the reference voltage for the Halls Effect Sensor?

Thanks again for any input.
Jeff

 

If you don't want to tear the spedo apart and can live without speed function you can just jump the brown/white to a brown coming from the main spedo harness to by pass the spedo entirely. As far as the transistors,they could possibly be tied into the hall effect sensor along with the internal awd connection for the awd. I never tore one apart at the shop,just replaced them when they failed. You might pm TaterTots for any addition info that she might have.

 

I don't like "jury rigging" things to make them work. I would rather keep it original that way if I sell it later someone else doesn't inherit some bastardized POS that they can't troubleshoot on their own if they want to and won't have to pay a shop to rewire it so it works like it did from the factory. I have a new speedo on the way and I will tear this one down and see about fixing it. It is obvious these speedos aren't very durable as this is the second one I have had to buy. But now that I have found the post that shows how to fix it I will always have a working spare on hand for a quick change out to keep it working like it should. Thanks for the help, will let you know how things go.

Jeff

 

[QUOTE=jhenney;3240710]I don't like "jury rigging" things to make them work. I would rather keep it original that way if I sell it later someone else doesn't inherit some bastardized POS that they can't troubleshoot on their own if they want to and won't have to pay a shop to rewire it so it works like it did from the factory. I have a new speedo on the way and I will tear this one down and see about fixing it. It is obvious these speedos aren't very durable as this is the second one I have had to buy. But now that I have found the post that shows how to fix it I will always have a working spare on hand for a quick change out to keep it working like it should. Thanks for the help, will let you know how things go.

Best to do it the right way as you're doing,but many people don't look at it that way and could care less on problems the next owner could run into..

 

My Hall Effect has not working for 5 years, the speedo's hour meter is the only thing that's works on it and the Hall Effect does not have to work for the AWD part of it thankfully.

If the speedo ever did quit I would just by pass it before buying a $300 new speedo.
Some 4x4 Polaris ATVs like the Scrambler 500,Magnum 325 4X4, Xpedition 425 do not even have speedos to begin with.