Hello,
I have a 2002 sportsman 500. I recently replaced the starter, solenoid, and spark plug and it was running great. Then when I was riding it the other day I noticed the lights dim a bit. The next day when I went to ride it, it would not start. I get nothing at all when I turn the key. It doesnt try to crank and no clicking at all like it is trying to start. I also have no lights or power to the pod and the red light does not come on on the kill switch when in the run position. I am getting 12 volts from the battery and the starter (tested with Multimeter) and tried replacing circuit breakers but no luck. Any ideas? Thanks!

 

Doesn't happen often(rarely in fact) but a melted fusible link can stop all power to the front even if the circuit breaker has been changed. Item #27. Plus not a bad idea to see if any wires have pulled out from the regulator/rectifier. Item #35. Dirt Cheap Yamaha & Polaris OEM Parts & Accessories – Cycle Parts Warehouse

 

ok i will se if i can find anything. It does start if I use the pull start and lights do work but seem to flicker just a bit once started.

 

Then I'd start checking for wiring shorts under the front panel from the ignition switch,high beam connector harness(where a lot of ground shorts happen),main harness they tie into and left control switch. The connectors leading into the left control switch can become dirty,not making a good contact or the contacts inside the switch itself can get dirty over time causing problems.

 

Well I owe you a huge thanks because I probably would have never found the problem on my own. I started looking around the battery/solenoid area and found a wire that had broken off and was just hanging. There is a thin small wire that attaches to the bolt on the right side of the solenoid that had broken off and was causing the problem. As soon as I reattached the wire it started right up. Thanks so much for your response to my thread!

 

Sort of like the old proverb: "For want of a nail the shoe was lost,
for want of a shoe the horse was lost,
for want of a horse the knight was lost,
for want of a knight the battle was lost,
for want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
So a kingdom was lost—all for want of a nail."
All it takes for electrical problems is one little wire to screw up everything.. Glad you found the problem.