just finished putting a new silent chain in the transmission (works great now), and while i had it apart i put a new starter bendix in it so i could have electric start again. so i got a new battery and it worked great for the first part of the ride. it even worked after a couple pit-stops. towards the end of the ride i noticed that the neutral light and headlights were dim. shut off the engine and tried to start it again but the battery was dead. still starts first pull with the pull-starter. something is draining the battery...... any thoughts?

 

Make sure battery connections are tight.Pull start the machine and see if it's charging 14-14.5 volts back to the battery. These older machines are magneto triggered ignitions and will crank with a dead battery.Battery is mainly for the lights,starter,fan,etc. If it's just showing battery voltage above an idle,most of the time it's a faulty regulator rectifier on these old models. Check that wires are secure in the terminal board.You can also test resistance between each yellow wire to each other and each to ground. NO wire should zero out to each other or to ground.#18 on the parts break down is the location under the front panel. Dirt Cheap Yamaha & Polaris OEM Parts & Accessories – Cycle Parts Warehouse Ebay has them pretty cheap. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Rectifier-Regulator-FITS-POLARIS-SCRAMBLER-400-1995-1999-NEW-/290486713215?pt=Motors_ATV_Parts_Accessories&hash=item43a25b7b7f&vxp=mtr

 

thanks dude. will give it a try

 

hi guys, just wanted to clarify:
is this the voltage regulator rectifier here bolted to the oil tank?



thanks

 

Yes. Regulator will have a yellow,red,yellow/brown OR yellow/red wires. #4060087
Amazon's pretty cheap if you need one.

 

replaced the regulator/rectifier and took her for a short ride today and everything worked great. had the headlights on for the whole trip (something i never did before because i didnt want to drain the battery) and the electric start worked woopie
oh, and the above picture is not the regulator/rectifier, you have to take the oil tank out to get to it. cheers

 

Yep that's the cdi.. I just glanced at the yellow and red wire coming out from behind it from the regulator ,not the shape of it.. Blame it on old age if you want.. Glad the regulator solved your problem.