Hi! Just bought a used 2000 polaris 425 expedition 4x4 and I have a couple of questions. It has 80 hours and 800 miles. Was riding it the other day and the lights got real dim and speedo quit working. would not start with the electrical start but would start on the first pull. Cleaned all the battery conections and checked water level. Started the next day with the electrial start and rode it for a few minutes...stopped and it would not start with the electric start. Is this a bad battery? Also, have a question about the pull starter....is there supposed to be oil inside it...the rope is covered in oil. Sorry if these are stupid questions...just new to polaris. Got a good deal on a clean one and love it so far. Thanks!

 

The starter solenoid is most likely going bad for the start problem.There should not be any oil in the recoil housing,my guess would be bad crankshaft seal behind the flywheel.Oil in there could also cause a charging problem.Hope this helps

 

There might be a reason for the oil on the recoil rope. I put oil on my rpoe to keep it from rotting. I don't have an electric starter so I have to make sure that the back-up is always functional!
My MX 400 Sport

 

There might be a reason for the oil on the recoil rope. I put oil on my rope to keep it from rotting. I don't have an electric starter so I have to make sure that the back-up is always functional!
My MX 400 Sport

 

Putty does your 4 wheeler have a winch? My sp500 had the same trouble and it turned out to be the solenoid for the winch. just a thought

 

putty,
could be a couple of different things causing your electrical problem..first off if your going to maintain the quad yourself i suggest you buy the manual,polaris manual is 30 bucks,well worth it..theres a few things that could be causing your electrial problem..so try this.
get an electrical test meter that reads dc/volts,start your quad and connect the meter on the battery terminals and see what its putting out..at an idle it should be around 12.5-13 volts..rev the quad up and it should go up to around 14 volts..if it doesnt go up to 14 or so volts then you may have either a pinched wire to the regulator or a bad regulator or a bad stator..if it isnt up to 14 volts when you rev it up,remove the front rack and pull the hood off,looking down standing in front of the quad above the radiaitor you will see a black box with a bunch of wires,follow them and make sure they arent pinched and grounding anywhere..theres a very good chance if your crank seal is gone(oily pullstart rope) you may have bad stator that was ruined because of that crankshaft seal leaking oil..oil isnt good for the stator and it will burn out..thats what it sounds like but its cheaper and easier to check the things i listed and not have to spend any money..also if you do keep riding it and not fix it,keep in mind that your 4 wheel drive wont work (electric hubs)and you run a chance of burning out light bulbs thru out the quad because of the voltage problems.. good luck,let us know how you make out or if you have any other questions..

p/s you have a great quad as long as it was taken care of,as for the seal being bad isnt a big deal and doesnt mean the quad was hammered on..i also just thought of something,not that it means anything but my quad has about 380 miles and about 64 hours..does that mean that thing was ridden full throttle most of its life,hhhmmmmmmmmmm ????????
ot maybe i just spend too much time in the mud and not drag racing on the trails [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

Hi everyone and thanks for the help! I think it is the oil in the pull rope area that is causing the electrical problem also. I am going to work on it after the holidays and see what i can find.
bowtiepu1 -- i think it is going to be a good one...it sure is clean and in good shape...tires, seat, plastic ect. i guess it was driven a little on the fast side...since you have a lot less miles. i love it so far.
thanks!
oh yea..whats a stator going to set me back?????