i have trouble starting my quad, i dont know if its the battery or the cold weather freezing the starter........................ what happens ill turn on my key and on switch and the tail light will light up, but the reverse light is either stuck on, or none of the indicator lights come on, if im lucky the reverse and neutral lights will turn on when they supposed to, then when i press the start button, all i hear is a click, that sounds like it is comming directly off the battery, i pull start it, and ride it around, and then if i turn it off and go back 10 mins later it will start and all the electrics will work.... also, i cant get my AWD to engage, the light in the switch comes off, and i tested it by lifting the rear tires off theg round and pressing the gas, the shafts spin but the awd doesnt work, also i filled my hubs a few weeks ago and now they are bone dry................
could all that be a dead battery, and the reason it will start after i drive it a bit is because it charged? the other question is, how do i know when i need to rebuild my rear shock, and how do i know if a rebuild is what i need to do?

 

Sounds like your battery is dying.
The click you hear that sounds like it is coming from the battery is the starter relay. It is located near the battery. It is the little cylinder shaped thing with 2 heavy wires, and one (or maybe 2) thinner wire connected to it. This is the actual 'switch' that sends power to your starter.
A weak or dead battery will create all sorts of odd symptoms on a Polaris. You never know how the electrical controls will work. Sometimes if the battery is low, even the reverse rev limiter won't work, meaning you can back up as fast (or faster) than you want to.
That could also be the reason your 4wd doesn't work, either. A magnet is used to engage each hub, so low voltage = weak magnet = unreliable 4wd. The hub oil should stay up regardless of the strength of the magnet, however, so check for a bad seal. Usually, you will see a drip or oil spot on the inside of the rim, or right around the brake disk, or that area. It is often confused with a brake fluid leak, as it is about in the same place.
If you run your machine this way until the battery is completely dead, you will also burn out every light bulb on your machine, including those little bitty, pain to mess with bulbs in the dash. At best it would be a pain. At worst, it could be getting dark, and your headlight would go out. I think this is because of power surges coming off the generator. If the battery is bad enough, it can't absorb the surge, and the light bulbs are the weakest link in the electrical system.
You need to rebuild the shock if:
it is leaking,
if you are bottoming out more than you used to, and aren't jumping any higher and haven't gained like 50 lb.,
if it seems to be riding 'bouncy' and adjusting the rebound doesn't help any (I assume your Scram has rebound adjustment).
About the bottoming out part, If it just bottoms out, but otherwise seems to ride fine, tighten up the compression damping if you have that adjustment, and/or tighten up the spring just a little. Try those first. If you can't get it to work right, then rebuild.
I think the shocks are like belts. They don't really have a mileage or time limit before they wear out. Some just go longer than others.

 

thanks, now, should i go out and buy a new battery, or should i try recharging it first?, im going to place my front tires on cardboard, and fil the hubs, if the fluid leaks on the outside i have to replace the O-rings? if it leaks on the inside, can i replace those ones my self? or should i let a dealer do that?

 

If it is the inner seal, it IS something you can do yourself, but you will need a good inch pound torque wrench. The axle nut torque is as such (according to the manual for my 99 Xplorer)
Tighten the nut to 108 inch pounds.
If the cotter pin won't line up with the hole in the axle, continue tightening until it does, not to exceed 125 inch pounds.

If it is leaking around the outer cap, it will just take the o-ring in the cap. Usually, though, it is the inner one, unless the leaking started after you had the cap off for some reason. Sometimes the o-ring can be pinched or torn by removal/installation of the cap. Otherwise they rarely leak there.

I suppose you could try charging your battery, and see if that helps. Just be sure to use a trickle charger, and check the water level in the battery before you start. If you try to charge up a dry or near dry battery, you will overheat it & ruin it. Low water also will prevent it from holding a charge.

 

well, my dads on top of things i guess [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img] i called him at the auto shop and he bought me a battery right off the interstate truck (figureing its interstate cause thats what they usally have), and he says when he brings it home to trickle charge it for two hours then hook it up to the quad, do i need anything but a socket wrench to take the old one out/?

 

Just a wire brush to clean up the connectoins.
That 'battery gunk' stuff seems to help, too.

 

it says in the battery instructions somthing about a vent elbow sealing tube, and replacing it with a longer one, my dad says this is only if you already had a vent tube on it, whats it talkign about./?

 

wow, we dumped out some of the old batterys acid, it looked like mud,

 

The vent tube allows the battery to 'breathe' with different temperatures, and to bleed off any gas that may be produced by the charging process. If you have a vent tube, be sure it isn't plugged. If not, it is OK to just let it vent down, as on your machine, there isn't anything below the battery that could be hurt if a drop or two of acid dripped out.

If the old acid looked like mud, that was the problem, the battery was had. The acid should be almost as clear as water.