Wow, what a helpful bunch you all are. I'm coming to one conclusion though and I think that is that 4 wheeling is for boys with a father!!!! Or a wise mechanic friend!!! Yes, we're looking into getting a manual for his bike. $100 plus tax though because for his year it includes 96, 97 and 98 for the manual. Or something like that. His starter is on the left side of the bike if you were sitting on it, what we would call the drivers side in a car. It is not behind the pull start, but behind what I'm told is the clutch plate. Now lets make this all a little more clearer. His bike Did NOT make a clanking sound prior to taking it apart. It sounded good, it seemed to run good other than he lost a belt within a day. I don't know if that's on his part because he's very new to 4 wheeling, we always lived in a city prior to now. Anyhow he took the bike apart hoping to get the electric start fixed...he has to pull start it .... we put the electric start back in unfixed as polaris quoted him $700.00 for a new starter. They said is old one is shot and missing pieces or something like that. So we did put the starter back in so that no dirt or water, etc. would get into the engine. We left the one piece out though, it was already out when he got the bike, a flywheel (????), it attaches to the one end of the starter and has teeth in it. It wasn't in when we got the bike, the fellow had it sitting in oil in the back compartment. Anyhow the bike sounded fine before all this. Then my son and a friend tried to take off the clutch plate. They did not use a puller, the one fellow tried moving the inner part of the clutch with the arms on it by tapping lightly on it. He said he didn't even move it. So they decided to just wiggle the plastic back piece for the belt cover enough to squeeze their hand behind and get the screw out that way, so they never did completely remove the clutch, just the cover plate on the clutch which holds the big red spring in place. That they did remove. I personally think by them tapping on the inner piece they've moved something out of line. Does it cost much to put things back into line???? We did discover by the way that the rubber gasket on the belt cover is missing a chunk so think that's how our belt got wet. For now we're just going to silicone it up.
Anyhow look at my Looooonnnnng reply...........women, right!!!! Can never say a few words! Thanks to everyone for all the help, it really is nice of everyone.

 

TxRedneck, you are right, the starter access is by removing the cover on the right hand side (passenger) as you are sitting on it. However, the starter is bolted to the back of the plate, towards the left (drivers side). This causes much confusion as to the actual location of the starter. To inspect the starter, you remove the cover with the pull cord in it. There are mounting bolts that you can get to from inside this cover, to remove and install the starter motor as a unit. I think that is also how you check out the starter drive.
In general, if you want to inspect the starter, or starter drive, you remove the sngine sidecover that has the pull-cord coming out of it.
Mom, it seems you have discovered the #1 problem area on an Xplorer, or any Polaris 400 machine, the starter drive. The clue is when you said a part was missing when you got the machine, and it was soaking in oil. This piece is called the starter drive. It is the mechanism that connects the starter to the engine when you hit the start button. The teeth in it grab the teeth on the engine flywheel, turning it over to start it. By design, it 'lets go' of the flywheel when the engine starts. It has one great weakness, though. On the Polaris 400 engines, it is mounted low and to the front of the engine, so any water you go through splashes right on the starter, and the starter drive is the first thing that gets rusted. The rust causes it to stick, either causing it not to 'grab' the flywheel, so you have to pull cord it, or on rare occasions, it won't let go, making a growling or grinding noise after the engine starts. If you have the part, look at it carefully, there are really 2 pieces to it, and they are spring-loaded. You should be able to move the pieces against each other. Try twisting, wiggling, and squeezing together and pulling apart on the 2 pieces. (there are really more than 2 pieces, what I mean are 2 pieces that move in relation to each other)

Here is another question for you. If you were to hit the starter button, does the starter motor whirr? If so, the starter motor may be good (the expensive part) and the drive may be all that needs replacing. Sometimes the soaking in oil will free it up, especially if you work it loose by hand. Once you get it loose, keep adding oil (or Wd-40) and wiggling until rust quits coming out of the 'guts'. This may take a while. If it seems to work real smooth, you might not have to buy this part. You should however, go to your Polaris dealer, and get the special grease for it. Polaris is aware this part gets moisture in it and rusts, and started making/selling a special waterproof grease just for it. I think it is called either starter grease or starter drive grease.
If the motor doesn't whirr smoothly, though, this probably won't fix it. You will be talking a brush kit, at least. Not that tough to do, but you really do need the service manual, with pictures, or someone who has worked on it before, to see how everything goes.

Another possibility on the clanking sound. Sometimes, when the belt gets torn, especially if it gets completely shredded, a chunk of the old belt gets stuck somewhere, which can cause all kinds of problems. Make sure you get every last piece of the old belt out of every nook and cranny of the pulleys.
I hope I helped more than I confused you.
I have a Clymer repair manual I got through Cabela's. Otherwise, you can get them at www.clymer.com or sometimes through your dealer. It shouldn't cost more than $40 or so, for a Clymer.

 

I helped my friend work on his last night pretty easy job to pull the starter it is done from the pull cord side . We replaced his bendex on the starter the part with the small gear on it you were talking about .When you push the start buttons if the starter spins over but then doesn't turn over thengine then you need a new bendex my buddy paid $130 for it when he got his yesterday. On the clutch sounds like it didn't get put together right might be a good indea to take it back apart if it's making a loud noise somethings not right go back and double check everything look for wear on the parts cause by the cluncking. hope this helps I wouldn't buy a starter for $700 either.

 

Mom
Let's keep that boy wheeling!Let me tell you a store.One day I had to replace my belt,so I changed the clutch housing seal at the same time.When I put the cover back on I just started putting the screws in and tighting them up all the way one at the time.When I started it up there was scrapeing and grinding sound in the housing.So I started by lossoning the screws and retighting a little here and a little there until it was tight and there was no sound.

I think the best way to handle this little problem is to first.Take the housing cover off,then start the motor.Keep every thing away from the clutch(hands,clothing,feet,ect.)and don't ride it.Make shure the bike is NOT in gear.Rev it a little and listen for the sound.If there is know sound I think we found your problem.Go a head and put a seal in,if any thing just to take up some space between the back peace and the cover so the cover won't set down to for and rub.If it makes the sound without the cover on take a small rod and very carefully push the back peace away from the clutch and see if there is a chang in the sound.Wiggleing or moving the back peace to get at the starter they my have damagedit.Try these things and get back to us.

DON'T pay 700.00 dollars for a starter! If the starter drive will move like Farmer said it's good.You can get a starter rebuild kit for 55.00.First things first lets get this sound taken care of.After that we'll get to the starter. GOOD LUCK and let us know how it goes.

 

Well you're right, all it was is the housing was rubbing against the belt, or visa versa. I was just very worried that the clutch was out of alignment and then if he drove it the bearings would eventually go, and before you knew it we'd have an engine problem. I've learnt in life not to let little sounds or things go too long!!! As to the belt slipping we discovered he needs a new rubber gasket in the belt cover, hopefully that'll cure that problem. I just want to see him get back 4 wheelin. Lots and lots of trails out here and he's looking so forward to it. So am I[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

I at least know where we can go now for some sound advice and it's nice to find a forum where I don't feel like a loser for buying a polaris.

Take care fellows, and thanks a LOT!

Momstheword.

 

The starter does list at over 700 bucks up here in Canada. I was in the same boat as you and your son, Mom....starter NFG on a used quad I bought. I took the starter completely off and fabricated an aluminum plate to cover the hole and keep water out. I ran all last summer like that. I've since found a used starter from a friendly USA fella I met through these forums. (thanks Ben...) A lot of guys remove the starters for weight savings on their modded quads, and since they're not worth 700 bucks in the US, even with our exchange rate, decent deals can be made.....keep your eyes open.

 

Mom...........
Don't you dare feel bad about buying a Polaris!!! I wanted to share a few little tricks I have learned over the years that really make a Polaris perform.
It sounds to me like your son's belt is getting wet. When the belt gets wet, it slips. Many new Polaris owners make the mistake of trying to make the bike "go" while the belt is wet. Mistake. Once the belt is wet and begins to slip, you should put the bike in neutral and rev the engine just a bit to help dry out the belt. This process can take several minutes to dry the belt but it will save you from buying a new one every other week. This is the preferred method for drying the belt on a stock bike.
I got tired of this method very quickly...........
You can easily snorkle this belt (PVT) by removing the stock PVT exhaust that leads to the front of the bike. Then replace it with heat protected hose using a simple screw hose clamp. Run the other end of the hose under the plastic body forward and up to the base of the handle bars. Zip-tie the hose along the way to keep it secure. You now have the PVT exhaust sitting approx 12" higher than stock. This will keep the water off of your belt. No longer a need to dry it out. You will also need to seal the plastic belt housing with silicone.(like a gasket). There is also the option of a drain plug that I put on all of my bikes. Just drill a hole in the bottom of the plastic housing, screw in a hose fitting with a screw-on cap.
Now you have a snorkled PVT with no worries of going through deeper water. This will keep your belt dry and the tires spinning. I have used this method on all of my bikes because all I do is play in the mud and deep water. It hasn't failed me yet. Even if you do happen to sink your bike in a lake or dip your new custom snorkle hose, you can just unscrew the cap on your new drain plug and drain the water out of the PVT. Then you are ready to go!
I know this might sound like a lot, but it is the kind of project that is tough to screw up and very cheap to accomplish. This will save your belt time and time again. Hope this will help!

 

WOW, thanks for all the info, but I think for now I'll just print it out because I wouldn't know one part from the next! But it sounds like you've done your research! We're sure looking forward to this 4 wheelin, and I don't think Polaris is a bad bike at all. Just has it's flaws. And it sounds like you've figured out a way around them.

To the fellow Canadian I send my hello, especially to the fellow Albertan. I was born and raised in Alberta, moved to BC for one year, traveled the states for another year and ended up in the east. Only been here for about 9 months. The kids heart lies still in the west though.

We'll let you all know when we finally get on the trails and let you know how we're making out. Thanks for all the info. Through all the hassle though we did find out we need new pads,new rotors, and to rebuild a caliper??? something like that. So hopefully we should be on the trail by the weekend.

Thanks again fellows.