Thanks! I have the Clymer and the Suzuki Service Manual for this quad. I have used the troubleshooting in each and everything checks out fine. At least the bench testing has been good. However, under load, something is messing up. Or... there is a short somewhere.

 

Yes, prove everything else is good....two or three times ( that's what I do )..:. Then you can about bet its the CDI. If next time you look for spark, and don't have it, pull the CDI, put it in the freezer overnight, then try it again. Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn't. If you have spark, then def a CDI. But again, this is just a "sometimes works troubleshooting " method. If it sparks, the CDI is still faulty and will fail again as soon as it gets warm.

 

Faster.....I laughed out loud when I read this part of your reply. It's a bit colder outside than in my freezer. I've started this thing up at minus 14 this year, only to have it die a minute later. Then.. nothing! No spark.... UGH! (BTW, I keep a battery tender on it in the winter) Thanks for the laugh, Bud! :-)

 

Well Darn! I am not going to complain about my 25 degrees here in my area....LOL....and minus 14 is colder than any freezer I know of..... Where are you on it...CDI?

 

I've seen it a lot colder than -14 here in Northern NY (near the Canadian border)

I'm thinking it has to be the CDI. I did the opposite of what you suggested and aimed a heat gun at the CDI. The bike started right up and ran for about 5 minutes or so then died. I tried the heat again, but nothing. HHHmmmm. So, I tested the voltage going INTO the coil from the CDI and it was all over the place. From 15.8VDC down to .3VDC. This was just all over the place and almost impossible to read on the Digital multimeter. I'll run a few more tests, but I'm thinking I will bite the bullet and order a new CDI. Yes... No????

Any thoughts on this?
Jackie

 

I'm thinking it has to be the CDI. I did the opposite of what you suggested and aimed a heat gun at the CDI. The bike started right up and ran for about 5 minutes or so then died. I tried the heat again, but nothing. HHHmmmm. So, I tested the voltage going INTO the coil from the CDI and it was all over the place. From 15.8VDC down to .3VDC. This was just all over the place and almost impossible to read on the Digital multimeter. I'll run a few more tests, but I'm thinking I will bite the bullet and order a new CDI. Yes... No????

Any thoughts on this?
Jackie[/QUOTE]

If those voltages were " all over the place " and the ATV wasn't running, then its your meter or you may not be getting a good ground. For me, when I check voltage, I clip the negative side of the meter directly to the negative side of the battery. Before I purchase a CDI ( just purchased one for a customer two weeks ago....was almost $300, 2001 Kodiak 400 ), I test every componant three times....yep, no kidding and I also try to wiggle the wires a little at each connector I'm testing. I'm never 100% confident when I order a CDI because I'm always worried if there is a broken/damaged wire somewhere. Having said that, a new CDI has "fixed" the spark issues every time ( after proving everything else was good ). Anyway, if you have metered ( resistance checks ) the coil, the seconday wire, the spark plug cap, ignition switch, kill switch, pulser, stator, checked/cleaned all connectors....and all is good, it should be the CDI.

 

Just for grins and giggles,isolate the cdi kill wire and if it runs and see if it keeps running. If it does,could be one of two things. Either a short somewhere between the cdi,ignition switch or emergency kill switch wiring or the kill circuit wire in the cdi itself could have an intermittent short. I've found that to happen on Polaris cdis over the years. I've even had some customers that didn't want to by a new cdi just for this and opted to kill it by using the choke and leaving the cdi kill wire disconnected.. Again just fishing or wishful thinking before you take the leap of faith and spring for a new cdi.

 

Okay guys... tomorrow I am going to have an assistant to help me with all this testing. I will check all the wiring, connections, and switches one more time Old Polaris, I will do what you suggested too to see if the kill circuit is at fault.

I will post tomorrow after all this is done to let you know what I have found.

Thank you BOTH for any and all suggestions you have given! :-)

Jackie

 

Ooops, I never got a chance to even look at the ATV today. I will get to it in the next few days and post the results.

Thanks guys,
Jackie

 

I disabled the Kill switch and it didn't help. Gggrrrr!

I have given up.... I ordered a CDI for the bike. I found one at partzilla for $265 with free shipping, and it should be here in around 4 days. I am looking at it this way, if it works fine, and if not, I'll just keep swapping out parts until something makes this machine run. I can't afford a new one. Hell, I can't afford a used one, especially not knowing what kind of shape a used one is really in. I KNOW what my little Suzuki has done, and how well it's been taken care of since I purchased it new. Even if I put 1,000 dollars into it, it's better than what I can buy for $1000, right?

I'll let you know if I made the right decision in a few days!

Jackie (with fingers crossed)