Help, Help, Help!
This is getting expensive. I have just fried my third CDI box. The dealer claims there is nothing wrong, other than the CDI just dies. I have a pretty good working knowledge of electricity and electronics, so I know these things don't just fry on a whim. There has to be some kind of reason.
He tried to tell me, it was because my winch (warn 2000#) solenoid was wired into my light wiring. When I asked him to show me where the lights went to the CDI in the wiring diagram, he tried and ended up scratching his head. "Jeeez Bob, It don't go there." (not his actual words).
But, he changed the box, disconnected the winch, all seemed fine. We didn't run it long, just enough to test and put it on the trailer, then into the garage.
I followed his suggestion and wired the winch into the brown wire off of the ignition switch, 12V when switch is on. Everything appeared to work fine, ran it, lights on, winch worked. This was about 2 months ago.
Work has kept me from riding since then. Tonight, I hooked up my plow, started it up. It was a bit hard to start, got it running, turned on lights, lowered plow, engaged 4wd. I went 50 feet, put it in reverse, raised plow, backed up. Put it in High gear and lowered the plow, it died. Had to push it back into the garage. I checked the plug while cranking, and no spark whatsoever. One thing different now, though. When I try to use the winch to raise the plow, it just clicks, like the battery is low. No other low battery symptoms though.
Could the winch solenoid be my problem?? The winch itself? Or should I look elsewhere?

Chappy

 

I found the problem.
I stripped off all the plastic and checked every wire and connector. My ground wire (black) coming off of a gang connector just prior to the coil had bubbled insulation. I couldn't even get the connectors apart. They go to two terminal ends on the coil, so I bypassed the gang connector.
At least the dealer replaced the CDI for free since they missed that the first two times.
Back up and running, ready to plow!!