First Post / First Polaris = I have a 1999 Sportsman 500 like new 126 hours and 421 miles , it set up for 3 years with a bad starter and starter drive , replaced both and it will spin over and not start , if you ground the plug to the block and spin it over it will spark one time "only" , let off the start button then try and start again and it will spark one time , over and over ------------- any thoughts ?

 

Will it crank up using the pull start? Pull the plug cap and see if you have good spark with the wire grounded to the cylinder. If it does you have a shorted out plug cap.If it doesn't help you may need to pull the recoil cover and check/clean the pick up coil face and flywheel area and possibly have to lightly "tap" the pick up coil bracket inward just a tad. Then see if it cranks with the starter. Before you try this though just pull the black wire from the reverse limiter and see if it cranks.If it doesn't pull the black kill wire from the cdi and see if it starts.Limiters are bad about shorting out causing this problem along with an occasional cdi kill wire short.Item #32 is the limiter. Dirt Cheap Yamaha, Honda, Arctic Cat & Polaris OEM Parts & Accessories – Cycle Parts Warehouse Plus here is one members' solution to his problem that may or may not be related to yours. http://forums.atvconnection.com/pola...ml#post3155476 Plus you can check the pick up coil red and white/red wires for resistance. Should be around 97 ohms. If none of this helps you may need this manual to check out stator resistance specs. http://gh-ftp.com/ORV%20Manuals/Pola...0%20-%20SM.pdf

 

Wooow! , I couldn't have asked for any quicker or detailed reply , I actually came to this site looking for your advice as I heard you were the man when it came to Polaris and had been down this road before that I am on ----- breaking daylight so I am going to give your suggests a try ------------------took a look and seen fishing is in your blood , you can see by "fishfiles" I might wet a line or net from time to time , 99.9 % of the people I meet that fish are alright ----- are you as good at fishing as fixing Polaris ----- I live in southeast Louisiana , we got a "FEW" fish around here -----Thanks for the reply

 

Totally amazing , this is the quickest response and fix I have every had , I walked out side and tried pull starting 3 times and no go , unplugged the black wire off the rev limiter and she fired right up and runs great , 10 minutes max --but --- engine wouldn't kill by the key or the kill button , had to plug the wire back in to kill it ------- so I would think that the rev limiter is bad !/?

 

You pulled the black wire off the cdi if you can't kill it with the key switch or emergency slide switch. You're narrowing the problem down a little now. Trace the wiring back into the left emergency kill switch on the handle bar for any wiring shorts.Plus work the slide switch back and forth several times. Sitting up like it has can cause switches to corrode inside. Same thing on the ignition switch itself. May either be a short in one of these two switches grounding out the cdi or if you can ohm out the key switch and slide emergency kill switch and eliminate these two as a problem,like I mentioned it's not entirely unusual for the kill circuit in the cdi module itself to short. Only way to fix that is to replace the cdi module.

 

No , I never did unplug the cdi , I unplugged the rev limiter's black wire and it starts up but don't kill till you plug that black wire back into the rev limiter ----- so does that prove the rev limiter is bad ? or could there be another problem ? -----thanks again

 

it seems the rev limiter is no longer available , have looked on several sites and the item has no reference or part number , the drawing you posted for me shows it in the pic of a 1998 but no part number , also I thought I had a 99 and it doesn't even show it on partzillas site for a 1999 , can it be run without it

 

"IF" you do have a reverse limiter module,then you do have a 98 or earlier atv. 99 and up incorporated the limiter into the speedometer. Leave the limiter unplugged as they do short out anyway. All you have to do now(once the other electrical problems are sorted out) is to not have to push the yellow over ride button to have full power in reverse. Limiters were just a safety device that always failed. Disabling the limiter itself should have no effect on the kill circuit. If it still wont kill until you plug the limiter back in,still sounds like you have a problem in the kill circuit, either at the key switch or its wiring,the left emergency switch or wiring or the kill wire directly from the cdi shorting out or it's not making a positive connection to ground out the cdi that is supposed to kill the spark. Looks like this is still what you need to track down.Plus you can check to see if the engine still has a sticker on the recoil cover. First two digits are the year model. Plus you can enter the 17 digit vin # located on the lower left frame here to see exactly what model you have.http://www.purepolaris.com/en-us/Ran...earch-VIN.aspx P.S. I replaced a lot of key switches and left control switches over the years that were faulty also.

 

ran the vin and it is a 1999 with a production date 8/28/98 , what I thought was a limiter ws the cdi and the other part I was looking at was the voltage regulator ( in front the radiator ) I had already changed the left kill/start switch as the start button would stick bad and I think that is probally how my buddy burned up the starter , he then pull started for a couple of years till he broke the recoil housing , but I did write the numbers down off the old one, had a bunch of different results today , at first by removing the black wire from the cdi it ran good and I drove it up and down the street , then I killed it by putting the wire back , went to start it again and couldn't get it started , spark looks light , cleaned up the grounds at the coil and ohmed the coil and found 6 ohms and think it should be 10 , after doing that it would start and kill with the black wire hooked up but ran bad , shuttering at low and high speed ( the carb , tank and fuel are very clean , new fuel hoses ) , so I think I need a coil and a new spark plug boot ( what is the deal with that gizzmo ) is that what your calling a spark plug cap --------- one possible problem I found was at the stator , when I took off the side cover to check the trigger gap I found some metal pieces of like spring stuck to the trigger , the starter had failed and the bendix blew up and took out the pull start cover , I had replaced all that and blew it out , went ahead and pulled the flywheel to clean it up and check to see if the key way was not sheered and found one of the lugs /post of the stator is flapping up at the end and rubbing the magnet , didn't dig in but scared it -----------after looking at the wiring diagram I see that two of the post of the stator are charge coils for the cdi ---------two plugs at the speedometer , tried run it with each plug disconnect one at a time and no change of results ---------- so right now it seems to me there isn't enough of spark and it is weak , it does start but is hard to start and will flood out easy , it is a new NGK and has the v groove in the electrode , the number of the plug is the factory number

 

At least you know what model you have now and what black wire you pulled,but sounds like you still have a mess. Again check the pick up coil resistance(97 ohms) if less than that the pick up could be the problem it's not running now.Plus since you had a starter drive explode on you it could have moved the pickup back. Try tapping the bracket inward a little and recheck spark. Plus check the stator resistance readings listed in the manual. May need to replace the whole system if the flywheel has damage the stator. The ignition coil primary: coil tab to ground should be around 0.3 ohms. Coil secondary: coil tab to inside plug cap 6300 ohms resistance. If you replaced the left control switch and the only way to start it was pulling the cdi black kill wire,you still could have an ignition switch problem or the cdi kill circuit itself has shorted if you can at least crank it,but still can't kill it. This may just be academic as sounds like you need to really check out the stator and pickup coil before anything else.