We have two 2003 Polaris Scrambler 500's. One died no spark a few weeks ago. Changed spark plug and ran fine. Didn't ride it much, but was running fine. Then we were riding it and it died again. No spark again even with a new plug. Temporary swapped the primary coil (by the cdi box), the cdi box, verified the plug wire and cap and still no spark.

Then for the hell of it I checked the throttle ETC contacts in the thumb throttle on both quads. The quad thats runs fine the contacts were not touching each other and the problem quad contacts were touching. I'm thinking bingo, theres our problem. Adjusted the problem throttle so the contacts are not making contact and still nothing.

Also noticed the brown wire coming out the cdi harness was pretty much broke. Rigged it back up and nothing new, no spark. Also tried disconnecting the black wire from the cdi box, no luck there either.

I pulled the pull starter and removed the two screws for the trigger (pulse) coil and used a meter on each wire and it goes to 0 ohms right away. I read somewhere it should be around 97 ohms, but DOES ANYONE know if this is how you test the trigger coil.

Any suggestions would be great. Thanks in advance. Not sure what else to do. Don't want to spend money on parts unless I'm sure they are bad.

 

Should be the quoted resistance BETWEEN both wires of the trigger coil plus or minus 20%,and should not be shorting to ground on either wire. Sounds like you already have your problem narrowed down! Usually I dont have problems with cdi's or coils.

 

Thanks old Polaris Tech. Is there away to test the stator and exciter coil packs by using a multi-meter while cranking the engine over? I do not have a peak reading voltmeter, I just have you normal $20 multimeter. Also how important is the brown wire coming out of the cdi box? I assume its just a ground since it goes to the ground on the coil.

Should I just order a trigger coil for rmstator.com take the one off the working quad for trouble shooting purposes?

 

Manual shows resistance specs on trigger,charge coil,ign coil,etc. Brown is always ground on Polaris machines. MOST OF THE TIME IS TRIGGER COIL PROBLEM,BUT best to check resistance before ordering parts! Electrical can and sometimes will fool you! Good luck.

 

Mother of God, I got my problem fixed. First I would recommend spending a few bucks on a multi-meter. I was using a cheapie and it was not giving me consistent ohm readings. I borrowed a good Fluke and found I was getting a bad reading on the red/blk and red wires going to the stator. I took these readings from up by the cdi box and down near the engine right before they go into the casing. So I was thrilled to find a problem finally. So I removed the flywheel and pulled the stator & trigger coil along with the harness. Once out, I was planning on sending the stator to rmstator and removed the flywheel and pulled the stator out along with the harness. Once out I decided by dumb luck to see what the reading would be on the same wires right on the stator and it tested fine (19 ohms).

With a little more troubleshooting I found the red wire was broke inside the rubber boot that slides into the engine casing. This boot basically allows the wires to run from inside the casing to the outside and be weather proof. Drilled just the red wire hole in the boot, repaired the wire with solder, clear sealer and tape. Reinstalled and almost cried to hear the engine running like a top.

BIG KUDOS TO THESE FORUMS AND OLD POLARIS TECH.
Old Polaris tech, you ever had this happen? wow was pumped when that engine came alive. A $20 factory service manual off ebay and several hours of my time saved us a crap load of money.

 

YEP have had wires even come unsoldered from pickup! Most of the time though they are usually shorted internally OR damaged when starter bendixes explode and sling metal around! Pickup coil FIRST to get damaged! Glad you found your problem! Pat yourself on the back and sit back and drink a cold one! Good luck

 

so the black and red /black wire should read 19ohms that runs from stator im not getting a reading. shound i be cranking motor when reading i ran test while just sitting. im not getting spark either and the stator and trigger coil are new as well as cdi im wondering if maybe my wires cracked like yours. i dont want to give up on this quad yet it has massive compression i know it will run. trigger coil tested at 120 ohms. coil reads 3.0 ohms or something from tab to its ground. i do get readings from yellow wires coming from stator but have to do it again to know the numbers . i dont get a reading from the coil tab to the spark plug wire with cap on or off should it test with a reading or just zero?

 

Readings depend on what model you have.For instance the early pick up coil readings were around 97 ohms on 4 strokes. Some later models had much higher resistance readings. Same for the stator. Readings varied between models.Best thing to have is the service manual for your particular year model. Better than using readings from other people machines that may not apply to yours.