ATV Florida Forum

Strange situation... driving my sportsman 400 this weekend and it's running absolutely great.  I veer onto edge of trail to avoid deep deep water and my right front tire hits a root and yanks the handle bars to the right.  Instantly I lose all power and it hasn't run since then.   That's all the damage there is.  Everything hardware related is perfectly straight. It's an electrical problem or something.  Any ideas?

Might have hit the kill switch on the left side. I needs to be in the center position.

Open the fuse box and check all the fuses.  ;) j/k I hope you find out what it is and get back in service soon, it was great riding with you man.

Tony was with us this weekend. I quad has no power (doesnt turn over and no light) but the Battery is Good. If you jump the solenoid it will turn over and thats it. More like ign switch problem.  ???

Step 1. Put rag in fuel tank.
Step 2. Ignite rag with lighter.
Step 3. Run like mad away into safety as for you saved the world from another Polaris!!!

Just kidding please don’t light your sportsman on fire!!! It is most definitely an electrical issue. Unfortunately Polaris wanted everything electronic so it is going to be a bear. Start with the easy things first like fuses  kill switches and connectors around the vicinity of the handle bars. And then just start to check voltages and see where they end. I will only recommend this only if your mechanically knowledgeable about 12 volt system and own a digital volt ohm meter.

thanks Purelogic, you were about to get an earful until I read the next post ;D

Hey, my manual states in the troubleshooting section
"ATV won't start...may be tripped circuit breaker...solution...reset breaker" 

That's the only place it ever mentions circuit breaker.  Anyone know where the dang circuit breaker is on a Sportsman 400?

Must be a Polaris thing, I went riding with a friend who just got in the game as he calls it with a 500 h.o. special edition and the same thing happened ridin along tryin to keep up with the yamahas and it shut down and rolled to a stop. He had also struck a big root but no damage. I would also like to know where the circuit breaker is so I can get the newbie goin again.

The circuit breakers for my 2002 are located under the front cover. But I don't think the 2005 models have circuit breakers. You can find out by going the the Polaris web site, sign up and you can view/download the manual for you ATV. It is in PDF format.

I had a similar problem but mine was the lights/kill switch control. I had to replace that. I've replaced both my circuit breakers (20amp and 10amp) just last summer. The circuit breakers reset themselves (at least mine did). As they heat up from use they will trip, kill the power to the ATV, after cooling off the reset themselves. I was losing my lights at night, they would start flashing then quit completely till I let the ATV set for a while.

You might want to check you CDI box and make sure you have a good connection there. My friend has a 2005 Sportsman 500 HO that died the first trail ride he did. He found a lose connector to his CDI box. Plus he did check all connections from the Battery to his Switch.

Hope this helps some. I would advise taking it to a good dealer if you cannot find the problem.

Tony just found this, it might have something to do with this if you haven't already had it fixed.  I read on another forum that the circuit breakers are in that black box in the front under that cover and they trip when they are hot and reset themselves sometimes, but sometimes they don't

_______________________________________________________
Polaris Industries, along with the Consumer Product Safety Commission, announced a recall of select 2004.5 and 2005 Sportsman and Scrambler ATVs.

Some of the more than 14,500 ATVs recalled were assembled with a potentially defective electronic control module, which could overheat and cause a fire, according to the announcement.



The recalled models include the 2004.5 Sportsman 500, 2005 Sportsman 400, 500, 600 and 700 and 2005 Scrambler 500.



Not all 2004.5 and 2005 Sportsman and Scrambler ATVs are affected by the recall. The ATVs should be brought to a dealer for a free repair. The affected ATVs can be verified by comparing the last six digits of the vehicle identification number to the serial number range below.



2004.5 SPORTSMAN 500

Model Number(s): A04CH50AR

Serial Number Range: 4XACH50A*4 407617-407876



2005 SPORTSMAN 400

Model Number (s): A05MH42AB

Serial Number Range: 4XAMH42A*5A 354270-354759, 360481-360630; 4XAMH42A*5B 411353-412822; 4XAMH42A*5A 353730-354269, 360631-360780; 4XAMH42A*5B 411832-411832, 413068-413137



2005 SPORTSMAN 500

Model Number(s): A05MH50AB, A05MH50AC, A05MH50AG, A05MH50AH

Serial Number Range: 4XAMH50A*5A 350562-351321, 355431-355580, 359016-359730, 362935-362979; 4XAMH50A*5B, 407877-408216, 411873-411912, 415275-416014, 417015-417299; 4XAMH50A*5A, 355581-355835, 358431-358715, 359831-360290; 4XAMH50A*5B, 411913-412207, 415350-415419, 416015-416279, 417315-417614, 418310; 4XAMH50A*5A 350342-351590, 355280-355430, 358716-359790; 4XAMH50A*5B 408217-408556, 411833-411872, 415200-415274, 416280-416564, 417615-418114; 4XAMH50A*5A 350782-351051, 355130-355279, 359231-359630, 362765-362854; 4XAMH50A*5B 412208-412332, 415420-415754, 416715-417014, 418510-418704



2005 SPORTSMAN 600

Model Number(s): A05MH59AK

Serial Number Range: 4XAMH59A*5A 349790-350341



2005 SPORTSMAN 700

Model Number(s) A05MH68AK; A05MH68AN

A05MH68AP

Serial Number Range: 4XAMH68A*5A 349720-349789, 351776 - 352060, 353253 - 353487, 356181 - 356390; 4XAMH68A*5A 360901-361285, 362707 - 362764, 363575-363646; 4XAMH68A*5A 349719, 351591-351775, 353488-353729, 355836-356180; 4XAMH68A*5A 360781-360900, 361286-361545, 362582-362706; 4XAMH68A*5A 362597 - 362609



2005 SCRAMBLER 500

Model Number(s) A05BG50AA

Serial Number Range: 4XABG50A*52 523011-523889, 527617-528602



*=Check Digit. This could be either a letter or a number.



For more information, contact Polaris at 800/765-2747 between 8 a.m. and midnight Eastern time every day or visit www.polarisindustries.com.

Jackinthebox let us know what you found out.!! I would really like to know what it was.

Bigscrb15 glad it did catch on fire, 12 mile from camp (not good thing to happen)

i dont know big daddy if he had insurance he coulda jumped on the back and we coulda got home faster ;) j/k .          im glad it just shut off and didnt spark up that woulda been horrible

dang, why didn't you guys mention the insurance idea?!!! We coulda been home! 

Actually, I checked the serial numbers and of course, mine isn't recalled.  So, I'll look more into it later.  I won't have time until this weekend.  But I'll definitely let you know what it was.

I just had the same problem.  What I discovered is that my 2004 Sportsman 500 HO had a defective spark plug wire.  There was a recall on many of the units produced in '04 but for some reason my serial number did not fall under that recall.

What happens is the Spark Plug wire is getting pinched between the frame and gas tank, causing it to ground out into the frame an no spark to your engine.  Mine died instantly during the middle of a ride; it only had 36 hours on it. 

Get a new wire and reconnect it but make sure it is free from obstruction and getting pinched.  I was lucky enough to get a Polaris tech to do it for free because he agreed it should have been under recall because it was the same problem.  What I thought was going to be an expensive repair took 15 minutes to get it fired up again!

JustC1582 the quad has no power (doesnt turn over, no light and so on)

The only other thing I can submit to you is this...  The 500 has powered down twice on me since I've had it & it's fairly new.  The first time was the spark plug wire getting pinched between the frame & gas tank. 

The second time was when I was riding and it lost power and this time it wouldn't turn over.  I replaced the battery & it started up and ran fine.  Some part are hard to get to on this bike; however, the battery is inside the left rear wheel-well and can be changed without taking anything off!

find out anything yet tony?

man, I haven't even cleaned it since I got back.  I'm going to try and get to it sometime this week at night.  I know, I know... "and I call myself a true ATV'er!!!"    ;D

POSER!!!!!   ;D

I still think its the ign switch ???

Problem solved!   ;D  Here is the moral of the story, HOLD YOUR DRINK WHILE YOU DRIVE. 

Upon taking all of the front junk off the quad..fenders, storage box, pod box, and finally, the cupholder attached to my handlebars, I realized that my cupholder bracket had worn into the throttle cable, taken the insulation off some of the wires and grounded them to the handlebars.  Fortunately, I found it very easily.  So, I taped them up and I'm back in action.

Learn from my mistakes people!  You'll be better off! ;D ;D

Thanks for all the help though!@

Are you kidding me thats why we had to tow you, because your too lazy to hold your own drink.(j/k) :D I am glad to hear thats all it was and nothing too serious.

Now go to Wal-Mart and get a cupholder for a bicycle and with two screws put it on your fender. Works excellent and only $4.98

And I was about to buy one of those.  :o

Well, go ahead and buy one...just don't be an idiot like me and include the throttle cable in the bracket...go ahead and leave it outside of the bracket.  :N