2006 Sportsman 500. Multiple problems. Any advice is appreciated.

[xjoedirt55x]

I have been having a few problems with my machine lately. This past weekend I had a little bit of everything go wrong with it, so now that I

will have a long weekend coming up, I would like to spend some time fixing, or at least figuring out what all I need to fix and get my parts

ordered so if we have another weekend of good weather I am ready to ride.

My Machine:

2006 Polaris Sportsman 500 HO


Problem #1 - My battery warning light keeps flashing periodically while I am riding. Thinking it may just be a bad battery, or a loose

connection, I tighten all the connections, and everything is tight. I haven't had the battery checked yet, but when I get the time I plan on

running it up to auto zone and having them check it. But the only thing that is making me question the problem even more is that when the

warning light is flashing, If I hit something that draws more power such as my winch or headlights, the warning light stops flashing, then

comes back on later on.

Problem #2 - My starter does not work, but pull start works just fine. When I turn the key, all I hear is one click every time I turn the key,

so that leads me to believe that my battery has enough juice since it is a noticible single click, and not multiple clicks like it does not

have the juice to engage the starter fully. My guess is the solenoid is bad. I am going to try crossing the posts, and see if I get anything

out of it that way, then go from there.

Problem #3 - When we get to our riding spot, I started my machine to let it warm up, and it was running just fine. We get riding, and we hit a

straight away, so I open the throttle up a little bit, and maybe 300 feet or so later, my machine just dies on me. The kicker is that I still

had power to everything else. I even had enought power to run my winch, so that leads me to believe that I had more than enough power to run

the motor. I tried starting it up right away, with no luck. I let it sit for about 3 minutes, and it fired right back up. Tried running it

again, and the same thing happened. So I started trying to troubleshoot the problem, and started with my electrical connections, which all

checked out just fine. Then I pulled the air box to see the air filter, which was a little dirty, so I took it off, and ran it.... shut down

again. I know the gas that is in it is fine because it is fresh, and everybody else riding had the same gas as me, and it was just fine. So I

drained the bowl of the carb, jiggled my spark plug wire, and made sure it was tight of the plug, checked all my fluids, and everything was

just fine. Out of curiosity, I started it up, and ran it at about half throttle, and rode it around with no problems for like a half hour, so

I ran it open throttle again, and it kept running just fine. In fact I rode the rest of the day with no problems, even up some pretty nasty

steep hills. But the next morning after I cleaned it off, and unloaded it, it was doing the same thing, shutting off on me. I am guessing

maybe a dirty carb, or a bad fuel pump could possibly be the culprit?

Problem #4 - The sensor that tells my display what gear I am in does not work properly. When I am in high, it says "L", when I am in low, it

says "N", when I am in neutral, It says I am in "N", reverse "R", and park "P". I am thinking I am going to just have to replace this part all

together, really no fixing it I don't think. I really wouldn't mind this all except that my 4x4 will not engage when I am in low because the

machine thinks I am in neutral which sucks when I kinda need low if I am climbing a hill with lots of rocks.

Problem #5 - Towards the end of the day, my fan was not kicking on, and machine was overheating. I stuck my hand in, and turned the fan, and

it spun easily, so it was not clogged with mud or anything. I turned the machine off, and made sure I had good airflow to my radiator, and

even pulled the front screen off to get maximum air flow. I turned the key on, but didn't start the machine and the fan did not kick on at

all. That could possibly mean the temp. sensor, or the fan motor could be bad on it.


All of that being said, I am going to get the ECM replaced, hopefully this week and see if that solves any of these problems, but I know for a

fact I am not that lucky, so I am wanting to start eliminating some of the problems that will cost me nothing before I waste money buying

parts I do not need. I am also wondering if anybody else who had an ECM fail on them had similar problems, or know some of the symptoms of a

failing ECM. If you have any input/suggestions on any of my problems, I am all ears.


Thanks a lot. Joe

[rundrave]

check with your dealer I beleive there was a recall for the ECM on that year, but I am not 100% sure

I would then start at the battery, either have it tested or just get a new one

next item I would test would be the ETC (electronic throttle control) switch in the throttle assembly. there are 2 metal contacts in there that if your throttle cable gets too lose the contacts touch and kill the quad

[xjoedirt55x]

Yes, there was a recall on the ECM for that year. That is going to be the first piece replaced before anything else is bought. Just trying to start bouncing ideas around about some other possible solutions. I will check out the throttle control and see if that could be part of the problem.

Thanks, Joe.

[xjoedirt55x]

Okay, I have had the ECM replaced, and I still have the same problems. I am ordering a new rotary switch for the gear selector, and ordering a new magnetic switch (starter solenoid), and that will take care of two of my problems, but last night, after picking the quad up from the dealer for getting the ecm replaced, I took it for a spin to see if that fixed anything, sure enough.... it just died on me again. Waited 2 minutes, it fired right back up.

[witech]

i dont know if your machine has the bosch type relays for the ecu or fuel pump or not but sometimes in cold weather they can malfunction and cause a stalling issue. Teh only way to check is replace one at a time and test drive.

[xjoedirt55x]

Originally posted by witech
i dont know if your machine has the bosch type relays for the ecu or fuel pump or not but sometimes in cold weather they can malfunction and cause a stalling issue. Teh only way to check is replace one at a time and test drive.

Hi, Is there a way to tell if the are Bosch type relay's? And what is a Bosch type relay compared to a standard relay?

Thanks, Joe

[witech]

I refer to standard relays as "bosch type" sorry. Its a very common universal 5 prong relay. Ive seen cold weather and vibration problems(as in reving the engine) spring up with all of them.

[the Z Man]

When it dies on you see if there is fuel in the carb,, sounds like your cap breather is not working.
Next time it does it open the cap and see if it is vapor locked.

[xjoedirt55x]

Originally posted by witech
I refer to standard relays as "bosch type" sorry. Its a very common universal 5 prong relay. Ive seen cold weather and vibration problems(as in reving the engine) spring up with all of them.

Okay, I will run through and check all of that out. It seems that all of a sudden, everything is going wrong with the damn thing. Is there usually a bundle or relay box on these things? I am sorry if I sound like a complete dummy, but this is my first 4-wheeler I have ever owned, so I have the basic concept of how things are supposed to work from working on my vehicles and such, and I can walk myself through most anything, and figure things out, but it just seems like these machines are a little more testy than cars are.


Originally posted by the Z Man
When it dies on you see if there is fuel in the carb,, sounds like your cap breather is not working.
Next time it does it open the cap and see if it is vapor locked.

When I was out riding it around last time, every time it died on me, I would try something different from pulling the air filter, then the filter box lid, then even pulling the whole air box off, eliminating the problem of no air flow. Then I figured I could try to eliminate the fuel problem..... next time it died on me, I cracked the screw open and fuel drained out of the carb bowl just fine, it was clean. So I thought maybe the fuel was bad, but every other person riding that day filled up with the same fuel, 2 of the other machines being the same thing as mine and ran just fine, so my fuel was good.

Would vapor lock cause the engine to die suddenly, or would it run like crap right before it cuts out? Like I said before, I opened the drain screw on the carb bowl and fuel came out, so I know there is fuel in there, but if there was enough, I do not know.

What is a good way to check for vapor lock?

I am also going to put an in-line spark tester on the plug and see if right after it dies and does not start up if it is getting spark. I think that will give me some direction on what to diagnose next. I am crossing my fingers that it is a fuel problem because that crap seems to be cheaper and easier to fix..... for me anyways, I hate electrical problems.




Once again, thanks for the responses, it helps me a ton to kick ideas around with other people.

Thanks, Joe

[xjoedirt55x]

Bump!!!

Anybody have any experience with vapor lock? What are tell tale signs of vapor lock, and has anybody bad similar problems on their ATV? I googled it and did a little research, but nothing to detailed. Thanks for the help guys.

[jerry-89-250R]

not sure if the 500 has it, but a friend of mine had the same problem with his 700 sportsman "it would die but lights and everything else worked" under the hood there are 2 black sealed pouches that have breaker's in them "instead of fuses" that are supposed to re-set on there own, after a few years they go bad or get wet and rusty. when you let it cool down a couple minutes it will re-set itself but then trip out again. if your 500 has these replace them, you can pick the same part up at autozone for 3 dollars where the dealer wants 20+. as for the starter try tapping on it with something "not hard as you can damage it" and then see if it starts, the brushes wear out and stick causing it to not work "very common with polaris", you can re-build it.

[xjoedirt55x]

Originally posted by jerry-89-250R
not sure if the 500 has it, but a friend of mine had the same problem with his 700 sportsman "it would die but lights and everything else worked" under the hood there are 2 black sealed pouches that have breaker's in them "instead of fuses" that are supposed to re-set on there own, after a few years they go bad or get wet and rusty. when you let it cool down a couple minutes it will re-set itself but then trip out again. if your 500 has these replace them, you can pick the same part up at autozone for 3 dollars where the dealer wants 20+. as for the starter try tapping on it with something "not hard as you can damage it" and then see if it starts, the brushes wear out and stick causing it to not work "very common with polaris", you can re-build it.

I am going to do that tonight with the starter. I was also going to look at the possibility of pulling it out, and hot-wiring it to eliminate that problem before spending money on a solenoid. I am working on bits and pieces at a time since I have had multiple problems with it. It also happens that I inherit the task of working on my friends quads too because most of them have no desire to do so, and I actually kind of enjoy doing it and learning, and his starter is just spinning, so I am guessing that one needs to be rebuilt, so I will probably end up becoming an expert on Polaris starters soon.

Also, I did see the little black pouches, so I will check them out tonight also. I am thinking it is something dumb causing it to die like that because the more I thought about vapor lock, I do not think that is it because I was riding it and it was cold out the other night, and I didn't even let the machine get hot enough to even cause it. I pulled some of the vent tubing, and blew through them, and there was no blockage.

Thanks for the reply, I really appreciate it.

Joe

[jerry-89-250R]

when those breakers wear out it can be minus 20 and they still kick out, it doesn't have to be hot just the engine running. the starter also have a bendix the engages the flywheel, it runs off the starter gear and is seperate from the starter so if the starter is spinning the bendix may not be kicking in. take the side cover off by the rear brake pedal and start it and see what happens.

[xjoedirt55x]

Originally posted by jerry-89-250R
when those breakers wear out it can be minus 20 and they still kick out, it doesn't have to be hot just the engine running. the starter also have a bendix the engages the flywheel, it runs off the starter gear and is seperate from the starter so if the starter is spinning the bendix may not be kicking in. take the side cover off by the rear brake pedal and start it and see what happens.

I was referring to the problem probably not being vapor lock if the machine is not hot.

I looked through the whole front end and I can not find anything that holds relays or fuses or anything along those lines. What I thought was the pouch was actually a rubber cover over a plastic piece that had 4 wires going to it. Unless that has relays under it, but I do not want to start pulling things apart that I do not know about. Seems that I can not find a single fuse or relay unless I am just blind. Guess I will have to just keep looking unless anybody else knows something that I don't.

On a side note, I did fix another minor problem that I had been having. I have been riding and my quad would keep flashing that it was hot, even though it wasn't. Well while looking for the relays on my quad, I found a connection that was becoming separated, I unplugged it, and turned it on, it was flashing HOT, I plug it in and it quit, so I am guessing that is why it was always telling me it was hot, because that connection was loose.

I really am going to be an expert on the sportsman, I should keep mine for another year or so and open up a shop after working on this lemon all the time.

Sooooo....... anybody have any suggestions on where to look for the relay/fuses on a carb'd sportsman 500

[xjoedirt55x]

Okay, so after digging under the seat, I only found one thing that wires were running to besides the battery, starter, and the solenoid. I have attached a picture below to show what I found on my machine. Is this the relay you guys are talking about? It just doesn't look like what I was looking for. If not, what is it?

Thanks, Joe

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2008-11/1329040/IMG_0423.jpg

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2008-11/1329040/IMG_0420.jpg

[joeptc]

no, thats a diagnostics plug. there should be a pouch under the front rack i believe, look where the rad cap is and i don't mean the overflow tank by the wheel.

[xjoedirt55x]

Originally posted by joeptc
no, thats a diagnostics plug. there should be a pouch under the front rack i believe, look where the rad cap is and i don't mean the overflow tank by the wheel.

Thanks for getting back with me. I found out that my model does not have any relays on it, so I have since replaced my spark plug, and cleaned the carb so I am hoping that is the problem. If not, I am going to be really pissed off lol. I will take another look though just for good measure.

[joeptc]

let us know