Electrical Stumper

[speedy400]

Well I went threw a battery in 3 months, its been giving me lots of problems latly, about 4 weeks ago I shut off the motor for a rest from riding and I went to turn it back on, nothing no neutral light or anything, I ended up push starting it, it wasnt push starting as easly as it usually did either. Then I went right home(1-2 min ride) and got home, turned it off, neutral light all bright, everything normal, started right up with the electric start. Since then it's been acting bad. The neutral light is never on except when the motor is running even then it barley is on, then we figured out the battery was dead, and today we got a brand new battery I tested it, it has great charge. Turned the key, neutral light when on, turned on my headlights, neutral light went dead and hasn't turned on since( I check every now and then). All tonight I've been trying to figure it out. battery ground all good, checked all the wires, good, recleaned the ground terminals and ground on to the subframe(from the battery). Keep in mind I PCed the frame about 5-6 months ago.I took the paint off where the battery grounds, does anything else need to ground to the frame? thanks-darren


Sorry for being so long but I'm pretty frustrated/stumped.

Your running the stock CDI right??


Sounds like bad wires/connection under the nose of the quad.

[UglyMotha™]

http://ricoracing.netfirms.com/Smilies/i'm%20with%20stupid.gif




problem definantly lies in your wiring start tracing it out somwhere you either have a loose connection or the casing has been worn thru or loose ground

[speedy400]

K I'll check that out tonight, also one thing I ruld out is the fuzes look new.thanks-darren

[Pappy]

run a second ground from the negative on the battery to the engine. if that solves your problem thats cool..if not you can start tracing the problem. a second ground NEVER hurts and in most cases is very beneficial wether its a quad or a car/truck etc.

[400exdad]

I'd check the connections in the wiring harness. A friend of mine was having problems, sort of like this, and we found that his harness connections were corroded... mostly GONE where it went into the regulator located near the battery. It seemed that the pink acid stuff that some folks use to wash quads and cars with had eaten all the connections right up. He replaced the harness and silicone greased ALL of the connections.

[F-16Guy]

I think Ben had the same problem with the project quad. Make sure the area where the subframe bolts to the frame is clean, that may be isolating the ground from the engine and the rest of the electronics. Try taking a jumper wire with you on your next ride. If you start having a problem, use the jumper to see if it's a ground problem.

[speedy400]

well I think I ruled out the subframe thing, I tried using an extra ground thing and still nothing, my Uncle that used to teach about elecrtoric stuff is stopping by tomorrow and we're going to use some sort of wire testers to zero out the problem, thanks a lot-darren

[ATVer14]

Just to clarify, when you said you tested the second ground thing, you did run it from the negative battery terminal to the actual starter motor base, right? Just running a second ground to the subframe doesn't do anything.

[speedy400]

Originally posted by ATVer14
Just to clarify, when you said you tested the second ground thing, you did run it from the negative battery terminal to the actual starter motor base, right? Just running a second ground to the subframe doesn't do anything.
yep thats what I did....






well today I was changing my oil and I finished up and I rolled over the motor in 5th just around the garage(pushing it) to get the oil to the head so I could fill up the oil to the correct level...... well when I got all done, I checked the neutral light and turned on the key..... it turned on...??? I've had no problems since, I even rode it around and it seems to be perfect... Anyone have Any ideas why it's working now. It's been an odd evening, thanks guys-darren

[Toadz400]

well my particular theory on this is that your 416 blows....get a trailboss darren, you know you want to. those things are BEASTS! listen to your Ryan friend, he's a genius with motors and quads! i'm going to be selling my 400ex and banshee to get a scrambler! then i'll be able to waste EVERYONE! plus everyone knows that polaris quads last way longer than a honda and the belt drive rules all!