new to me 01' Kodiak 400

[Frank Angerano]

Well that would be fun to watch so if you do that please video it!!! 🔥 lol. 

Yes you can bench test.  Just take a pair of jumper cables or some wire and attach a ground to the body of the starter and to the negative terminal on the battery.  Then take the positive terminal on the battery  red wire and touch it on the starter connection bolt. The starter should spin.  But strap or hold it down. They jump. 

[JacobSlabach]

i would just guess that either the starter chain is jammed or the starter literally blew up internally shorting the battery causing the smoke maybe?  gosh you could make a welder out of this puppy...

[Sonders]

Yeah Jacob it literally welded the battery cable connectors to the battery posts.  I had to take a flathead screwdriver and pry them off once I had removed the hold down bolts.  I hooked battery back up to check it and still have power surprisingly. Indicator lights come on atleast.  The gear on the starter spins freely, so I guess it just burnt up internally somehow.

[Frank Angerano]

Did you test the starter ? 

[Sonders]

Yep, all it did was create a spark at the ground wire on the starter casing.  I already ordered a new one.  I went with a $30 aftermarket one vs $280 oem one; hope it works ok.  It won’t be here until Wednesday though so in holding pattern for the time being.

[Frank Angerano]

Awesome, the aftermarket should be ok.  

 

[JacobSlabach]

Yea in this case aftermarket works great.  Bought a $30 dollar one for my Polaris in the spring and still works awesome.

[Sonders]

Phew that’s good to hear.  I went ahead and took the starter switch apart and cleaned all the internals the other night since I can’t do anything else with it currently.  Stay tuned.

[Sonders]

Welp starter replaced and still nothing.  All I get is a clicking sound from the relay when I hit the start button.  Any thoughts?

[Frank Angerano]

Ok so the starter relay is clicking. That’s a good thing. Starter is not turning. Bad thing. 

So the starter relay could be bad making a shitty contact within.  That’s my guess, however put a tester on the wire at the starter and see if you get 12v at the starter when you press the start button. 

You can also jump the relay quickly to see if the engine cranks.  If so then put a new relay in and it should be done.  

[Sonders]

Relay was the culprit.  I’ve been through 2 relays on this bike.  The one that was on it when I bought it had issue with the fuse holder part having to wiggle it for it to keep power.  I bought a new one and it apparently decided to not work at all.  I took both apart and used the fuse holder top part of the dead one and the bottom part of the one that was shorting out.  It currently starts and runs and the starter switch works as it’s supposed to.  I’ll take it for a ride tomorrow and see what happens.  I noticed while I was sitting on it with it idling and shifting in and out of gear, I tried putting it in 4wd and it didn’t want to stay locked in 4wd.  Not really concerned about that right now, but just something else to worry about later on.

[Frank Angerano]

Yep I figured as much.  The relay contacts arc when they make contact. That arcing eventually eats away at the contacts. That could be from poor voltage or an inconsistent voltage like a dirty contact on your start button. 

[Sonders]

Noticed the right rear axle was bent the other day as well to go along with the long list of issues It has had.  Plus it was still hit or miss if it was going to run day to day.  I decided to cut my loses and I traded it off for a 00’ Kawasaki Prairie 2wd.  I’ll be posting in the Kawasaki forum I’m sure.  Thanks for all the help guys.

[Frank Angerano]

Your very welcome, keep us posted on the Kawasaki. 

Good luck. 

[KansasKodiak]

I too just purchased a 2001 Kodiak. It runs but has some problems, especially shifting while running. Did you find any similar issues with yours and what advice would you give me as a first time older Kodak owner. Any generalities that you've noticed, problems, etc.