help diagnosing starting issue 01 Sportsman 500

[Sonders]

please ignore my ignorance here as I'm not real good determining the cause; however once I know what the problem is I can figure out how to fix.  Like title says, 01' Sportsman 500 H.O.  When I push the start button it just clicks several times but doesn't turn over or try to start.  Can do this several times and then it will finally turn over and start.  The first thing I tried was swapping the battery from my other quad that I know is good with no change.  So I'm assuming it's either starter or relay solenoid.  How do I determine which is the culprit for sure?  Thanks in advance for any assistance.

[davefrombc]

That sounds like a problem in the starter itself. Most likely the brushes are worn  and the  commutator is dirty.  Brushes don't make good contact so several tries may be needed to  get it to  spin over at times and other times it spins over right away.  You can eliminate the  solenoid  by running a  wire directly from the battery and touch the  positive post on the starter.   If it spins up every time , it can be in the  solenoid but if it doesn't  spin up every time you do it, it is definitely in the starter.  Brushes aren't hard to  change.  No special tools needed.

[Sonders]

thanks for the info Dave.  I'll have to give skipping the solenoid a try to do some process of elimination and go from there.

[polman500]

On 8/30/2021 at 4:52 PM, davefrombc said:

That sounds like a problem in the starter itself. Most likely the brushes are worn  and the  commutator is dirty.  Brushes don't make good contact so several tries may be needed to  get it to  spin over at times and other times it spins over right away.  You can eliminate the  solenoid  by running a  wire directly from the battery and touch the  positive post on the starter.   If it spins up every time , it can be in the  solenoid but if it doesn't  spin up every time you do it, it is definitely in the starter.  Brushes aren't hard to  change.  No special tools needed.

I know this is a old thread but jump 12v directly to the starter terminal to check starter function.  If good, then jump solenoid terminals.  If good, you probably have a wire connections issue or starter button problem.

[fireslayer]

Also, don't forget to check the ground side of th circuit, especially where the negative cable fastens to the frame. sometimes they will get loose or corroded and cause starting issues, due to thehigh current amount the starer requires.

[Sonders]

Thanks guys.  Honestly I haven’t messed with it yet.  I did buy a starter over the winter, but the quad has been tucked away in back corner of garage all winter.  Garage isn’t heated so I didn’t have any motivation to go out there and mess with it in the cold haha.  Hopefully here soon I’ll drag it out and get to work on it.

[Sonders]

Finally getting around to working on this.  Installed new starter lastnight and still no go.  Jumped a wire from positive battery post to positive post of starter and it immediately turned over.  I tried to look at ground connection, but all I see is the negative wire going from battery to negative on starter.  What other ground wire is there to check?  I ordered a new relay solenoid to go ahead and replace as they don’t cost very much.  Hopefully that’s all it is.  Will find out in a few days once it arrives.

it was mentioned above to try jumping the solenoid.  How do I go about doing that to test it?

Edited May 21, 2022 by Sonders

[davefrombc]

Check to see if there is power from the battery to the starter.  If there is power there then jump the terminals that trigger the solenoid. If  the starter does not spin  over  then  leave those terminals connected and check to  see if there is power to the starter side of the solenoid. No  power  from  battery to  solenoid ,  the break  is there .  No  power across the solenoid with the trigger wires  jumped , then  fault is in the solenoid, If there is power across the solenoid when the trigger wires are jumped then  fault is in the wire from the solenoid  to the starter.. The  starter is internally  grounded and since it spins over when a wire is run  directly from the positive battery terminal the battery ground is good.  If  everything checks out by  jumping those terminals , the fault is in the start switch, a safety  switch or  the wires to the solenoid and the  click  you  hear when  pressing the start button  is from somewhere else

[fireslayer]

Just a heads up on something that has got me in the past on these.....Make sure the kill switch up on the left handlebar in ON as it seems like it kills the start circuit on this model also. If you are getting a click when you hit the start switch then this probably isn't the problem though. The clicking is the solenoid engaging but if it has a bad contact inside of it, it may not be sending voltage/current on to the starter. If not then the solenoid itself, or the connections at the solenoid or starter are bad. 

[davefrombc]

1 hour ago, davefrombc said:

Check to see if there is power from the battery to the starter.  If there is power there then jump the terminals that trigger the solenoid. If  the starter does not spin  over  then  leave those terminals connected and check to  see if there is power to the starter side of the solenoid. No  power  from  battery to  solenoid ,  the break  is there .  No  power across the solenoid with the trigger wires  jumped , then  fault is in the solenoid, If there is power across the solenoid when the trigger wires are jumped then  fault is in the wire from the solenoid  to the starter.. The  starter is internally  grounded and since it spins over when a wire is run  directly from the positive battery terminal the battery ground is good.  If  everything checks out by  jumping those terminals , the fault is in the start switch, a safety  switch or  the wires to the solenoid and the  click  you  hear when  pressing the start button  is from somewhere else

Couldn't edit  my post when I saw the error.

Check to see if there is power from the battery to the  starter solenoid, not the starter as I  said in the beginning of the post.