2006 Arctic Cat 400 - Blowing Main Fuse Under Load

[Prossygk]

I need some advice and help. I have an 2006 Arctic Cat 400 that when it is pulling a tow behind mower or a harrow for dragging the horse areana it blows a the main fuse. I think it is getting too hot and it is a safety function but I am at a lost

I took it to the Arctic Cat dealer in Shelbyville KY and they said they could not make it blow a fuse. I dont think they tried and they are just a small out fit just kids working on them.

Any way my wife was pulling the Harrow with the ATV and like clock work after she was almost done with the arena the ATV blew a fuse. We replaced the fuse and it started back up. She put it in drive and pulled the harrow a little ways and it blew another fuse. We replaced the fuse again it blew another one.

We left it for a while and about 30 minutes later I put another fuse back in the fuse box and it started right up. I dropped off the Harrow and went to pull the manue spreader to dump the muck. The ATV ran fine. I dumped the muck and parked it for the night. It started right up this morning. Does anyone have any idea why it is blowing a fuse when it is pulling and if not is there a good arctic cat mechinic in the Lexington, Louisville KY Area that I can take it to. This ATV is the work horse of our farm and I need it fixed before the wife kills me.

Thanks for the feed back\

[swampcat07]

Make sure your fan turns freely, if it is blocked from rotating it may be blowing a fuse when it is switched on. Make sure you have the right size fuse in the fan circuit. A lot of time people run oversized ones to keep the fan from blowing when entering the water.

Check to make sure the motor has a good ground connection.

Check the voltage when running and make sure the voltage regulator is working.

Finally I know it is a lot of work but remove the rear plastic and the cover where the steering stem goes up and look for wear on the wiring harness. It is a common problem for the harness to wear thru and expose bare wire. If the problem is just starting then when the quad heats up the wire expands slightly and grounds out.

[myquadrepair]

I had the same thing happen with my 2004 Artic Cat and it was in the top of the steering column. It was just below were the wires came out of the shield and the top of the steering stem. Look carefully at each wire because at first it was are to see but the more fuses I blew the bigger the black spot. Mine would blow when I turned my steering to the right.

[mikeexplorer]

I recently had a situation on a ride where I was going through an old railroad tunnel and hit a puddle and BLAM! quad died right in the tunnel. After being towed out my main fuse was blown. Replaced it and all seemed fine until I switched on my lights, then the main blew again. Replaced it and rode back without using the lights. Next day everything was fine. Took the headlight connections apart and cleaned & greased them.

I would think it is a similar situation, multiple loads, none of which would blow the associated fuse but together drawing a bit too much and blows the main. One thing you can do is the next time it blows one, look at it carefully, if it looks like the strip inside just melted then it is an overload condition, if it vaporized, that means a short circuit. That would most likely be a wire in the harness in the rear section of the quad. You mentioned a tow behind mower and such, does it draw any power from the quad? (hooks up to the rear accessory port?)

Mike

[Prossygk]

All it was the wiring harness at the handlebars. There was a tiny nick in the wiring that was shorting out. Thanks for all the feedback

[swampcat07]

Glad you got the problem solved!