BuggyMasters

These are actually some very good four wheelers. I just finished reviving another one yesterday. One of the most reliable engines on any Polaris. The fact that the gearbox is off makes me think the gearbox was broken. Typically it’s not the engine that puts these in their grave, it’s that gear box. If you have free time, it’s certainly worth trying to get back to running/driving form. Good luck!

Absolutely could be a cam problem. Polaris had big problems with cams wearing out in short order back then. They fixed the problem I think in 2001. But do the test I mentioned above first and report back the results.

Usually it’s a batter of creating shock mount extensions. Just a couple inches and you should t have to mess with lengthening the steering stem.

If it’s Mikuni, that’s a good carb and what should be on that ATV 

That’s lean. If you still have that China carb, don’t expect miracles.

3 hours ago, Flipper Tiffany Roper Jones said:

For the first time ever I was able to actually rev it up worked great went right back down to idle did it 6or7 times just perfect then thermostat light came on from opening compression release cover so much I lost alot of coolant gonna let it cool down put coolant in it start it again and see where I sit right now has my Hope's up

Are you kidding me? Wow what a PITA! So how can they get switched? The connector just allows any wire to go to it? What a battle!

From the post I quoted it looks like the stator plate has to go on in a specific position ( otherwise your timing would be off) I’m not sure what it looks like from you perspective, did it have some indexing marks or anything? Also, are you using the stock fuel pump or do you have it directly run from the fuel tank to the carb?

I think I have it in this thread the main is like a 152.5

So have you tried to rev it in that 30 secs that it’s running?

Here’s what Old Polaris Tech said about the cam timing. The T indicates TDC and the three hash marks you see are for checking timing with a timing light when running.

anyways:

Welcome ! You say you have the cam timing figured out,but just in case: The lower cam sprocket gear should have the dot lined up with the mark at the bottom of the case(this is tdc on the piston),the upper cam sprocket should have the index pin pointing straight up. IF you place the single plated link on the chain bottom dot,the two plated links should line up on the two dots on the upper sprocket. It's NOT really necessary to do this with the chain,the most important thing is to keep the bottom mark lined up and the index pin on the cam pointing straight up dead center of the head. The tensioner must be removed and collapsed and once the cam timing is set install the tensioner body,then the tensioner spring and cap nut to take up chain slack. The stator plate should have one mark that lines up with the mark at the top on the engine case itself,UNLESS someone has been making addition marks tinkering with the timing. Plus look at the "Sticky" thread about viewable pdf manuals and the pictures on timing of the cam and stator should help. The holes on the flywheel are "balancing" holes,just to keep the flywheel running true and no heavy areas to cause vibration.Also on the flywheel edge is an etched "T" for tdc while viewing through the inspection hole of the recoil. OPT

I’ve definitely seen worse plugs. No chance the choke cable isn’t seated properly at the carb is there? Darker means rich but like I said I’ve seen worse. I’ve actually seen the choke cable not seated properly three times this year. So can you rev it now?

And did you check voltage at battery while running?

I think the Magnum has a solid rear axle. Sportsman independent. Been a while but I think that is the difference.

Yeah man sounds like that stator may be wreaking havoc. Will be watching the progress. You’ll be happy when this thing is done!!

That’s what I mean is it’s gotta come from somewhere in order for the path to exist. I am assuming the stator or rectifier provides it or something, I mean all four wheelers will run without a battery so they are getting it from something. Never really researched the details of from where.

That may be enough (obviously) to keep it running at idle but under load it might not fly.

ground is through the mount to the engine. Doesn’t matter if you have battery or not.

If it was me I’d be ordering a new Ricky Stator just to take it out of the loop. Just make sure the stator is specific to your year. That one that is in there absolutely looks aftermarket. I just looked on eBay and as I expected the factory ones do t look like that. Looks like China brand. I mean I think you are having to fix someone else’s cheap as* approach.

That 12.6 is at idle with everything hooked up?

But the only thing that cares about the AC voltage is the regulator. The entire rest of the machine is only concerned with the DC. So the entire rest of the machine, including the ignition circuit, only cares about DC. The two components before you have DC are that stator and rectifier/regulator and those would be considered either good or no good and as a general rule their status will be based on the DC voltage. If you don’t have 13.6 (or so) while running at the battery you replace either or both of those components. In my experience, the stator is pretty typical. You usually find one of the coils going to ground and its bad. Period. I have absolutely seen stators ohm from lead to lead out of spec and it ran fine. Maybe it would charge a little stronger or weaker than one in spec but it would not keep the machine from running. So for that reason and also the fact that the solid state rectifier’s job is to manage the AC voltage, I have never cared about the AC voltage. If you replace the stator with a known good setup (with verified correct flywheel) and you still have either nothing over 12.6v or you have something high like 15vdc+ then you replace the rectifier. I personally feel you will drive yourself nuts chasing variances in AC voltage. (Been there done that and ultimately the solution was always to replace the stator or regulator). Also there is one other variable and that is the Polaris machines used to use this stupid box called a SureFire box. I just can’t remember if the 500’s used them. For sure on the 325’s and 330’s. If you have one of those sure fire boxes, they are notorious problem devices.

Yeah that’s the old style flywheel and what I would expect on a 99. That stator almost looks aftermarket. Any brand on it?

So with everything hooked up, what’s your DC voltage at the battery and where I am going with that is if at idle it’s 12.7 and when you give it gas it goes down to 7, I could see that causing it to cut off as that may not be enough juice for the coil to function. And obviously if you only have 12.7 at idle with everything hooked up you clearly have a stator/regulator issue. I’d probably go with a Ricky Stator replacement ignition system.

The job of the regulator is to smooth and stabilize / along with handling you AC/DC conversion. So you had 12.7 DC at the battery with everything hooked up correctly or are you saying 12.7 without the regulator hooked up? The more important measurement on the stator is each of the 3 primaries to ground in which there should be no continuity. Usually when people change the stator it’s because the battery is not charging. I want to know battery voltage with everything hooked up at idle. The flywheel magnets being correct is relevant for the sake of the pickup. I just can’t remember the specifics but seems that it’s ok to have the newer flywheel so long as you have the matching newer stator. New flywheel and old stator/pickup coul is not going to work if I remember properly.

No way. Barking up the wrong tree. What’s your DC voltage at the battery when idle? Ultimately, your spark runs off of DC voltage. HOWEVER...there used to be a problem where the magnets were flying off the flywheel and there are two types of flywheels. The one that had the problem had four magnets and the newer ones (the good ones) had 6 (if I remember right). I could see a problem if they replaced an old style flywheel with a new style flywheel throwing off the pickup. But tell me your DC voltage at the battery at idle.

Another thing to check: do you have a timing light? Use that to see if it’s actually losing spark when you give it gas. And what happened with the shot of carb cleaner test when you gave it gas?

Seems to me the timing gear side is what keeps it from walking. On the decompressor side, can the swing weights be put on backwards? I don’t have one here to remember how they are set up.

What preceded this? Did it by chance backfire?

The main on those is a 152.5 and I just noticed the picture you put up of the carb, that’s the cleanest factory carb I ever saw....so like I’m thinking...is that a China carb? Does it say Mikuni on it? The China carbs have one big problem...wrong jetting. I’m going to guess if you give it that shot of carb x,earner when you crack the throttle it is going to rev. Now I can’t wait for you to report back.

You happen to have any carb cleaner? If so, let it idle and when you give it gas, at the same time give it is little shot of the carb cleaner and tell me what happens. You are now making me wonder if the vacuum slide is not working or something. If you give it the shot and all the sudden it picks up on that, you know you got a fuel issue.

And LOL on your comment about the speedometer controlling so much, yeah...it is kinda amazing. I used to part those machines out on occasion and that was the first thing to go.