This summer I picked up a 97 vmax xtc started up good when i picked it up, I let it sit for about 5 months went to go start it today and I have no spark or head light and no fuel being pulled down from the tank. I was going to check the key switch and the stater but I cant find a wiring diagram for it online. It also has electric start but I cant find the leads or where the battery was any clue ?
super1c
Super Moderator
The starter will be in front of motor behind primary clutch. You should see the bindex sticking out into bellypan area. From there the wiring runs in front of engine besides the recoil and up to chain case area. The chain case holds the battery tray. Should be easy to see. Your relay and battery cover should be there with a tray bolted to the chain case cover. Start with this, find a battery and give it a try. No spark could be from rusty flywheel. Easy fix. Just remove recoil and use some fine sandpaper and clean up the magnets really good then spray and wipe with a little WD 40. Don't worry about fuel it won't flow freely through fuel pump when lines are off. First let's find e start and move on to next.
Well it looks like my sled said it had a starter but there is no started or leaded just has a switch on key for it. I was testing push to kill switch and it looks like when I push and pull it will not change state always at 71.1 ohms. I have tried to start it with the wires to the kill switch open and closed still no spark. How do I go about by passing the key switch to make it to only run mode ?
Backwoods M Max
New member
Unplug it. The ignition circuit is normally open so when the switch is closed (or failed) it grounds the magneto and kills the engine. Unplugging the switch is the same as opening the switch it will open the circuit.
So I unplugged the key switch and the push to kill button and tried to start it still no go, I hooked my DVM up to the red wire going to the coil pack I had voltage at it when i pulled it over went to check continuity and didnt have any at the plug wires or the red wire going to the coil pack. What should I be seeing for a good coil pack ?
Throttle Junkie35
New member
sounds like a bad coil if you cant get any reading between the plug cap and red lead going in.
After a little troubleshooting it turns out the coil was open replaced it with a new one and had spark, after I knew spark was good I had to work on getting fuel, I started at the source and checked the tank for fuel out of the main line I ended up open the fuel pump and checking it out all looked good. To get it started I added fuel to the line from the tank to the pump and sprayed some inside the carbs had to do this process about 15x after that I could see fuel being pulled. Thank you for the help