Electrical Troubleshooting

Bischof

New member
Joined
May 2, 2003
Messages
1,130
Age
63
Location
Holly, MI
I've started messing with the sleds again and getting them ready for the upcoming season. I got my little SX700 cleaned up and running but I'm having problems with the Mrs 95' XLT Special.

I'm not getting any spark to the three plugs.
I've checked all the wiring that can be seen with the airbox out and haven't found any damaged or worn wires. My next step is to check the coils but I'm not sure how to do this. Can I just do a simple continunity test? Can one bad coil cause all three plugs not to fire? Any other ideas on what I can check?
I'm really hoping I'm not going to have to start looking at the CDI or stator.
Anyhow any suggestions are greatly appreciated.
 

For coils you simply test resistance on the primary and secondary (disconnected from the sled). The info should be in your service manual or the Tech Update manual for that year or the following year. If you don't have a manual one of us can look it up for you. I am not near my manuals at the moment.

Electric diagnosis on sleds is generally by way of the process of elimination.
 
Thanks Ding!
If you don't mind, when you get a chance could you give me the resistance for the coils and plug wires. I don't have a manual for the Mrs Polaris. I can do the continunity test easily. Do you know weather one bad coil will effect all three? It looks like they're connected in series so I'm guessing it could.
Thanks for the help.
 
I can't find that manual. I thought I had it on CD and copied to the hard disk but either it got deleted or I never had it. I'll check one other source.
 
I remember looking up clutch info for a friend's 95 Indy Sport (P95) online last year. I was able to see the entire service manual, I just don't remember the site. You might try searching online.
 
It also has the values for the stator, which you can test also if the coils are fine. One thing to note is that this is an older design where all 3 coils are wired in series and all 3 fire all the time. If any 1 coil is bad, or a wire disconnected, none will work.

If you are not used to reading schematics, maybe I can walk you through it.
 
Hey Ding,

Thanks a million!
I've been out of town and didn't see your replys until this morning.
I did check the coils and they look good. I'll check the resistance ratings for the wires and plug caps. When I put them on the ohm meter they were all the same so I'm guessing they're ok. The stator ratings will be helpfull.

Thanks again, you went above and beyond the call of duty Mister.
 
Yah, I like sleds, I like riding, I like working on them, I like talking (and posting) about them . . .

My wife thinks I like my sleds so much that I should sleep with them.

I think she would actually prefer it if I did . . . :eek: :eek: :eek:
 
Well I dunno, I got her running but don't know what the issue was.
Maybe I had a bad connection somewhere. After disconnicting and reconnecting all the coils and disconnecting the wire harness' for the stator to check resistance levels and clipping the ends of the plug wires and rescrewing in the plug caps it started right up.
Anyhoo Ding I owe you a pop or two.
 
Maybe you didn't left the kill switch or the key was off. Come on tell us the truth.
When in doubt turn the switch on!!! HAHA!!!
 
Well the truth be told, I've done that before but it didn't take me a week to figure it out ; )

My best guess is that one of the coil connections was bad and after pulling it apart to check continunity and then reconnecting all was good.
 
Bischof said:
Well the truth be told, I've done that before but it didn't take me a week to figure it out ; )

My best guess is that one of the coil connections was bad and after pulling it apart to check continunity and then reconnecting all was good.

A little bit of di-electric grease on those connections would end that problem for good, if indeed that's the source. You can get the grease at most auto stores and usually comes in one of those toothpaste like tubes. :wink:
 
Thanks for the tip Crew.
Man you don't want to leave that stuff hanging around your bathroom counter.
Get up with a hangover, go to brush your teeth! Reminds me of the time I did that with Preperation H. I couldn't speak for a week. All I could do was whistle.
 


Back
Top