'00 SRX700 electrical issues

S

Scootertrash

New member
Joined
Feb 17, 2010
Messages
28
Location
MN
Sled is a 2000 SRX700
OK, I guess it's my turn for this issue. Here's the scoop:
(yup, I've perused the threads with the same problem, this is for verification. ;))

Headlights go dim, dash lights go dim/out and tach stops working. Sled still runs.

Sled had this issue last year at end of season. I had read a few of the threads and checked the wire harness under the motor for rubs. I can't remember if I found any or not, but if I did they were repaired and the wires were wrapped in electrical tape for the complete length and then placed into plastic wire loom tubing and re-routed under the carbs.

Started the sled a couple weeks ago and went for a little test run (4-5 miles) everything was fine until I pulled back in the yard and then the lights dimmed down and sled seemed a little boggy, but hard to tell since I was going slow.

Last night:
Sled is at garage temp 60 degees or so. Start the sled. Tach works, lights work. Run till op temp. Shut off. Start back up, no tach and headlights are dim. Sled seems to run fine, did not drive it, just ran in driveway on stand.

Let sled cool outside for a couple hours. Come back, start sled. Same thing happens.

Put sled in garage until this morning. This is what I tested this morning:

Tested the 3 prong connector for the stator all three tests had the wires in spec and pretty much identical reading .4 ohms (spec is .36-.44)

White/red-white/green wires in spec. 193.1 ohms (spec is 189-231)

Checked for wire rubs under the bar pad, found none.
Checked for rubs in the area of the relays and condenser behind left panel, found none
Checked for rubs under seat, found none. The wire is actually pretty well protected inside the seat.
Checked for rubs in the area of the stator connector(s), found none

Pulled the sled outside and fired it up, tach worked and lights worked. Jiggled wiggled and jostled all the harness spots I mentioned above to see if it would have any effect. Nope. So I thought I would try a couple of other things I read in a couple posts this morning: The warmer control and the hi/lo beam switch:

Turn the warmer switch up, tach would quit, turn it back down to minimum, tach would work again. Did this 3 or 4 times

Switch to high beam, tach would quit for a sec, then go back to what the rpm was at, 1800-2000 rpm.
Click back to lo beam, same thing. Tach would die for a sec, then back to idle rpm. lights would be dim and got to proper brightness when the tach kicked back in
Did this 3 or 4 times.
ETA (sorry, forgot this part): When the brake was applied the tach would shut down and then in a sec or two come back up to idle speed. Did this 3 or 4 times too

Then the tach quit and lights dimmed and wouldn't come back. I don't remebr if I was messin with anything when the tach quit or not.

Sled sounds like it's running fine thru all of this when I rev it a bit. I haven't driven it again since the problem started this winter.

Pulled it back in the garage, pulled the CDI and looked for rubs, found none.

So am I lookin at replacing the stator, or is there something else I should be checking? I'm working on this sled for another guy and don't want to spend money I don't have too.

Thanks guys!
 
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Just a thought

Sounds very similar to the way an ER viper behaves when it has a dead battery. How about checking the connection on your capacitor(s) or the capacitor(ss) themselves. Not sure if the 2000 had one or two nor do I know if they were located under the headlight or near the CDI. But it sounds like you've got some stuff shutting down due to lack of power. Can you borrow a capacitor from a friends sled and swap them then check the condition. Just throwing this out there as a very quick / cheap thing to check.

Madmatt
 
Thanks for the reply Matt,
I don't have any other capacitors that I can borrow, all my buddies are polaris guys :P I'll ask around tho.

Bear in mind tho, that the headlight dimness/tach issue was happening before/without messing with the headlight switch or handwarmer control. That's where part of my frustration comes in.

The other part of the thing throwing me off is/was the cold run no problem warm it up shut it down, restart and then the problem was there, let it sit and it would be gone again. I'm pulling out the little bit of hair I have left.

This SRX700 has 2 capacitors

I am going to check with a neighbor who may have a tester for the capacitors. I don't believe my Fluke meter will check microfarads
 
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Well

When I first read through all of your post it sounded to me like a typical wiring harness rub through but you say you've checked that sooooooo. I thought this would be a quick easy check if you could get your hands on capacitors. Sounds like when you increase the draw the CDI begins shutting down non essential items to keep the motor running......I believe that is the way they were designed. You've already checked the stator and that is in spec so (I'm no expert) but I'd go toward the capacitors to make sure they are functioning properly then maybe the CDI. But I still think it sounds an awful lot like a wiring harness rub through. 9 times out of 10 they are rubbed through under the pipes where they go over top of the aluminum brace that the sway bar goes through. You might want to unwrap and check again right there. If the sled was dirty they can be awful hard to find.

Madmatt
 
Read it again

Read your post again. Try unplugging the hand grips & testing next time you get it to act up. Thinking possible short in them.....when they get old and loose they can do funny things.

Madmatt
 
We had the same issues on our 700 SX when the add on heated visor jack shorted out.

I would check for a short to ground somewhere...either a rub through some where on the wiring harness or shorted out grip warmers, tail light ect.
 
Update!

OK, so potential small victory:
This time when I started it the tach would start coming down to idle speed when I blipped the throttle, then the tach would die.

Hand warmer control still did the same thing. The brake switch still did the same thing. The headlight switch still did the same thing.

I unplugged the hand warmers, no difference.

So I unplugged the headlights. :shock: Tach went back to idle speed. Brake switch didn't kill the tach and the handwarmer control didn't kill the tach. The Hi/lo beam switch didn't kill the tach but the hi beam indicator still lit up. ;)!:rockon:

Now to track down the short. Since I went thru the main harness last winter and rerouted it so it wasn't under the motor , I'll start with the hood harness. If I don't find it there, I'll untape the main harness and recheck that.

If there is anything else you guys want to suggest based on this update please post your suggestions.

I will update with my results to complete the thread.

Thanks again for all the help guys!!
:sled2:
 
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problem is its tough to tell if its the stator thats weak if your not riding the sled, as if the stator is weak they will usually be low on topend rpm so it may only pull 7-8000rpm never go to 8500rpm. When you unplug the lights your giving the engine more power, so if you rode it with the lights unplugged and it came up in rpm then i would vote for a stator change.

usually a harness does the listed symptoms you have listed but you keep saying its running fine and thats where the problem for me to help diagnose comes in, as whenever i have a wire harness short the engine will have a miss to it then clear up a couple seconds later if on a bumpy trail or what not as the harness moves and doesnt ground out the chaffed wire onto the alum. frame.

i would suggest plugging the lights back in and ride it, whats the peak rpm?, then unplug the lights....whats the peak rpm?
 
Part of the problem is that it's on a fresh rebuild, I don't think I've got 10 miles on it, so I'm a little leery of cranking it out too much since it's not my sled.

I won't be able to ride it until tomorrow after work (if I'm lucky) I may not get home until after dark. I'll do what I can. I'll call the sod farm owner and see if i can run on one of his fields, it's about the only place with enough distance around here to open it up.

Question: If I plug the headlight back in and it goes back to no tach, do I just see if it misses? I may not have a tach? The main problem is the tach quits working.
When I start it the water temp light blinks 3 times like it should (If that makes a difference)

I did check out the hood harness and I see no rub thrus or broken wires.
the main harness was wrapped in electrical tape and then I put in inside that plastic wire loom stuff after I checked it out last year. I re-routed it under the carbs so it doesn't go under the motor anymore
 
DARV said:
You need a stator had same problem replaced stator problem fixed
Click to expand...

Yea, that's the way I'm leaning, but I need to be sure. It's not my sled and if the stator doesn't do it, I have to pay for the stator ;)

Just making sure I'm covering all of my bases. If the test ride tells MrViper something that will help.

Thanks again guys for all the help, I really appreciate it!!
 
With the HI/LOW beam slightly changing things (HI beam better if I am reading it right) I would look into the load control relay (could be relay or bad wire to it) For sure check and see if theres a differant behavior with head light unplugged test riding in HI and LOW beam mode.
 
Devilin AblueDress! said:
With the HI/LOW beam slightly changing things (HI beam better if I am reading it right) I would look into the load control relay (could be relay or bad wire to it) For sure check and see if theres a differant behavior with head light unplugged test riding in HI and LOW beam mode.
Click to expand...

Hi/lo both reacted the same: tach died for a sec or two then came back up to idle.
If I can make it home before dark to morrow I'll test ride with the light plugged in and unplugged and see if there is a difference.

GAWD I hate electrical problems!!!!. :o|

ETA: I made up a little set of jumper wires to test the relays off of a battery.
The load relay tested good, but the lighting relay tested bad (no continuity with voltage applied. I could hear the relay click when I hooked it to the battery, but no continuity). Ordered one up and I'll see if it changes anything. I'll update the thread later in the week.
 
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I hear ya on lack of love for electrical. Spent a week going from stem to stern looking for a rub threw do to 7 flashes (PV servo fault code) Come to find out the pick up coil bolt had fallen out and THRASHED the outter part of the stator....it was rubbed threw for sure!
 
Scootertrash said:
Yea, that's the way I'm leaning, but I need to be sure. It's not my sled and if the stator doesn't do it, I have to pay for the stator ;)
snip

You could let the owner decide. Approach him like...

"hey bud, I've gone over all the known issues and can't find a problem but things are pointing in the direction of the stator. Do you want to try it"?

Like many electrical components, the published diagnostics aren't full proof and "substitute with known good part" is often a last resort used by novice and professionals alike. No one likes to throw parts at a problem but sometimes it's required.

Seems to me you've spent a bunch of time already and your time is worth something. Based on your writings, I'd say he's lucky to have someone knowledgeable and willing to help. Figure it this way, where would he be without you, at the dealer?
Click to expand...
 
Thanks for the reply snomofo. Nice screen name by the way! I love it!

You are correct, that's about the point I'm at. I am going to try the new headlight relay first since that tested bad, if that doesn't work, I'll do the RPM test suggested above, and if that tells me nothing, it'll be a new stator.

Hell, I've go my own machines that need attention ;)
 
Update

New headlight relay arrived today. Installed and and ran it in the drive way: No change

I did do some more testing tho:
I tested the voltage at the condenser connections and I was only getting 8.5 volts at about 2500 rpms (If I can rely on the tach with the issues I'm having)

Shouldn't I be getting 12 volts?

What color wires would I test coming out of the stator for full voltage off of the stator?

Thanks!

ETA:: Still plan on doing the rpm test ASAP. Just gotta git home before dark so I can see the tach. :P
 
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[b]update[/b]

TTT
Update.

Just did the RPM test suggested by MrViper700. Sled gets 8500rpms no problem whether the headlights are plugged in or not.
I was running on a sod field so it was bumpy, but not "trail" bumpy. Sled ran great. No missing or sputtering. it was bumpy ditch/road shoulder riding to the sod field, about 4 miles each way.

So can I safely assume the stator is good?

Am I back to searching for rub thrus again?

Also today had this:
tach will work with high beam on but drop to 0 when it hits 1000 or so rpms on the tach. lights are dim. both headlights plugged in.

tach will not work on low beam

These tests are as you are sitting on the sled:
Unplug the right headlight everything is as described above

Plug the right headlight back in and unplug the left headlight: everything works normal except for repeated operation of the hi/lo switch results in intermittently killing the tach or the tach may drop to 0 for a second and go back up to idle.

Holding the brake in does not change this scenario.

It seems to me that I have tracked the problem down to the left headlight socket or wiring or the high/lo switch.
I am going to peel back the tape for the headlight splice to see if anything is bad with the wiring there.

I have the same guys 99 Mountain Max 600 here. The hi/lo switches have different part numbers, but are they interchangable?

Any other suggestions are welcome and appreciated
Thanks guys!
 
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