Speedometer Testing 02 500 H.O.

[gmiller0737]

Anyone had any experience testing the speedometer circiuts? Both My 02 Sportsman 400 & My 02 Sportsman 500 H.O. Speedometers are out they only light up no odometer, no hourmeter,no speed indicated when riding,The O.E. Service Manual does not have any info that I can find for speedometer diagnosis,I ordered a Brand New Speedometer & installed it on each ATV did get a LCD to light up for the hourmeter/odometer but no speed & hourmeter will not count up? I also had another extra speed sensor but no dice,I sent the speedo back as defect & am awaiting the replacement,What else could it be? The 500's was working great then 1 day I started it up & in neutral the speedo would indicate 25 or so mph & go up when reving the engine then it just quit.

[gmiller0737]

2nd New Speedo & still not working,New speed sensor on order,Hopefully that will do it? I tried the speedo's on both My 400 & 500 plus another used speed sensor,maybe all 3 are bad? Holes in rotor are not clogged up either.

[james_tessier]

I would be curious about testing these as well

[gmiller0737]

In this case both the Speedometer & Speed Sensor were bad,Kinda Strange how the speedo went out rode it a short distance & speedo was working stopped for a while then restarted in neutral & speed would show mph & increase if I revved the engine while sitting still shut it off & restarted & even the odometer/hour meter would not show anything.

[StevenWithaV]

My '02 500 H.O. RSE speedometer does not work but hours/miles do increment. What would you recommend testing--the speed sensor?

[gmiller0737]

Originally Posted by StevenWithaV

My '02 500 H.O. RSE speedometer does not work but hours/miles do increment. What would you recommend testing--the speed sensor?

If the milage increases as you ride I would assume that the speed sensor is working,Aparently the older Polaris Speedometers are know for poor durability,The one on My Sportsman 400 is D.O.A. had a local speedo shop look at it & he couldnt do anything with it said it was all corroded inside from moisture/water damage,Might check 2 things on yours Check that the holes in the rotor are not plugged with mud & if aftermarket rotors may not even have the holes for the speed sensor ( I got 1 like that before) also if you remove the speed sensor from the caliper bracket there is a Stainless Steel cup in the bracket that the sensor goes in remove it & make sure the end that faces the brake rotor is not dirty mine had some sticky crap on it + Mud that will affect sensor operation,Sensors are $55 or so online & speedos are usually between $270 & $300 online.

[Kevcules]

I had to replace my 01 speedo "sensor" because I had no speed readout or miles count and all was well after that. These type of sensors are called "proximity sensors" which detect metal only. IMO , your rotors could be packed solid with mud and crap and should not affect the sensors ability to detect the rotors metal. Any other design for an ATV would be foolish if it had to be clean all the time. Distance is one factor that "could" affect this operation. It has to be close enough to work.
If you replaced the sensor and the pod assembly , I would suspect a bad connection somewhere..... not sure how to troubleshoot that though.

Kevin