[undertow113]

I have a 97 Polaris Xplorer 500. It starts and idles great and will rev up no prob in neutral. When i stick it in gear it will rev maybe 1/4 throttle then begins cutting out and sputtering similar to the way the rev limiter engaging sounds. I have checked the etc switch and replaced the limiter along with a new plug, air filter and battery. I have also checked and cleaned the carb, elec connections, gear selector switch. Im leaning towards it being something in the ignition-electrical. Would the bike run at all with a bad cdi? ignition coil?

 

[chopper89]

Could also be the stator

 

[Bruce!]

Welcome to the board!

 

[wpmarc]

I had a friend with a similar problem, it turned out to be the muffler was plugged and the back pressure would not let the engine go under load. Don't know if this helps, but thought I would give you something else to try.

 

[undertow113]

i appreciate the inputs. i checked the continuity of the wiring harness from the stator, the trigger coil and exciter coil seem to be ok. The resistance wasnt to spec but i believe close enough for reasonable doubt. i forgot to mention but i did also check the exhaust and purged the spark arrestor, i do have a small leak right in front of the muffler tho, idk if that could cause it. Also i checked the cdi for ground fault and every terminal shorts to ground, does anybody know if this is correct? idk of any other way to troubleshoot the thing?

 

[ibhogn2]

Hi

Did you ever figure this out? I about the same thing going on with a 2002 400 Sportsman. This thing has me puzzled.

 

[Farmerdean]

i appreciate the inputs. i checked the continuity of the wiring harness from the stator, the trigger coil and exciter coil seem to be ok. The resistance wasnt to spec but i believe close enough for reasonable doubt. i forgot to mention but i did also check the exhaust and purged the spark arrestor, i do have a small leak right in front of the muffler tho, idk if that could cause it. Also i checked the cdi for ground fault and every terminal shorts to ground, does anybody know if this is correct? idk of any other way to troubleshoot the thing?

I have a 2007 500 sportsman, having similar issues, but I noticed if I hold down the reverse limiter button it clears out .mechanic told me it's most likely electrical not likely the cam.

 

[latebird]

It's definitely electrical and is probably the reverse limiter, but could be the stator or flywheel - the limiter determines the engine RPM from the AC signal coming off one leg of the alternator - if you unplug the black wire on the rev limiter and the problem goes away, it may still be the limiter, stator or flywheel, but it is an electrical problem - not the cam - only way to tell if it's the stator is with an oscilloscope (measure the frequency of the AC signal) - only way to tell if it is the flywheel is by visual inspection - if there is a or some broken (cracked) magnets, it will increase the frequency of the AC voltage and the rev limiter will think it is running faster than it is.