Category: Forum News

Hello! I’ve been browsing a bit here lately and decided to join. I’ve never owned an ATV, but a buddy had a 2008 500 HO that didn’t run and he has allowed to sit for a couple of years that he let me buy for a good price, so now I’ve got something ELSE to eat up my time and money.
Here’s a short rundown of where I’m at with it. I don’t know which direction I’m going to go with the project but I’m leaning toward rough trails and not so much mud and water.

2008 Sportsman 500 HO Carb

Super dirty, so I got all of the panels and winch off, sprayed it with degreaser, and power washed it. MUCH cleaner now. The questionable news was that the air box was filled with water when I opened it up. I knew the engine would be full, too, so I drained the engine and oil tank, pulled the plug and cycled out the water in the cylinder with the recoil rope. Filled the cylinder with ATF, put a few quarts of 10W-30 I had laying around in the tank, cycled it a few more times and now I’m just letting it sit that way while I work on some other stuff. It seemed to compress ok when I was cycling it and I didn’t hear any abnormal sounds from the crankshaft so the engine may be ok. The clutch housing was dry so I guess the air box got filled with rainwater since the seat had been off.

I charged the battery overnight, stuck the instrument cluster back on it and not only did it have keyed power, but the starter spun the engine over!

Right now my focus is on getting it started before attacking the rest of the fluids, axle seals, CV boots, and brakes. Gonna get a carb O.H. kit, a new fuel pump, replace all the fuel lines, reseal the water pump, flush the radiator (which is dry, somewhat concerning), and see if it will fire off.

I’ll do my best to get photos up. When I do, please don’t mind the faded/purple Mossy Oak fenders. Those ugly ass things are getting stripped and painted before they go back on.

I do have two questions.
1. I’m not a huge fan of the plastic front rack, especially the storage bin. Mine has cracked off corners on the front bumper and a giant hole in the lid over the storage cover. Does anyone make a metal front rack, a storage bin delete kit, aftermarket bumper, etc? Or am I mostly stuck with the OEM products?
2. What it everyone using to host photos?

Hey Guys, new here to the forums!

I have a 2007 Sportsman 450 in for a repair job. Owner brought it in stating problems with a flashing battery light and the electric starter not engaging. I started to do some testing with my multimeter and found that the bike is putting 26 Volts :eek to the battery at idle, and almost 28 Volts with the blip of the throttle.

My immediate thought was the voltage regulator, but I also tested the legs on the Stator and found around 1 Ohm of resistance between all three legs, and all three legs are shorting to ground. I should not be getting a short to ground on any of the stator legs, correct? And just to confirm how i tested the short to ground, I connected one lead to the stator leg, and then the other lead grounded on a chassis ground, upon which i found resistance readings on all three legs. I should not be getting any resistance reading, correct? And my last question is, where is the voltage regulator located on this machine?

Thank you in advance to anyone who helps me out here, I want to get some opinions before i go ahead ordering parts!

Hey Guys, new here to the forums!

I have a 2007 Sportsman 450 in for a repair job. Owner brought it in stating problems with a flashing battery light and the electric starter not engaging. I started to do some testing with my multimeter and found that the bike is putting 26 Volts :eek to the battery at idle, and almost 28 Volts with the blip of the throttle.

My immediate thought was the voltage regulator, but I also tested the legs on the Stator and found around 1 Ohm of resistance between all three legs, and all three legs are shorting to ground. I should not be getting a short to ground on any of the stator legs, correct? And just to confirm how i tested the short to ground, I connected one lead to the stator leg, and then the other lead grounded on a chassis ground, upon which i found resistance readings on all three legs. I should not be getting any resistance reading, correct? And my last question is, where is the voltage regulator located on this machine?

Thank you in advance to anyone who helps me out here, I want to get some opinions before i go ahead ordering parts!

Previous owner cut the front axles. (yes really) and I want to replace them. it goes into gear fine, and the diff appears OK best I can tell.
I see lots of sellers with 04 Cv axles, and very few with 05. Parts books give a different art number, but are the interchangable? A few sellers on eBay show they do interchange.

Hello new here I need a new seat for my sportsman etx efi I can't find it will the 570 fit my atv ?

It seems I have a problem many have after searching for months, which has pretty much left this thing sitting... But now I'm just tired of it and want to get the thing running properly. I have a 2013 Polaris Sportsman 500 HO that has 540 miles on it. I bought it from a good friend in September with probably less than 200 miles on it. I live in the mountains, so I would just take it for a ride right from the house and go explore. It ran great for several hundred miles, until it didn't.

Symptoms - Starts fine, idles fine, cruises at low throttle fine on a flat surface. Once I start getting into the throttle, it starts bogging... Generally around 5,400 RPM.. ish... Today, I disconnected the speedometer and took it for a ride and initially, it seemed not to bog, but then it came back about a quarter mile into riding it. I tested voltage and revving up the motor, it's in the mid 12v range.

When it happened, which was sudden, I had washed the ATV. I used engine degreaser on the metal parts that are under the plastics and used low pressure. Previous owner said he's power washed the crap out of it when he had it. Additionally, at my high altitude (8,000 ft ASL), I mixed in some E85 to bring the AFR leaner. I have read these do not tolerate ethanol well, but it seems pretty quick. Quick reference, I run E85 in a few of my turbo cars and use it for being able to make more, safer power. I also tune a lot of cars and have played with E85 a lot over the last decade, so if this is the cause, it's the first I've seen it happens so quickly. I've splashed ethanol in many of my small, carb'd motors around here to get them to run better at altitude. That said, this issue seemed to happen right after doing both of these, as I remember. I'm not well-seasoned with carbs as I grew up learning EFI, which would make this far easier for me.

I've read about cam issues, CDI, etc... Any ideas would be appreciated as I have not really ripped into taking things apart on this at this point. I've got a race car and toy street car that has had my patience in that respect. :) I would like to get this running properly again as I am planning to use it to plow my large driveway this winter after selling my snow blower, and my daughter would like to go out riding again with me and her Polaris Sportsman 90.

Picture of the ATV when I bought it.



I'm sure I have left some things out, so ask questions to get a clearer picture.

I can’t for the life of me get the c ring or snap rings off of the wrist pin to get my piston. Any help would be great

In need of wiring diagram. Trying to figure out what’s wrong. Has to be electrical. Bike was flipped in water. All water is out and gone. New starter after and brand new battery. Bike attempts to turn over real slow and won’t make a complete turn.

All battery connections are cleaned and fresh. Dash board lights up and works perfect. No trouble codes. I have full voltage to starter. Im so lost. I’m trying to see all components on harness and maybe any circuit breaker that’s hidden that’s beyond the fuse box. This is driving me crazy. Any help is appreciated.

hi all, i'm new to the forum and new to can am. later this week i'm going to pick up my brand new 2018 outlander xmr 850:) just wondering if there is anything i should be looking for? i ask the people that would know:)

hi all, i'm new to the forum and new to can am. later this week i'm going to pick up my brand new 2018 outlander xmr 850:) just wondering if there is anything i should be looking for? i ask the people that would know:)