[Idkwhatwtfimdoing]

Hi all, new to the forums! ?
I just had to replace the carburetor on my '89 Fourtrax after it was having issues idling. While I had the seat off fixing that I noticed a bunch of dead leaves and debris jammed up around the battery compartment, so decided I'd clean it up while I was at it. Took out the battery, took a shop vac to it and cleaned it up nice, re-connected the battery, went to start it... nothing. No neutral light, didn't try to turn over, nothing. Checked the fuses, wire connections, battery terminals, everything looked great. Tested the battery, which is almost brand new, it's fine. I read you can try to jump the solenoid which I did and it started up almost immediately. Now I can only kick start it, still doesn't have a neutral light until its kick started but it's only half as bright as normal. New starter relay maybe? Other suggestions? I'm not very technical lol, just have an old ATV I need to keep maintained so the more elaborate the explanations the more helpful ?

Thanks!

 

[TBRider]

Sounds like your battery might be hooked up backwards

 

[jdp]

Try hooking the battery up the right way and make sure its charged FULLY. A Maintainer helps greatly. I use the Battery Tender Junior. You can get them cheap on amazon.

 

[XplicitRacing6]

If you battery was in backwards you would have seen sparks and/ or you would have fried something. If you can still start it up with the kick start, I would try charging the battery. Check all fuses you can see. If they have a burt black mark in the middle that means there bad.

If you have a Voltmeter you can see how many Volts the battery has. Should be in the ballpark of 12 Volts

 

[TBRider]

If you battery was in backwards you would have seen sparks and/ or you would have fried something. If you can still start it up with the kick start, I would try charging the battery. Check all fuses you can see. If they have a burt black mark in the middle that means there bad.

If you have a Voltmeter you can see how many Volts the battery has. Should be in the ballpark of 12 Volts

For my response, I think the battery was hooked up wrong and might have blown a fuse, but you can still kick it over without a battery in those quads, but the dim light makes me think there might be some reverse polarity causing the problem, shot in the dark, first thing that came to mind...

Edit... I have seen engines spin backwards and work, but those were 2 strokes.

 

[Idkwhatwtfimdoing]

Well I just wanted to say I checked and rechecked everything, battery was installed right (come on guys give me a little more credit than that lol) and I ended up replacing the solenoid but I still cant get it to start, cant even get it to jump start anymore... I'm going to attempt to charge the battery since it's been sitting a while right now but other suggestions would be helpful. For the record, nothing works; no dash lights, no clicking, engine does not try to turn over, absolutely nothing happens when I try to start it with the electric starter. If I attempt to kick start it, it kinda almost turns over for half of half of a second then sputters out. Hopefully ya'll are still out there otherwise I'm making a new thread. This is getting pretty frustrating.

 

[c1v1c966554]

my best guess is you have a loose wire? if all you did was "remove" battery and reinstall after cleaning and now having issues, check the other end of the negative terminal on the frame. Check the condition of the wires in the terminals, are they frayed? brittle?

Id eliminate the kill switch, starter/solenoid, as problem as you clearly got it running AND having power issues. That leads to me thinking the battery is not connected via neg(hopefully easy fix) or the pos, in the harness somewhere. that assumption is because you said Very dim neutral light. a loose connection will sink current.

 

[shadetree]

check both ends of the two fuses at the battery. there are two of them back there. one is the main fuse.

 

[AlabamaDan]

I had a similar problem a while back after doing the same thing. Turned out the negative terminal was as tight as it needed to be. It looked good and tight, but a few more pounds of torque on the screw and a fully charged battery solved the problem. I also installed a batter tender.

 

[Idkwhatwtfimdoing]

Second update: after charging the battery for a bit, it surprisingly started kick-starting again with no problem. Not sure if the two are connected (I admittedly did not try kick starting it before hooking the battery up to charge but I know it wouldn't kick start the previous week) but now it kick starts beautifully again. So to me it seems like it may be some sort of ignition problem possibly? Just replaced the solenoid but now I'm thinking either a new starter or ignition switch?? Also I ended up taking the damn thing half apart following the wiring to make sure nothing was unplugged or loose but could not find anything, although I kinda lost my patience and went inside after awhile (was over 90 outside..) so did not check the wiring around the handlebar region too throughly so something could've come unplugged up there which I'll be sure to check out tomorrow. Given that it now kick-starts (and the dash lights do come on only after its started although they are still very dim) does anyone have any other ideas? I'm happy that I got it to start at all, but not having any dash lights until its started concerns me, so does the possibility that it may stop kick-starting again.

 

[MacAttack]

Second update: after charging the battery for a bit, it surprisingly started kick-starting again with no problem. Not sure if the two are connected (I admittedly did not try kick starting it before hooking the battery up to charge but I know it wouldn't kick start the previous week) but now it kick starts beautifully again. So to me it seems like it may be some sort of ignition problem possibly? Just replaced the solenoid but now I'm thinking either a new starter or ignition switch?? Also I ended up taking the damn thing half apart following the wiring to make sure nothing was unplugged or loose but could not find anything, although I kinda lost my patience and went inside after awhile (was over 90 outside..) so did not check the wiring around the handlebar region too throughly so something could've come unplugged up there which I'll be sure to check out tomorrow. Given that it now kick-starts (and the dash lights do come on only after its started although they are still very dim) does anyone have any other ideas? I'm happy that I got it to start at all, but not having any dash lights until its started concerns me, so does the possibility that it may stop kick-starting again.

What ever happened with your ATV? I have a 1999 Honda 300 FourtraxFW and I have the same issue you describe. When I turn on ignition, no neutral light (but oil light comes on briefly as usual). When I press start switch I get nothing. I can kick start fine. I have replaced solenoid and regulator/rectifier. Did you ever get your ATV ignition working?

 

[Goober]

Tells me you might have two issues.

If you can kick start it, then your neutral light bulb may be burnt or connector dirty.

No starter then jump the starter cable poles on the solenoid, with an insulated screwdriver, to see if starter works. Your starter may be worn.
Download the service manual and check parts links in my signature block below. Only buy oem parts

 

[MacAttack]

Thanks Goober. My ATV in "up north", but I'll try your suggestions when I can get up there and let you know what happens.