Had a family member drop off their recon again the other day. It has been losing spark intermittently. Typically, it starts up fine and will run for 1 hr+ then, all of a sudden, it will start to miss, then it dies. If you wait awhile (1/2 hr or longer) it will usually fire back up and run like nothing ever happened.
2 weeks ago they had it out, it did the usual as described above but, never started back up. They brought it to my garage the other day. I checked spark and verified there was no sign whatsoever.
I pulled all the plastic and started taking apart connections. I pulled the connectors off the ICM, R/R, neutral switch connectors, etc.... whatever I could find in the ignition circuit. I cleaned them all up and added some dielectric grease. I removed the spark plug cap and trimmed the wire. After that, I tested spark again and found a nice, fat, blue spark. Put the plug wire back on the plug in the engine and it fired up instantly.
I have mixed feeling about this. Its great that it fires up but, I'm concerned that I didn't actually fix anything. I'm thinking its going to do the same old routine once it gets out on the trail.
Anybody have an idea as to what part usually goes bad that prevents spark? ICM, Coil...? I read through the manual but, I don't have a peak voltage tester so I'm not sure how I can verify what component is causing the problem if it does reappear.
On another note, does anyone have any tricks for releasing the electrical connectors from the frame of the guad? They have a tab that locks them in place on the frame. I was successful in removing a few by inserted a feeler gauge in there to depress the tab and they slid right off. On a few, I can't get the feeler gauge in there as it is too wide. Is there a special tool to release them?
I have no problems removing the male from the female side. My problem is getting them off the frame. I like to do that so I can hold them upside down and spray electrical cleaner in there and let it drip out.
2 weeks ago they had it out, it did the usual as described above but, never started back up. They brought it to my garage the other day. I checked spark and verified there was no sign whatsoever.
I pulled all the plastic and started taking apart connections. I pulled the connectors off the ICM, R/R, neutral switch connectors, etc.... whatever I could find in the ignition circuit. I cleaned them all up and added some dielectric grease. I removed the spark plug cap and trimmed the wire. After that, I tested spark again and found a nice, fat, blue spark. Put the plug wire back on the plug in the engine and it fired up instantly.
I have mixed feeling about this. Its great that it fires up but, I'm concerned that I didn't actually fix anything. I'm thinking its going to do the same old routine once it gets out on the trail.
Anybody have an idea as to what part usually goes bad that prevents spark? ICM, Coil...? I read through the manual but, I don't have a peak voltage tester so I'm not sure how I can verify what component is causing the problem if it does reappear.
On another note, does anyone have any tricks for releasing the electrical connectors from the frame of the guad? They have a tab that locks them in place on the frame. I was successful in removing a few by inserted a feeler gauge in there to depress the tab and they slid right off. On a few, I can't get the feeler gauge in there as it is too wide. Is there a special tool to release them?
I have no problems removing the male from the female side. My problem is getting them off the frame. I like to do that so I can hold them upside down and spray electrical cleaner in there and let it drip out.
