Having electrical problem. The head light, tail light hand warmers and tach all flicker and loose power or go dim for sometimes a short while and sometimes for a long time. Almost like a bad ground but I'm unsure I thought snowmobiles wiring worked a little different than say a car. Can anyone give me a clue where to start looking?
1992 polaris 650
- Thread starter jeffrey40
- Start date
81indycenturion
Member
Try unplugging the modular wiring block (located near the flywheel housing, backside of crankcase) & look at the terminals inside; they may be corroded. If they look good, plug it back together (push hard) & ride it; you might get lucky. If not, start following wires & looking for sharp edges where the wires may have worn thru their insulation. The yellow wire is hot, the brown wire is ground. The yellow wire is what you should concentrate on. If it touches the chassis, it will short out your lighting coil & you get the symptoms you describe. A tougher problem to find is if the wires are bouncing around & the conductor has broken inside the insulation. Wires should be zip-tied so they don't bounce If you don't find anything, your voltage regulator may be bad. Good luck.
81indycenturion
Member
Jeffrey40, any luck?
I've taken all the connections appart and cleaned them with sand paper and taken the nuts off the voltage regulator and ignition box grounds and cleaned them with sand paper. It doesn't seem to flicker now it just goes on and off, not as much diming just on or off. Very frustrating!
bouncer
Member
Check the ground wiring. Engines are rubber mounted. The ground system runs thru the wiring loom. Run an alternate ground wire from the engine to the body. Best to download a wiring schematic for your sled thru the internet to trace the ground wiring system and others.
Could also just be a bad voltage regulator. Good luck
bouncer
Member
Nope......I do mean hydrochloric acid. NEVER use muriatic acid!!!! It destroys most metal it comes in contact with. A watered down version of hydrochloric acid would be your common toilet bowl cleaner.
You can take a corroded green nasty trailer light plug connector, dip it it pure hydrochloric acid and it will come out like brand new.
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My college chemistry classes may have been 50 years ago, but unless someone has invented "new chemistry", Muriatic Acid = Hydrochloric acid = HCl.
See:
1. Wikipedia: Hydrochloric acid.
2. What is Muriatic Acid?
3. Jamestown Distributors, Wholesale Marine and Building Supplies: Muriatic Acid.
I'd be most fascinated to hear anyone refute this.
bouncer
Member
Muriatic acid is yellow. It will turn any corroded electrical connection you try to clean with it black and react like crazy to brass or aluminum. Then it needs to be wire brushed because of a crust that's left on the metal after being basically burnt.
This boat bottom cleaner (name on the bottle) is pink. The ingredients on the label say 100% Hydrochloric acid. When I use this on a corroded nasty green electrical connector or a fuzzy green brass carburetor jet it comes back to like new condition without trying to eat the metal. Then a simple flush with water and air hose dry.
I am no chemist. I only know what works. From the links you left you are right.
I would sure like to know the answer and will never dispute a difference between the two again, thank you.
Finally
Well I finally got to the bottom of the problem. It was the stater/mag. I used a test light when it was acting up, which it would not do all the time so that made it that much harder to find, when everything would dim I unplugged the stater and tested the current coming out of it and it was next to nothing so I took it apart and one of the lighting coils was all blackened in the middle of the winding. Put a new one in and everything works great. Electrical can be frustrating sometimes, I'm just glad to have the mystery solved. Thanks for all the input
Well I finally got to the bottom of the problem. It was the stater/mag. I used a test light when it was acting up, which it would not do all the time so that made it that much harder to find, when everything would dim I unplugged the stater and tested the current coming out of it and it was next to nothing so I took it apart and one of the lighting coils was all blackened in the middle of the winding. Put a new one in and everything works great. Electrical can be frustrating sometimes, I'm just glad to have the mystery solved. Thanks for all the input