12,000 miles. Sled finally died but not the true death. No spark.

12,200 miles now. Sled finally left me out in the cold, literally. 2008 dragon 600. Temperature was -14F. Sled started acting up and I could barely make it up a small hill. Turned around and limped it back to the closest restaurant. I went in and warmed up. When I went to leave the sled wouldn't start. Pulled the plugs and they were drenched in gas. The sled didn't throw up any codes prior to problems starting.

I know what a screwed up VR is like and this isn't it. I just tried the spare VR just to ease my mind. Still, no spark. The next thing that comes to mind in the two coil packs. Do these go bad? The engine is fine, I just checked compression and the PTO side has 120 and the mag side had 119. I have two spare coil packs here but the one is a pain in the balls to change. I don't want to do it if I don't have to.

Tried new spark plugs. No spark to being sent to fire the engine. Every time I pull the plugs, no matter which plugs I pull out, they are wet and soaked in gas. So, fuel is definitely being sent to the engine. If the coils went bad, wouldn't the headlight still flicker when pulling the sled over? There is no power throughout the sled. The headlights do not flicker when the recoil is pulled.

Now I'm thinking that maybe the stator could be shot. What happens when the ecm goes bad? Does a bad ecu cut off all power to the machine? If the stator has runs it's life course, will that cut of all power to the sled? Have the flywheels ever been known to malfunction in these sleds?

Can the dealer hook up to the computer and that tell them what the problem is? I don't want to waste money there just to have them tell me "I don't know" I can do that myself. I am fairly good with snowmobile mechanics and can perform most tasks.

Any ideas would be of great help, Thanks.

Some of your questions can be answered in the "Increasing Your IQ" sticky at the top of the IQ section. Things like testing your stator, TPS, fuel control, etc.

fastpolaris said:

12,200 miles now. Sled finally left me out in the cold, literally. 2008 dragon 600. Temperature was -14F. Sled started acting up and I could barely make it up a small hill. Turned around and limped it back to the closest restaurant. I went in and warmed up. When I went to leave the sled wouldn't start. Pulled the plugs and they were drenched in gas. The sled didn't throw up any codes prior to problems starting.

I know what a screwed up VR is like and this isn't it. I just tried the spare VR just to ease my mind. Still, no spark. The next thing that comes to mind in the two coil packs. Do these go bad? The engine is fine, I just checked compression and the PTO side has 120 and the mag side had 119. I have two spare coil packs here but the one is a pain in the balls to change. I don't want to do it if I don't have to.

Tried new spark plugs. No spark to being sent to fire the engine. Every time I pull the plugs, no matter which plugs I pull out, they are wet and soaked in gas. So, fuel is definitely being sent to the engine. If the coils went bad, wouldn't the headlight still flicker when pulling the sled over? There is no power throughout the sled. The headlights do not flicker when the recoil is pulled.

Now I'm thinking that maybe the stator could be shot. What happens when the ecm goes bad? Does a bad ecu cut off all power to the machine? If the stator has runs it's life course, will that cut of all power to the sled? Have the flywheels ever been known to malfunction in these sleds?

Can the dealer hook up to the computer and that tell them what the problem is? I don't want to waste money there just to have them tell me "I don't know" I can do that myself. I am fairly good with snowmobile mechanics and can perform most tasks.

Any ideas would be of great help, Thanks.

Click to expand...

Yes the lights should flicker because there are two separate circuits within the stator. One for ignition and one for the lighting.
CARBURETED ELECTRICAL
SYSTEMS
600 HO Stator Specifications

Specifications
YEL TO BRN 0.15Ω
BRN TO ENGINE 0Ω
BLK / RED TO GRN 15Ω
RED TO GRN 15Ω
BLK or WHT TO ENGINE 0Ω
WHT / RED TO WHT 185Ω

Ignition Coil Packs
Specifications
BLK TO WHT (Primary) 0.3Ω
BLK or WHT TO
SECONDARY LEAD OPENΩ
SECONDARY LEAD TO
LEAD 5KΩ
PLUG CAPS 10KΩ

If it is CFI then colors are different. See attachment.

Took off all parts I know were working on a 2010 LX. The ecu was the same type of setup with the same injectors. Put it's ecu on my sled, put it's coils on, put its vr on, and unplugged the kill switch. Still no power or headlights flickering. Next step is to test the stator.

Is it possible that you have an electrical short somewhere (i.e. hand warmers)? I just rode with a group a couple of weeks ago and one of the sleds died - no spark at all. It turned out to be the hand warmers were shorting out. He rode the rest of the trip after he unplugged them.

Jonce said:

Is it possible that you have an electrical short somewhere (i.e. hand warmers)? I just rode with a group a couple of weeks ago and one of the sleds died - no spark at all. It turned out to be the hand warmers were shorting out. He rode the rest of the trip after he unplugged them.

Click to expand...

Very possible. I'm going to check the wire harness and other wires before I pull the flywheel off.

I found my sled acting the exact same way and it was mind boggling. I found a short in the LH controls for the Hi/Lo headlights (probably from a crash) and also some melted wiring on the Oil reservoir. I also found a wire worn through on the headlight harness... This was the whole problem! Check ALL your wiring very closely. unplug everything and inspect thoroughly. Also may want to pull the ECU and look under it for anything obvious, including smell of hot or melted.

Got the stator out today. Owners manuel didn't say anything about how to test the stator. Is it normal that this glue is so brown? Even the zip ties are brown like they are/were burnt at one time. Anyways. This sled has 12,000 miles and I am considering just buying a used stator to finish this sleds life out. I can't see spending $280 on a new stator for a sled with this many miles. What do you guys think?

The only test is to measure resistance with an ohmeter. Go across the appropriate colored wires to see what resistance there is according to the chart in the wiring diagram. If you don't read what they state then the stator is bad. Pretty straight forward. Yeah that's pretty normal for color.

The beast is back up and running. Used stator was installed. If your sled has trouble starting when cold, such as it won't stay running for the first two or three pulls.....that's the first sign of a weak stator. My sled started having this problem at 8,000 miles. This was the same time a bog started that I could never figure out. I never attributed it to being the sled lacking power. The bog is gone and the sled is running better than it has in two years.