Hey guys, so here is the deal: my 08 Dragon ran awesome up untill yesterday when I went to start it: I pulled and pulled and nothing happened. Pulled the plugs, they were wet, put in new ones, still nothing. Checked for spark, nothing. So I unplugged the key switch, and it fired right up. Must have been a coincidence though, cause today the same thing is happening plugged or not. I have tried unplugging the kill switch on the handle bars (I assume that is how to bypass the switch). I also hooked an ohm meter to the wires at the plug coming from the switch (Black, Brown, Grey): when I hooked to the black and brown wires, I got an open circuit reading no matter if the switch was in the run pos. or not, unless I pushed down hard, then I would get a 0 or "closed circuit" reading, which I understand to be opposite to what it should be? Any input would be very much appreciated as I am leaving on a trip to the mountains next weekend. Thanks in advance.
2008 800 dragon intermittent spark urgent
- Thread starter TheBCSledder
- Start date
A stumper. Do you have a copy of the service manual to help you diagnose stuff? PM me with your email address if you don't and maybe we can remedy that situation... 
EDIT: Sadly the IQ forum is not a very active place these days. "In the old days" of the snowest forums, there used to be a lot more back-and-forth and people helping each other out even with "older" sleds (like the 08 is old - not in my book). I don't know if this is because the forums are more specialized and broken down by chassis, which allows experienced people with "older" sled experience but who ride newer sleds to bypass them without seeing the need for help (like this thread), or if it is because of the paid format. All I know is it ain't what it used to be.
EDIT: Sadly the IQ forum is not a very active place these days. "In the old days" of the snowest forums, there used to be a lot more back-and-forth and people helping each other out even with "older" sleds (like the 08 is old - not in my book). I don't know if this is because the forums are more specialized and broken down by chassis, which allows experienced people with "older" sled experience but who ride newer sleds to bypass them without seeing the need for help (like this thread), or if it is because of the paid format. All I know is it ain't what it used to be.
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Pull the cover off the top of the belt guard off the electrics. You are going to see a BUNCH of wires and electrics. Go through each of those plugs and make sure they are not corroded or that the harness doesn't have rubbed spots there. Simply unplugging them and plugging them back in might be enough to clear up any bad connections.
Also check your throttle safety switch, make sure the throttle cable is adjusted so the switch isn't activating.
sled_guy
Also check your throttle safety switch, make sure the throttle cable is adjusted so the switch isn't activating.
sled_guy
Thanks guys out of 3 forums I have posted on, you guys are about the only responses I got. I do have a service manual which isn't really useful I might add. The kill switch seems to be working. I'm thinking maybe the stator. I got it to fire up once but it was idling at 1500 rpm so I gave it a little throttle and it died right away. have had nothing since.
I sure will it seemed a little sudden for that and the lights on the dash and taillight worked without flickering. I'm not ruling it out though. I just tested the wires from the stater and all seemed to check out (besides the brown/white wire which I dont know what the reading should be on). Does anyone know how to test the VR with an ohm meter? Or is it even possible? I may try swapping a VR over from an 09 tomorrow to rule that out.
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Swap out that VR with a known good one, sometimes substitution is the best way to narrow down these kinds of intermittent problems. I have a spare used VR just in case (since I don't have easy access to an equivalent sled).
When my VR went years ago the gauge flickered and even when I revved it up it did not show anything close to full bars on the voltage meter part of the gauge... That is the more common experience I have heard of for the VR issue as well. But sled still runs at least until the ECM fries (and the black filler on the backside bubbles up...) ouch. Poo warrantied mine luckily.
Swapped VR still seemed intermittent, swapped back, runs on original one. Now seem to be getting good white hot spark. Starts with some difficulty at times still and sometimes idles low till revved. Problem fixed? I guess time will tell. Always super annoying and scary when I have no idea what seemed to solve a problem 
I think you may have cleared it just by the number of times you unplugged and plugged in the connectors to the voltage regulator. Buy a can of electrical contact cleaner (not brake cleaner) and unplug connectors, spray cleaner and plug and unplug a few times while keeping contacts wet with cleaner. It takes very little corrosion or film buildup on contacts to cause grief.
