Sportsman 500 Won’t Start With Key

New member here. I have done a bunch of searching around the forum and while I have found a few helpful suggestions, I still haven’t been able to solve the issue I am having. I have also gone through the ‘won’t start’ thread.

I have a 2008 Sportsman 500 that randomly won’t start with the key anymore and won’t even try to turn over. I started it to plow the other day, drove around, turned the machine off for a couple of minutes, went to turn it back on and nothing. Not even a click at the solenoid. I pull started it and it worked fine. The interesting thing is the next day I tried using the key and it fired right up. But ever since that time, no luck with the key.

Below is a list of everything I’ve tried:

– I have jumped the battery – no luck. Battery seems fine though as all lights turn on when I turn the key and the winch works fine.
– I have jumped the solenoid and the machine fired right up.
– Tried replacing the solenoid and no change.
– I have also tried hitting the starter, but that didn’t help at all.
– I pulled the headlight assembly apart and confirmed that all wiring was clean and installed correct at the key switch.
– I have also tried replacing the switch and still no luck.

The emergency on/off switch appears to be working fine and I have cleaned that as well.

Any suggestions on what else to try at this point? I figured that since I can pull start the machine and jump it from the solenoid that it isn’t an issue with the starter, but that’s just a guess on my part. And I have confirmed that the machine is in neutral and run switch is on.

Sportsman 500 Won’t Start With Key

New member here. I have done a bunch of searching around the forum and while I have found a few helpful suggestions, I still haven’t been able to solve the issue I am having. I have also gone through the ‘won’t start’ thread.

I have a 2008 Sportsman 500 that randomly won’t start with the key anymore and won’t even try to turn over. I started it to plow the other day, drove around, turned the machine off for a couple of minutes, went to turn it back on and nothing. Not even a click at the solenoid. I pull started it and it worked fine. The interesting thing is the next day I tried using the key and it fired right up. But ever since that time, no luck with the key.

Below is a list of everything I’ve tried:

– I have jumped the battery – no luck. Battery seems fine though as all lights turn on when I turn the key and the winch works fine.
– I have jumped the solenoid and the machine fired right up.
– Tried replacing the solenoid and no change.
– I have also tried hitting the starter, but that didn’t help at all.
– I pulled the headlight assembly apart and confirmed that all wiring was clean and installed correct at the key switch.
– I have also tried replacing the switch and still no luck.

The emergency on/off switch appears to be working fine and I have cleaned that as well.

Any suggestions on what else to try at this point? I figured that since I can pull start the machine and jump it from the solenoid that it isn’t an issue with the starter, but that’s just a guess on my part. And I have confirmed that the machine is in neutral and run switch is on.