VintageSleds

Hi Guys, I'm hoping to fall back on some more experienced sledders technical advise.
I picked up an 85 Polaris Indy Trail 440. It had no spark when purchased. I bought a new CDI off Ebay a year ago and finally got around to working on this sled. (I have others that came first).
Anyways, prepared the sled for firing, installed the new CDI checked for spark and there isn't spark on one side.
Nice strong blue spark on the cylinder closest to the CDI, nothing, not even a hint on the other.
Before I run out and replace a faulty CDI, I wanted to ask if there could be something in the system causing the CDI to only light the one side.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I look forward to your responses.
Thanks very much!
Brian in NH

hunterrider

Hey Brian, one of my buddies had the same problem last year on his Polaris sled. In general the only way to really test a CDI box is replace it with another known working unit for the same make model year. Although we never really investigating what other issues could be cause the CDI failure. So basically, if you confirm your CDI box is failing, you really need to replace it regardless. We actually found a company located in New Hampshire, who manufacturers a Polaris CDI as well as other electrical parts for snowmobiles. Maybe you can reach out to them since your in NH. Hope this helps. Happy new year!

smallengineguy

CDI's are good or bad, period. They work or don't. If one side has no spark, it's the plug boot/wire/coil for that side.

__________________
1992 Ski Doo Mach 1 (SC-10/2 suspended) March '07 SF.com Sled of the Month! (Lost in fire 4-7-13)
1992 Ski Doo Mach 1 original
2006 Ski Doo MXZ 500SS
1999 Ski Doo Grand Touring

Webmaster Evergreen Valley Snowmobile Club
SledNH.com Moderator

VintageSleds

Hey there, THanks for the quick response!
I did switch out the plug boot to eliminate that aspect.
I emailed Rickselectrical and made the request.

Does this sled have coils that could fail?

mat

All sleds have stators, which have multiple coils, and make electricity from the moving fly wheel. 1 (or two? :/) coils are dedicated to spark, and it is the CDI's job to then bump up the power to a point that the plugs can spark. There are videos on YouTube about testing stators. You could give that a try. Of course people with more experience can chime in if I am wrong