Sportsman speedo problem

[hwalleye18]

I have a 2002 sportsman 500 this winter i noticed the speedo does not work.It lights and the lcd comes on but the needle or lcd does nothing.Anyone have any ideas? Should i buy a new speedo cluster?I have noticed some condensation under the lense.Thanks in advance.

[Gissert]

How is the condition of your battery, and when the speedo is not working, do you need to pull start it?

I had a similar problem with my 2002 400, and it was a bad battery.

[hwalleye18]

That is what i was thinking(hoping).When it was cold out i needed to pull start it,but when it is warm out it starts just fine.

[Dave]

Could also be the sensor down by the front wheel, I think right side.

[hwalleye18]

I am going to start with a new battery cause it needs one.Who has good pricing on a good battery?

[Gissert]

I bought mine at Fleet. I do not remember what it cost, but it was quite reasonable.

Your symptoms sound exactly like mine when my battery went. I thought it could not be that simple, and did a lot of troubleshooting I did not need to do.

[hwalleye18]

Thanks for the quick response i'll give it a try and post when i find out.Is the fleet farm battery the kind where you add the liquid to activate it?Do they last very long?

[Dave]

Yes, you add the fluid on your own. For about $32, mine's lasted a year so far. Make sure you get the correct one so the post polarity matches.

[SomethingFishy*]

I have purchased all my batteries from batteries plus, they stand behind there products. I had one in a car for several years before having issues again, they were able to look up the reciept and swap it out.

[hwalleye18]

Well the battery is not the problem(needed one anyway).So how do you know if the sensor is bad or can a dealer test the speedo to see if that is the problem?

Thanks in advance.

[Sifty]

Sorry for some reason when I read this i thought of a large man have a problem with his swimming suit.

Sifty

[benelli_dude2002]

i have a 2000 sportsman 500. I had to replace my whole gauge ( pod) once and it wasnt cheap, about 180 bucks. I was riding and looked down and seen my speedo wasnt working and when we stopped my uncle said my lights were out and I had the switch on. The only light I had working was the tail light and I also lost my AWD even the light that indicate when the AWD is on. Once my speedo went out LCD and everything I was riding a 2wd wheeler. It was past warranty so I got a new speedo pod put in and replaced the bulbs cuz they were blown out. I mean they burst and I was told there was a surge of power that did something and blew my lights and thats when everything went down. Not sure how accurate the speedo is but it reads 5 mph faster than my GPS. even the old one read the same. I know a couple other guys who had this same problem and they did they same thing to fix it. That was a couple years ago and its been working good ever since. ride safe