2002 Polaris Virage TXi.. HELP!!! WON'T START

[fitch615]

So today I'm out there washing and waxing my 2002 Polaris Virage TXi getting it ready for this upcoming season... it's finally perfect, i hook the battery up, connect the lanyard, hit start--- and all i get is a CLICK! The battery is perfectly charged up at 12.7 Volts and after the click.. i get a slow smoke rising from underneath the 3 cylinders. I reached my hand in and felt nothing hot. the smoke smells like burning rubber. Does anyone have any clue what this could be!?!? I'M FREAKING OUT OVER HERE!

[ZMANN]

The starter is in the area you describe and from the PWCtoday posts I was thinking you may want to check the connections at the starter as well as the grounds Z

[ph2ocraft]

615, WELCOME to the Green Hulk Forums!!!
Follow the wires out of the stator and see if any of them are pinched, ripped torn etc. Feel for melted areas along the sheath from the stator to the electrical box.
Clean the ground to the engine, scrape the paint away to verify a solid conncetion.
I've seen where the ground was poor and the electrical system tried to ground through the small black wire running from the stator to the electrical box, it of course is to small to handle the load and will overheat melting to everything in its path.
This might be silly but be sure the battery is in correctly, red topositive. I've seen even the best techs make this error.

[ZMANN]

read thru some of this also! Z http://greenhulk.net/forums/showthread.php?t=27445

[SeaLion]

Did you hook the battery up backwards? That would explain all of the symptoms you described? Even if you hooked it up right, sounds like something was fried and smoking.

[fitch615]

Well just a status update for all of you... Today I did check over and over again that the positive and negative were correctly connected. I checked the Solenoid and it is clicking. Yesterday i informed you that the smoke was coming from under the cylinders... this time, the smoke was coming from the + battery terminal and melted the head of the wire. This red wire comes off of the battery terminal and right into the Solenoid. I was also told to take the spark plugs out and hit start to see what i get so i can release compression.. i did that and nothing happened besides the clicking. Once again, we are back to smoke coming from under the cylinders unless i repeatedly hit the starter in which case the red battery cable begins to heat up. Any suggestions?

[wetherby]

Pull the coupling shroud on the rear of the engine, rotate the coupler, and make sure the engine isn't siezed.