# 98 Big Bear won't start



## nerkh (Apr 6, 2013)

I'm having a bit of a comedy of errors on my 98 Big Bear and appreciate any input. It ran great all hunting season. The a couple of weeks ago it produced a loud backfire and bogged down. I had to limp home very slowly. I tried it again a few days later and it ran fine for about 10 minutes and then backfired, died and wouldn't crank. I let it sit again and it would crank but bog down if you tried to rev it and it didn't produce enought torque to move at all. Thinking it was an ignition issue, I changed the spark plug and coil. 

After changing the coil and realizing the problem persisted, I took the seat off and removed the air intake hose from the carb. I sprayed some carb cleaner in there and tried to crank it. Now a new problem has shown up! I can't get the bike to acknowledge the fact that it is in neutral. The light will shine very brightly for a second and then fade out. The same for the reverse light. I checked the battery and it is operating just fine. When I engage the starter, the oil light turns on (as usual) but nothing else happens. 

Has anyone ever heard of this before? Did I bump a wire? Enrage an engine gremlin? 

Thanks!


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