2020 Can am defender - wont start

Id start by chexking all fuses.you should have two fuse boxes. One by the battery and one up under the hood.

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CanAmRancher1 said:

Id start by chexking all fuses.you should have two fuse boxes. One by the battery and one up under the hood.

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appreciate that, but all have been checked and appear fine, i even swapped a few to see of it would make a difference…..

Floydian said:

appreciate that, but all have been checked and appear fine, i even swapped a few to see of it would make a difference…..

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Ok just wanted to make sure you knew there were two boxes.

Do you have a multimeter? Can you test for voltage at key switch fuse and relay driver clock fuse?


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CanAmRancher1 said:

Ok just wanted to make sure you knew there were two boxes.

Do you have a multimeter? Can you test for voltage at key switch fuse and relay driver clock fuse?


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I went out this morning, turned the key and the dashboard came on and it started right up…..so odd, do u think the gas just needed a little time to settle in?

No, you had/have an electrical connection issue.

Bad gas won't prevent the dash from lighting up, or the engine from turning over. Unrelated issues.

BombardierBomb said:

No, you had/have an electrical connection issue.

Bad gas won't prevent the dash from lighting up, or the engine from turning over. Unrelated issues.

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I had it in the shop a month or so ago for a full service and they did a diagnostic test on the electrical system and said all of it was good….what do you recommend I look at next?

note: rodents chewed my wires, i repaired them and wasnt confident I did a good job but they said they couldnt have done it any better and the diagnostic test also checked out that all was good

2nd on the bad connection. Check you connections, I was concerned you had damaged the fuel pump but I would bet it's a bad connection at this point.

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Floydian said:

note: rodents chewed my wires, i repaired them and wasnt confident I did a good job but they said they couldnt have done it any better and the diagnostic test also checked out that all was good

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And the plot thickens...

Yeah, it's pretty obvious that your having some sort of electrical issue and with the fact that your wires were chewed on by rodents I would guess when you repaired them that you missed something and it is occasionally shorting out, that is why the problem is intermittent. I don't know of any sure way of checking for an intermittent short. You're going to have to check each wire closely to see if you can find a bare wire. One place to look is where your wires are touching the frame. Pull them up and look and run your finger on the wire to see if you can feel anything.

Make sure when you start the vehicle your foot is on the brake peddle and the gauges indicates your in "P" for park. Sometimes if you just turn the key it wont start unless you apply the brake. Just brainstorming ....

We learned the hard way that the 10A fuse that’s in the bottom corner closest to the battery controls EVERYTHING. It has a relay above it. No dash, no start, no power under the dash, nada. It will actually run with the 40A fuse pulled that’s under the hood, but steering won’t work. 2023 model.