I have a 2018 CForce 500s 4-wheeler that we bought with our mountain home. My son was riding it recently and got stuck and used the winch to pull himself out of the deep snow. After a bit the winch stopped working. I was able to go to him with my other son's 4-wheeler and get him unstuck.

I started working on the 4-wheeler to get the winch functioning again. I could hear the solenoid clicking but no power at all to the winch (well, there might be power to the winch as I have not put a meter on it to confirm. Will do that today). Have discovered where the solenoid is located but in my search I found a ground wire under the seat (looks to be 10ga stranded wire) running on the left side next to the air cleaner housing that apparently got superheated and melted the insulation off of it. It runs to the magneto and is connected to the upper mounting bolt inside the left rear wheel well. What does this go to? And is it associated with my winch power problems. Can I cut out the affected section of wire and splice in new? It goes into the wiring harness which disappears under the gas tank.

Ok, I have confirmed that power is coming to the winch. So apparently it burned up when my son used it to try and get himself unstuck. That also might account for the overheated ground wire under the seat.

I've looked at a wiring diagram but I'm not fluent in reading them. It appears that it comes from the magneto and connects to the common ground and disappears somewhere inside the wiring harness.

While it's not an ideal solution would it be allowable to "re-insulate" the wire with electrical tape and leave as is or should I try to splice in good wire and remove the damaged section? I realize that I can't tell where all it's damaged. I've taken the winch off and am considering not replacing it.