Warn M8000 won't spool in

[FJ60Cam]

I bought a used Warn M8000 a while back and finally got around to putting it on the truck.

It will spool out under power, but won't spool back in. The freespool works just fine.

I'm new to winches, where do I start to troubleshoot it?

 

[flintknapper]

Three possibilities (if you don't hear the motor running):

1. Hand control is faulty.
2. Solenoid is bad.
3. Poor connection somewhere.

If you can hear the motor running then let us know, that is an entirely different circumstance.

 

[FJ60Cam]

I don't hear any activity.

Is there any way to test the solenoids other than swapping them around?

 

[CruisinGA]

For each solenoid in turn-
Ground one small post and give the other small post +12vdc, if there is no click, it is no good. Could also use an ohmmeter on the large terminals, (should read close to zero resistance when solenoid has power) but the click test has never let me down.

Good idea to disconnect the main power lead to winch when doing this. It takes more than one solenoid for the winch motor to do anything, but just the same might as well play it safe.