Having problems starting 1998 polaris sportsman 500. when you press the electric start it just makes a grinding sound. Also when you try and pull start it you can not pull the rope out. if someone can help me i would appreciate it  

i have a 250 timber wolf  

sounds like your motor is siezed up.The grinding sound is probly the starter gear all chewed up, or it's jammed in the flywheel,& trying to spin, but it can't. Hard to say where to start. I think I'd pull the starter first, and inspect the bendix gear, look for wear/chunks missing,also look up into the hole & check out the condition of the flywheel. If no big chunks of metal are missing, I'd pull the spark plug , and try turning her over with the pull cord. If you still can't turn her over, remove the pull cord to make sure the pull cord & recoil are fuctioning properly.good luck....