general carb question...

[ashman]

this question is about my polaris 4 wheeler, but I figured there was enough mechanical knowledge here that you guys were my best chance of figuring this out.

here's the problem. The motor starts right up with the choke on, especially if I give it a little throttle, but soon after it starts to bog down. If I feather the throttle some I can keep it alive for a few more seconds. If I turn off the choke the motor will rev back up and seem to be running normally for a few seconds, but then again starts bogging down... unless I put the choke back on. rinse and repeat.

the only way I can keep it running is to toggle the choke on and off every time it starts to bog down in either position.

I "think" that the engine is flooding, but I'm not sure. I'm leaning towards rebuilding the carb, but since I really don't know what the problem is yet, that seems premature.

any suggestions?

 

[wage92]

yea, sounds like something to do with the way the fuel is being metered into the engine. Thats why you have to keep playing with it.

 

[jt512]

I would be willing to bet it is most likely just a dirty carb. You can buy some basic "rebuild" kits, but 9 times out of 10 a good cleaning will fix it.
They are pretty simple to remove and not bad to disassemble. Just make notes as to where you're mixture screws are currently set at. Simple way is to count the turns it takes to run them in to stop so you know how many turns out they were. Basically just remove mixture screws, float bowl, slide assembly, floats and needle and main and pilot jets, then use lots of carb cleaner then blow out all passages, and reassemble

 

[doonjumper]

Start bike, get on bike, shake bike from side to side. Notice any difference? Mine did same thing and float was stuck. Rebuilding the carb on that is easy peasy I have had a Polaris 500. A few times I was able to get away with draining carb and tank and putting 1/2 gallon of fresh fuel in it and it cleared itself up in 10 min or so.

 

[ashman]

cool thanks guys! the bike has been sitting for a few months, so a sticky float or dirty carb does sound like a good bet. I'll see what comes of it.