I am writing this so people in the industry obtain an understanding that if you make an inferior product it can impact your customer very significantly


I am 6o years old with health issues I live in Upstate new york. I live rural and my driveway is 1/4 mile long on a hill. I plowed my drive for 20 years with a honda atv. It had a manual choke and started on the instant. Since it was 20 years old I thought I should get a new one. I bought a POlaris Sportsmen 570


The night before the storm I went out to put the plow on -the vehicle would not start . I took off the air filter checked the fuel put in dry gas pulled the gas line - tried to get to the spark plg - very poor design very difficult access. After two hours went to sleep. Awoke the next day snowed in . Called the dealer who said to bring it down . ASked the how long they would be open - they said 7 pm. I thought that was odd because most business were closing in the storm but thought well they deal with outdoor equipment and are probably comfortable .


I had to get to my trailer so I took my snow blower and over two hours made a path to my trailer and hooked it up .I brought it to the garage but could not get it turned around to get the ATV on . Drove down the drive turned around but could not drive up because of course ... it was snow covered. Over two hours I used my snowblower to do the entire drive which promptly filled in because of the wind .


Got back to garage and after much struggling got the trailer turned around. GOt ATV onto trailer by using winch off battery.


Proceeded to try and go down my hill. Skidded whole way with no use of accelerator ABS braking system clicking like mad - and finally goes out and I jack knife just missing town plow . Get off my hill and go to next town Thought I better cal the dealer just to make sure they are there. Guess what - they closed - Ok now I cant get the ATV back up my hill .My idea was to either leave the trailer at the dealer or if they fixed it to drive the ATV up my hill and pull an empty trailer .


So now I have to leave the trailer in town and hope that he ATV will still be there today.


I unhook the trailer / ATV and drive back home .Of course the drive is blown over again. I have to get two cars out so once again I snow blow the enter 1/4 mil driveway -did I mention to you that I am 60 with health problems and I bought your ATV so I woudl not have to struggle with snow removal and that before I bought your vehicle all I did was turn a key and my 20 year old Honda plowed the drive ?


But wait this saga is not over Today I have to go into town and hope the ATV is there . I have to hook trailer back up nd haul it to your dealer . I have to snow blow my drive again at least once today . and then I have to get the ATV back. THis is all over an ATV that has 10 hours of use !! To say I am not a happy camper is an understatement Your faulty product has cause me significant problems and your company and those who assemble and engineer this product need to need to understand that making an inferior product impacts the consumer very significantly

I got a call form a tech today . He asked if I drive the ATV for a few minutes and shut it down. I said yes I do I drive it to my barn which is a 1/4 mile from the house - which is why I bought the machine . He advised me that this may be the problem. That you cant do that with fuel injected vehicles it causes condensation. Odd I thought my car is fuel injected and I drive that to the barn shut it down and drive it back and never have a problem .

He said That I should run the machine for 20 minutes. It sounds to me like he was saying fuel injection technology is inferior to carbureted technology? If thats the case why woudl a manufacturer use it then I asked ?

He said its a lot more efficient. It is ? You just told me I have to leave it running for 20 minutes if I take a one minute trip to the barn - that doesnt sound very efficient to me

I guess what really really irks me is I expected a call such as :

You are absolutely right there is no reason a new ATV with ten hours on it should have not started and we are extremely sorry for the severe inconvenience this caused you and would like to make it up to you . Instead what do I get ...oh this happens to all fuel injected vehicles


BS I ma posting this all over the internet

 

Know your pizzed but pull the spark plug and ground the plug against the engine to check for spark. May be as simple as a wet or fouled plug.Plus a simple check on the air filter to make sure it's still dry. If that's not the problem when you are able,let the dealer handle it. Early efi model would foul plugs if you gave them any amount of throttle on first start of the day.Not sure on how the 570 could do this after running,but at least you can check that before you before you haul it to the dealer.If you're just venting,then no one on this forum can help..

 

That sucks. I hope you get it fixed soon. The condensation from not running it enough claim sounds like BS to me. I'd be on the phone with Polaris (1-800-765-2747) or emailing them telling them what the problem is and what the dealer said about it. Actually I would have done that before posting here. You're more likely to get some help. Contact Us - Self Help - Dealer Help | Polaris

 

Doesn't sound right to me. I've never heard that running an efi machine for a short period of time and shutting it off would cause it to not run properly or not start at all. If your dealer won't help fix it, I agree with jumbofrank and call Polaris directly. If for nothing else, to see if they come up with the same diagnosis. They may tell you something else and that your dealer is full of crap or they may agree with them. Who knows.

 

Probably a bit late and the fella was just venting never to come read his post again. But it could have been a 1 time issue just due to the fact that the machine is new. Could have just been a fouled plug. My AC did the same thing to me when new loaded it up on a trailer get to our destination and would not start due to a fouled plug. Only ever happened once. But it is true no veh or machine likes short trips in the cold. They will all build up condensation due to the engine not getting warm enough to evaporate the condensation. Take the oil cap off your car in the winter and look under the cap im sure you will see a milkshake forming under the cap. Hopefully you got it all straitened out and are good to go

 

Looks like another one-post wonder. Hopefully they got the problem resolved and felt like they didn't need any further advice.

 

He did make one other post in the Honda forum. It had over 1,800 views and not a single reply in 8 years. No wonder he left.

 

I do emphasize with the fella. Sometimes we feel better when we vent the anger. The problem magnified by trying to get to the dealer in a very nasty blizzard. Private pilots call this urgency "get there-itis". Too many pilots take off in bad weather only to regret it later. Best to stay hunkered down until the storm is over. If need be, call for snow removal.

Hopefully he got the problem solved. Gee, our hero OPT jumped right in with some helpful diagnoses steps.

I see no reason a modern engine won't start first time, every time. His Sportsman 570 ought to serve him well on his farm. That's what they are built for. That's what I would expect from the machine.

David