My 03 Sportsman 700 has had some pretty disappointing performance issues ever since I got it new last summer. It has just over 200 miles right now and it's done the same thing since it had 1 mile on it. Whenever I'm on a moderately steep side hill (left side down hill) or when I turn sharp right at 20 mph or higher, it sputters and gags and loses power, and sometimes completely dies. I can also smell gas most of the time when I ride it. It's been back to the shop 3 different times and they've tried all sorts of things (leaning out the carbs, readjusting the float, to name a few) but each time I get it back it hasn't changed a bit. It's going back again for the 4th time next week, and they're going to try the update from the 9-03 tech service bulletin, but I am not optimistic that they're going to get it right this time either. Maybe I'm expecting too much, but this can't be normal for a $7500 machine. I paid to extend the warranty for another 6 months because they still hadn't fixed it when the original warranty expired!

Does anyone have any ideas I can throw at the boys in the service department next week?

 

One of the problems I ran into was the grey foam between the seat and the gas tank. It would ride up and block the intake. I don't understand why only certain things would cause your machine to die. Maybe a fuel line is being pinched or the float level is set up wrong? The carb update could help. I did mine yesterday and found a 162.5 main jet, but the manual says 155. The new jets and stuff have made a difference on mine. Good luck and let us know what the problem was.

 

Oh Yeah, the gas smell could be coming from the gas line nipple attached under the tank. Give it a gentle tweak or put teflon tape around the threads, should cure it.

 

Can you get the one side up while sitting still, like with jack stands or blocks and make it happen? Can you have the dealer do the same? It's probably not a big thing once they find it. They might not be trying very hard.

 

That's a good idea. I don't think my floor jack will lift one side of it high enough, but I can always get out the "farmer's death jack" (i.e., Hi Lift Jack) and get it up real high. Hopefully I won't end up in the hospital.