hello:

i have about 22 hours on my 2004.5 sportsman 500 h.o. last night it was running fine (just trail riding) but would not idle. on restarting it make a nasty sounding rattling noise. the noise goes away after about 1.5 seconds and will run and sound fine as long as a little throttle is applied. anyone have any ideas? (i haven't had a chance to look at it, it was real dark. i brought it to work today and will look at it later this afternoon.)

thanks.

 

It's probably just the throttle cable. Adjust it up a little bit. Or adjust the idle.

 

thanks... i think you are correct. the idle seems a little low. as for the noise, i believe it's the starter due to me having to give it a little throttle and the starter stays engaged for a little while after letting go of the starter button.