Does anyone have any suggestions. I bought a 2004 Artic Cat 650 (new) (Kawasaki eninge twin V) in Feb of this year to use for duck hunting. I have had difficulty starting it. Sometimes it will/won't etc. I trailered (sp) to my hunting club on opening day last wk, and as luck would have it, it would not start. I did shut off the gas valve to the carb while traveling. Ended up walking to the blind, but took the ATC to a dealer by my house later that day. The mechanic kept it for 3 days, stated that it needed an idle adjustment, and was running fine. Picked it up on Friday, trailered my duck blind on Saturday, again, will not start. Does not sound like it's getting gas, even though I used the choke just a bit, the best I could do is to get it to "cough" a little, but not fire. I'm at the end of my rope with a new ATV which is proving to not be reliable. My dilema is that I have a 1999 Artic Cat 300 sitting in my barn with similar problems, bought this new 650, and cannot find reliability with the new one either. I'd appreciate any suggestions to the new ATV not starting.

----------------

 

Starting these engine requires that the throttle not be touch on start up. Set the choke to full on and do not touch the throttle. Just hit the starter button. Neither one of my machines will start if you hit the throttle at all when the engine is cold. When hot it is different and you sometimes need to just bump the trottle a bit. Cold, it's a big no-no.

 

Do you trailer your quads, and if so, do you shut off the gas valve gooing to the carb?? i trailer down some pretty bumpy roads and am wondering if by not doing so, gas might possibly be flooding the card.

 

Bear and shingle, The carbs on the 650 are much different then the carb on a 3,4 or 500. I had a 04 650 and now I have the 05 and on both quads in cold weather, I would put the choke on full and give it about 1/4 throttle and they would start right up. You might try this method to see if it works for you, good luck.

 

What Catskinner said.

Cold weather I put the choke on full, touch the gas a smidge and it fires right up. Warm weather, I just touch the gas, but it doesn't usually start if I don't give it a little gas.

 

650 V-twin, hot or cold, put it in neutral DO NOT touch the gas, hit the starter button and let it warm up for 5 seconds to 5 minutes depnding on the temp. then rev it up and shut the choke off.

WORKS EVERY TIME on every 650 (6 total) in my group

 

A carb is a carb is a carb! I know the V-Twin carb is a dual carb set up but it still uses an enrichment system not a choke valve and in most cases I have ever run across you don't need throttle to start these engine. The owners manual does not tell you to apply any throttle on cold start up. In fact it says under #6 of the start up instructions; " Allow the engine to warm up for approximately 2-2 1/2 minutes; then raise the choke lever to thefull up position. Do Not touch the throttle lever until the engine has run for at least 3 minutes." So again I say Do Not touch the throttle on cold start up. BTW, the starting instructions are the same for a 250, 300 and 650 V-Twin.

 

What ever you say Bear. I have to crack the throttle on my 650 with the choke in the full position before it will start when it is cold. On my 98 500 manual I never had to touch the throttle because when you apply the choke it would automatically set the idle higher.

 

You do realize you lessen the effectiveness of the enrichment system when you crack the throttle. The more vacuum the engine pulls on cranking the quicker and more fuel enters the engine for quicker starts. Cracking the throttle lessen that vacuum causing slower enrichment of the engine for starting. It's called physics.

 

Bear is right on regarding the manual don’t touch the throttle

Although, my V2650 will not start cold unless I give the throttle a slight touch.
Once running no touch required.

Shonk