Washed my outy 400 now it won't start. Got water somewhere I'm guessing, it begins to start then quits and even backfired once or twice. Any ideas where to check and how to solve?

 

I don't know much about outy 400's but I would suggest it would be electrical or possibly water in the carb.

 

Some times if the engine experience a quick temperature change or a little tiny bit of moisture gets in the wrong place when you hit the ignition button it will instantly foul the plug. I've seen this happen to many atvs over the years and to all makes and models right after washing. Trying to start and back-firing are very typical of a fouled plug. Change the plug, I say there's a real good chance that's the problem.

 

What bigwave said. It happened to me.

 

You were right Bigwave, I changed the plug and it started right up. That's wild!

 

Great, glad to hear it.

Like I said I've seen this happen several times. I speculate that a tiny short occures somewhere caused by the water.

 

When I wash my quads, I have them running and try to avoid a direct spray to the electrical components. After I am done washing them, I then spray everything with wd-40 to hopefully displace any moisture, that made it's way to the connections.