I have a 98 Foreman. It's been really cold here for about a month now in PA (between 0 and 20 degrees), and I run it 3-4 times a week. It will start pretty easily, but sputter and die within a few seconds. I've been spraying a little shot of starter fluid on the air cleaner, and that brings it to life right away. Is this going to cause any damage? I can get it started without, it just takes about 20 minutes longer.

 

Isn't starter fluid usually ether??? You may be damaging the glue on the air filter, and have to be washing out the filter oil.........

Are you running a winter weight oil, like 5W30????? Have you tuned your idle up a little??? Most folks forget to turn the idle up so they have to baby the throtle during warmup.

 

I'm still running the 10w30 oil. I have an ES, and I turned the idle down a little since it seems to jump when shifting our of Neutral if it is up very high. But I can play with it a little. I was just concerned about any long term problems using starter fluid.

 

No problems using the stating fluid in the engine, but as Recon already pointed out, it will bleed the oil out of the filter if it's a foam type filter.