Hello everybody Im new to polaris atvs and Im having a problem with my father in laws 97 xplorer 500. The bike was left to sit in a barn for a few months while waiting on a replacement drive-shaft. after completion of the drive-shaft the bike had no top end power. Really not much mid-range ether. It was running very lean at anything over 2/3 throttle. Two people cleaned the carb before I touched the bike with no luck.

Heres what I know........The ignition system is not the problem. I have tested all the safety switches all are working. It's not the rev cut out as it happens under load or not , in gear or not. I've also just disconnected the black kill wire. No change. If I rev the engine till it starts running poorly then add carb cleaner to the intake it revs like a champ. No lag or bog. I myself have cleaned the carb twice. It is all factory right down to the jets in the carb or at least factory size. The bike idles fine and will rev quickly for maybe 3 sec before it starts to sputter. Everything is set to factory specs in the carb still no luck. I have ruled out fuel supply to carb with temporary electric inline pump. I see no wear or damage inside the carb. At this time no parts have ben replaced. I have checked the ex cam lobe and it was within .001 of factory spec. I don't see that as the problem. I have also tested for a restricted exhaust as expected there was no change. New fresh gas has ben added some time ago so thats not the problem. Im a certified Audi tech with many years of experience with all types of engines and this is making my head hurt. Any ideas would be great. I just got a foot of snow and cant play.

 

Have you tested stator going into cdi? Trigger coil approx 97 ohms (red/white and white wire) charge coil,I think red/blk to red OR red/blk to green about 440-460 ohms? NO wire short to ground? Coil .3 ohms primary resistance. Plug cap 5k ohms, Plug wire itself for shorts or cut wire breaking down? Carb jets clean you say? Carb intake boot ok not cracked,causing lean condition? Might be silly to ask,BUT is needle in slide secured by by large spaceer and spring properly seated? diaphram ok,not distorted or worn? You say runs good AFTER adding carb cleaner at high rpm,STILL sounds like a lean condition somewhere? Also 500 engines are LEAN running without air box and filter installed and will bogg (at least in our area 600 feet above sea level!) DONT KNOW if any of this helps,BUT good luck! OPT

 

im having pretty much same problem wih my 500 scrambler sat 2 3 yrs.. any and all info would help us guys!!!! thnx

 

Thank you for responding so quickly. I did test the stator wiring. It all tested ok. Im dead nuts sure its lean. As for the boots on the inlet and outlet sides of the carb they are both good. I can't find any vacuum leaks. what i did notice was how much change came just with the filter on and running. I wasn't thinking and tried to get it running without the filter. Then it would go back to crap when it was all back together. I can hold my hand over a bit of the carb intake acting as a choke and it runs great. No lag and high rpms. I should work on this with it all put together. Intake system that is. Thanks for the help.

 

I did adjust the float up some more. This helps some. It still has some problems but i could ride it last nite. Still lean but im gonna keep workin on it.