My dad bought an '89 Trail Boss about 3-4 years ago and it sits all winter. Every spring the same thing happens. It won't start, won't even turn over. He loads it up on into the back of his van, takes it to a repair place, they get it out of the van and it starts right up! The repair people always say they can't find anything wrong but they do some little things and say the carborator needs to be rebuilt every year, so they do that, and it seems ok the rest of the summer. He uses it really minimally, not for tearing around having fun, just for pulling things while on fishing/camping trips. It seems to me there must be some loose wiring or fuel problem that is helped by the angleing of getting it into and out of the van. Any insight would be appreciated!

 

Does he drain the carb and stabilize the fuel before he stores it or does he jsut stick it in there

 

Put Sea Foam in the gas and run it awhile before you store it. Sounds like the gas is getting bad in the winter and they have to clean the carb to get the old gas out.

 

How does he drain the carborator? He says he can't even find it,lol. He talked to a repair guy that said that the float in the carborator was probably sticking. He was told to use high octane fuel and try to start it once a month through winter.

 

will it start off the pull start???? do u guys pull the battery out try checking the voltage of the battery and if its really cold where u guys are it could be because the battery is setting out in the cold to long and is going bad?

 

I'm not sure about the pull start. The battery is fine, he's checked it. I'm not 100% sure that the gas is the problem, but I have found out that that gas with ethanol is not good unless you are burning through it quickly. If the cheap gas stays in the atv more than a week it starts to gum things up in the carb. I guess you can buy an octane additive that helps. He's also planning on storing it in a different place where he can start it and let it run more easily next winter. You know how good intentions go though,lol. I'll probably be back next spring reviving this thread,lol. Does anyone reading this live in a colder area and store for the winter?

 

Eastern Montana here,I let mine set outside all winter but I use it for icefishing so it does`nt sit too long at a time.
Where are You located??

 

We are in Wisconsin. You use it for ice fishing? Brr... lol.

 

Yup,about 14 below here.LOL

 

Well at least you won't be falling through the ice! lol.