I bought a used SPORTSMAN 500 at the beginning of summer, still havent ridden it. It is very hard to start, to the point of flooding every time. It may start 1 out of 20 times. I have replaced coil, put in a NGK IRIDIUM plug, removed carb and cleaned it, checked float,
blew compressed air thru all ports. Still, hard to no starting. Any help will be greatly app.

 

Might need a valve adjustment and compression check.

 

Also check the gap on the ignition coil pickup.

 

what year bike is it? just wondering if its the older ones w/ a bad cam.

 

2000

 

I put a aftermarket coil on, how do you check the gap, are the valves hard to adjust?
When it runs, it does not smoke at all. As far as the compression, when I try to start it w/ pull rope, it is hard to pull, does that mean the compression is up to par? Once I get it started it will start every time untill it cools off. Thanks 2 everyone for their help.

 

It could have a sheered woodruff key on the flywheel, this will cause the same problem.