I was wondering if anyone had tried putting a gas primer on there carbed sportsman? I have an 02 sportsman 500H.O. that has the notorious "cold start problem" that these Quads are famous for. Here in Canada it's well below freezing this time of year and starting this thing is very tough. I know people put recirculating block heaters on them but I need mine to start where there is no power.
The choke doesn't seem to do it alone so I was thinking of putting a Skidoo type primer on it to enhance it's "startability". So if anyone has tried this .....How does it work and where did you get the parts?

 

it really shouldn't need a primer if the enrichern is set correctly. the enrichern(choke) is basicly to provide more gas in the start up circuit. when you put on the choke does it fully go on? also when it's extremly cold and gas doesn't vaporize really good it is harder to start w/ out real good fire from the spark plug. i never had any issues w/ my 02'500 i had but maybe your temps are colder. imo.

 

my '03 500 starts at 0 without fault .
Maybe you just need a good carb. & jet cleaning and a fresh spark plug

 

Raise the needle in the carb one notch, that will help the cold start,you would move the clip down to raise the neeedle.

 

I would check your choke plunger free play to make sure your choke plunger is opening fully.Thats the first time I have heard of a hard start problem on a polaris 500 sportsman.you may try just barely touching the throttle when you crank the machine over sometimes that helps the 500 start.But dont open throttle to far or it will over ride your choke and act the same as not choking the machine.

 

Thankyou for your replys.

So far I have: taken the carb off and cleaned it, put in a new pilot jet, had the valves adjusted, gotten a new(good) battery, changed the plug, changed the air cleaner, adjusted the idle, and changed the oil(polaris synthetic). All this has helped but when it gets below freezing I have the same trouble. It's very hard to start and keep running. Once it warms up it runs and starts great(till it gets cold again). If I take out the plug and put gas in the cylinder it starts right away , then dies when the gas runs out.

 

yeah like Kerbbirds said raising the needle (lowering the circlip) helped me lots in starting.