First I should give some background info. I have a 97 Sportsman 500 with about 3300 miles on it. Two weekends ago I was up in Manitoba in the park doing some tough riding. The trails we took were extremely dificult with some serious mud. The bike never missed a beat. I came home washed and serviced the bike and parked it as usual.

Fast forward to today. We just received about 6" of nice wet snow. Temp around 15-20 degrees. After I got home from taking my kids skating, I just couldn't resist going for a dig. I started the bike and let it run for about 5-10 minutes while I cleaned the driveway. I then went for a bit of a run down the ditch. At one point I stopped and heard an odd rattle coming from the right side of the motor. It was almost like a metallic clanking noise. I thought that it may be the heat shield on the pipe. On the way back, I noticed that when I would let go of the throttle (going approx 20) the bike would very slightly backfire. It noticed this twice. It also stalled twice. Not while moving at speed, but at that point where you are hardly moving and let off the throttle. When I got back to the yard, there was no more clanking, the thing idled nice as usual, infact those were the only things that were at all unusual. Power seemed to be the same as usual. Actually come to think of it I only heard the clanking noise that one time I stopped in the ditch.

I want to take it on a poker run Sunday and the following Saturday we have loacally, but am not sure what is going on. It could be a little moisture, something was a little wet, etc, etc, The bike was nice and warm when this happened, so lets rule out that it was just cold. I really don't have a lot of time to look at it now (I do ALL my own work), as I am in the process of taking out a tranny on my work car plus working 12hrs/day at my real job. I am posting hoping someone has had this happen, what your thoughts are, Maybe there is something serious amiss here. I am starting to think I'll ground it Sunday and finish the car so I can bring it into the shop and have a good look at it? It would be nice to go on the run on Sunday, but I would be really choked if I had to find time to do a major on this thing in the next week. Sometimes it is better to be safe than sorry.

Any thought? Suggestions as to what it may be? I have a hunch, but I would rather not say until I hear some other suggestions. Anyway, sorry that this is so long guys, but I am trying to sort this out as I go. This is my first Polaris bike and I am very particular about my stuff. Hopefully one of you guys with more Polaris bike experience can give me a bit of advice.

 

Well, that is surprising, No one has an opinion. anyway, as an update, problem solved. I did have a loose bolt on the heat shield. Not a major thing. and as for the stalling and slight backfire. I can only assume that there was a little water (ice) in the system since once I let it warm up real good and added some gasline antifreeze, she purred like a kitten. We even went out riding last saturday night (Temp around 10 degrees) and it ran fine. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

Glad it wasnt anything major.My old Polaris s make so many noises that I have a hard time noticing any new ones.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

GM, if you experience the “slight backfire” again the first place I’d look is the adjustment of the ETC. Sounds like you may have a little moisture in your throttle cable and it may be hanging up a bit when it freezes.