Yea, i have a problem, my arctic cat 250 4x4, 01, doesnt run hardly at all in the cold ( about 0 degrees F ) it will start up alright but it wont warm up, even if i let it sit there for 1/2 hour it wont run right, i will drive it and it will sputter and after about 20 min. of driving it starts to work a little better and better and almost runs normal but less power, and if i shut it off for 5 min i will have to warm it up again, whats the matter? i changed the oil to 5w 30 like the owners manual said but didnt help hardly.

 

can anyone help me?

 

I had a similar problem with my 400i. I just turned the idle screw about a half turn, and that seemed to take care of it. It still takes a little bit of work to start, but runs real well. I had it out plowing last night, at about 5 degrees F and I had no problems. You might want to make sure your gas line isn't frozen either. Keep a full tank of gas.

Hope that helps.

 

I had carburator icing problems with my Honda 300 4x4 when riding in snowy weather. It would run horribly like you described. If I warmed it up, stopped, and let the heat from the motor warm the carb it would run fine after.

I believe the usual fix for this is to somehow duct warmer air off the motor into the intake. I never tried since it was more of a temporary problem for me.

My $.02

 

so what then? warm it up and drain the carb or what

 

I would try draining your fuel system completley. That means carb bowl, fuel strainer bowl, and the fuel tank. I have used the fuel system drier products to wash my tank out to get all the water out.

Keeping your tank full lessens the chance of condensation forming above the fuel during cold weather.

The carb icing problem I had with my Honda would only happen when it was snowing. If it was just cold outside there wouldn't be a problem. I assume that when it snows there is more moisture in the air which causes ice buildup in the carb. A way to fix this is to duct warm air off the cooling fins of the engine into the air box. I couldn't figure an easy way to do this so I didn't bother. You wouldn't want a setup like this during warmer weather as it would likely rob you of power.

 

it could be your jetting the colder it is the denser the air is so your geting more air than you are when its 60 out which would lean it out

 

I had the same problem with my '00 500. I cleaned and re-jetted the carb to no avail. Then I checked the valves. The spacing was just a hair off so I tightened them up and that took care of the problem. The best I can figure is that the head wasn't getting hot enough to expand the metal and create a proper seal. This may be because my 500 is liquid cooled instead of air cooled but it may be your problem. The work will cost you about $200 for the dealer to do it but if you have a small abount of mechanical ability you can do it yourself. THe hardest part is taking everything apart and putting it all back together. If you can get to the valves and lifters just get a spacing guage and check the valve clearance. The proper spacing is in the owners manual. There is a good article on how to do this in the tech tips section.

Good luck.

 

i have an arctic cat 250 and the dealer rejetted the carb,this cured the problem.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]