My wife and I were out riding last weekend, we came to a 10 inch rut(we were in high) and the front tires went down in it, then stopped in the rut and I give it gas to get out and nothing happened. The engine revved up only a little bit even though I had it floored. I did put it in low and then it got out, but I expect that is should be able to get out in high. My dad's 2000 Arctic Cat 500 auto sure could have. Any ideas what happened? Oh, when I turned the engine off it made this noise like it was releasing pressure, not really dieseling of the engine but something like that. I have 130 miles on it. Thanks in advance for your help.

 

Catterman, I had a similar problem about 3 weeks ago with my 400. the weather had been warm during the day and well below freezing at night when I noticed it.

I did some looking and discoverd some ice crystals one morning in the crankcase vent. But, I also noticed that there was a bunch of water and other gunk in the filler spout filter on my gas can. Looking closer I discovered a whole lot of water in the fuel too.

I think the water and junk in the fuel is from our local fuel dock. So I am filtering the fuel prior to putting it in my machine now. I also cleaned that crankcase vent real good and It is running much better.

Hope this helps.
SJ.

 

does the 400 have a cylinder relief?/

 

I don't even know what that is??? What purpose does it serve?

Thanks for the advise swampyjunior, our gas is always bad out here. I will clean the crankcase vent too.

 

The 400 has a compression release system, it's used to decompress the motor for easier starting, both with the starter and with the pull cord. If you didn't have it, the motor could potentially "seize" on the compression stroke and you would have to let it bleed down over time before it would turn over.

 

So is my compression release system not working properly? Or is that just the way it is?

 

is this compression release system automatic or manual, cause when i pull on the cord it seems to be hard to pull?

 

The 250 & 300 are the only present machines to have a lever for the decompresion for pull starting it.On the 400 & 500 it is automatic by pulling on the rope until resistance is felt and wait a few seconds before pulling.Caterman,this is not your problem.Did you have it in 4-wheel drive in this rut? I think maybe just the angle at which the machine was at when you were going through the rut maybe had a heavy load on machine and just would not push it through.

 

I took out my dads 04 400 with 27 inch gators this weekend and thought the power was great. No lack of power anywhere. Although My freind has the same wheeler only a manual with the stock tires and he got stuck quite often with it. The tires have alot to do with it. But the Manual is WAAAAY faster than the auto.

 

I did have it in 4x4. I also don't think different tires would have helped, as they wern't even spining. The engine just had a slight rev. It reminded me of trying to start a carburated snowmobile on a cold morning, and you first get it started and then give it gas and she just sits there and revs a little bit. But after this happened we still put on about 10 more miles and it did ride good. However it should have been able to make it up that rut. Could it a clutch or belt problem?? Is it still getting "broke in"?? Like I said, it did crawl right out in low, but I would think hi would have been able to do it too. Thanks for the responces guys.