Although this is the first winter my Cat has been in, I will probably do as Ecorman 1 says and pour in a bottle of Heet in the tank. I do put some StaBil in my gas cans and any gas operated implements during the winter too. It will probably be a trial and error thing.

 

Yep...thats the one. And heres a guide to adjust it.
http://www.motorcyclecruiser.com/tech/jetkit/
Or you can simply go 1/4 to 1/2 more right now. Remember to lean it back out when the temperature gets warmer, or itll be too rich.

 

Thank you Hondabuster; I thought my simple little question was going to get lost in the shuffle. My plugs were black (not wet) when I took them out. I was thinking too rich, however; the only way to get it to fire was full choke and no throttle, if I touched the throttle at all while attemting to start it you could just tell that this was hindering rather than helping... still thinking lean? I hate to mess with this, I have a habit of not leaving well enough alone and I don't need that right now.

 

One question - Do not all the later model cats have the fuel primer lever on the carb? I may have missed it but I didnt see any reference to the primer in any of these posts. My 500's have this (03-04) and they fire on the first power stroke even when -20.

 

hey spd one thing i found out with snowmobiles anyways is that isopropyl works a lil better then heat apparently heat just melts the ice or keeps it from freezing or i guess condensation from freezing and isopropyl actually like dissolves it and burns it through the motor but i had a tempermental 92 cougar and i used a half a bottle of that in every tank and i never had any problems anymore even though heat does work very well to

 

weez brings up a good point, it is alright to use the yellow heat bottle for the ATV's, but with the 2-stroke snowmobiles be sure you are using the RED heat bottle.

 

Don't use Heet as it contains bad alcohol, ethyl and/or methyl alcohol. All alcohol will absorb water but the bad alcohols have two nasty habits. First the bad alcohols are very corrosive and will eat the metal parts and hoses in your fuel system. Second the bad alcohols will only hold a certain amount of water and if there is more water that they can hold, the 3 fluids seperate out into layers. Bottom layer is water (where is your fuel pick up, on the bottom); then the alcohol and then the gas. Bet your engine doesn't run well on water or alcohol. Isopropyl also hold water but any water it can not absorb it just ignores and keeps itself and and the water it is holding in solution with the gas. You end up with a very small amount of water in your tanks sump. Also Isopropyl is not corrosive. Never use any product with the bad alcohol and unless Heet has changed it uses the bad stuff. This I learned as a marine mechanic where you deal with water in the fuel more than anywhere else. Ay the manufactures schools on year we tested this and it is true.

 

I'll keep that in mind Bear. Isopropyl! Thanks,
Chuck

 

what do you mean thanx bear i am the one who brought the whole isopropyl thing to attention lol j/k [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

I think he meant about making sure that the Heet product doesn't have ethyl or methyl alcohols in it. Because they sure did last time I checked. Ok, I just checked and Heet now has "Iso-HEET" which has isopropyl in it and comes in a red bottle. The Yellow one appears to has Methyl in it. So Catterman is wrong, use the red bottle in all cases, the yellow is bad.