This is for the 03 400i they say to change the starter jet for better cold weather starting.
cold weather starting

 

The 2005 400 has and automatic choke and starts fine, don't be screwing around with changing jets. Just hit the start without touching the throttle.

 

The auto transmission is just as durable and dependable as the manual units - without all the cussing and excuses - I was in the wrong gear - I had to down shift - my foot came off the shifter - the shifter broke etc etc. Unless your looking for maximum race type performance - the automatic will be as welcomed as the one in your car when caught in rush hour traffic. I can't find the upside of a manual unless your into extreme mud, sand or other performance use.

Others may feel differently and they have their points also.

 

I'm looking for advice on cold starting too. I bought a 2004 300 last fall and it seems to start way better in the cold than my 2002 250.
I use the atv's to train sled dogs so I use it as cold as it gets until there's enough snow to use the sled. Seems I have some experience to share that might help.

Now keep in mind these machines are different than yours so factor that in with what I'm saying here.
My machines are air/oil-cooled. If I'm not mistaken the new 400's have a different cooling system.
It seems like there's a transition point that you need to catch. If you leave the choke on full it revs up as it warms up and then eventually dies too rich. If you catch it and back off on the choke while keeping the idle speed up (no throttle) sometimes it will stay running until it's warmed up. Once it gets below about 15 above you need to rev the throttle with choke off to keep it running, once it's too warm for the choke to make it idle fast.

One thing that's helped me a lot is to treat my gas as soon as it comes from the pump. Use stabil to stabilize it and isopropyl to keep it dry. I use 1/2 bottle of Heet in red bottle per 5 gallon can of gas. Probably just superstition, but I try to get unoxygenated gasoline i.e. without 10% ethanol added. Give credit to the dealer for this. I had so much trouble 2 years ago I took it in. They drained the gas tank and it ran fine with good gas.

My 250 runs fine after it is thoroughly warmed up. Trouble is it dies a lot during the warmup. Also if it's not warmed up it wet fouls plug.
When it's in single digits F it can take 45 minutes of fussing until it's warm enough to operate. Leaving it in the garage helps, but is inconvenient. Has anybody had any success with hotter plugs? Mine calls for NGK DR7EA and I haven't found a hotter plug for it.

My sense of this is that it just takes a lot of heat to warm the engine/transaxle to adequate temperature, especially with no thermostat to control oil flow to the radiator. I've though of installing bypass valves to keep the oil in the crankcase until it warms up.

 

i have a 2003 250 and I know exactally what you mean about warming it up. When it gets cold it takes quite a while to warm up the engine especially when there is a gallon of oil pumping around. The choke does seem the make the engine idle up faster when you got it running so I always have to shut the choke off little by little. I did seem to have a problem a few weeks ago when the weather was really cold. The engine would die between shifting from R to 1st. The problem was that the engine still (after running for a long time) still wasn't quite fully warmed up. Letting it run for a bit longer fixed everything.

 

After reading my post I realized you don't own an AC. The fact that I just bought a 300 after owning a 250 for 2 years should say something about what I think of AC's.

I put about 1200 miles on per year per machine from Sept-Jan. All of this is with a dog team pulling against the engine compression. Generally run at 5-10 MPH in third gear medium range. So for me the manual tranny is essential. Operating the machine this way in the cold is really hard on it. It doesn't warm up like it does when you use the engine to travel at even modest speeds. If I was to just get on and ride, It might backfire a few times when it's not warmed up, but generally works OK once you have followed cold weather starting procedures. If dogs pull ATV against compression, the plug WILL foul if engine is not warmed up until it idles steady first.

Things I like:
brakes never fail. Even when they're full of Minnesota bog slime. No cables to freeze up.
Easy to wash up.
Suspension: Easy on the back. Also gets over rough stuff better than fixed rear axle.
Price
Fuel tank capacity I can do a 100 mile camping trip on one tank.
Manual starter w/compression release. Got stuck once on Yamaha with dead battery.

 

I've started mine at -22F with no problem. Full choke, no throttle for the first 30 seconds, then half choke with some throttle. Takes a little bit longer to warm up but it starts every time. Thing is, a that temperature, it can't be good on the engine. I'll be looking into the CAT block heater or a magnet type heater for next winter.

As far as the transmission, I owned a 2000 500 manual before my 2005 650 V2 automatic. Used to do alot of short rides with mud and water were the manual was nice to have, but got bored with that and moved on to long distance riding were the automatic is a must, especially if you ride were there's hills and valleys, you don't need to shift all the time.

I guess the big difference for me is in the maintenence, no worries with manual, but automatic needs some TLC. This is considered a problem for some poeple.

 

Just like cars, everyone has the 'secret' to starting their machine. But it seems like most of us agree that the owner's manual pretty much tells it like it is: Give the primer a pump (in cold weather), put the choke on, and crank it up - keeping your thumb OFF the throttle. This has always worked on mine. But it's tough to keep from pumping the throttle. On my 22 year old Honda commute beater, I have to flog the gas pedal to death to get it started in cold weather, but I've learned the secret to it and all's well.

We have the auto trannys and love them. No need to justify why we have them. We just love them [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]