a very good friend of mine has a 2004 650 arctic cat he bought new last fall that he couldn't use for deer hunting or plowing snow this winter because when the temps fall below 30 deg. it just cranks but won't start... and the choke cable has been fixed twice. The choke cable binds up when you try to turn on the choke, snaps free and then feels like it isn't hooked to anything. He keeps a cover on it, so it's not getting water in it and freezing... You'd think maybe they should change the name on the 650twin to "summercat" cause last fall
when the temps were 50 deg. and above it was an awesome quad!

 

my 650 did/does the same thing. It is currently at the dealership. I had a couple other issues for AC so while it is in the shop I had them take a look at it. I will let you know what they say the problem is! I think it is in the carbs. The cable sticks and that $12 little choke lever breaks very easily( that'll **** ya off) I have broken one already and replaced it. IF he really wants to start it, I usually take the breather box off and put my hand over the carbs and manually choke it to get it started! It is major bs! But what a machine when its runnin!

 

Well his is in the shop for the 3rd time, the battery was replaced the first time. He is going to pick it up today, so we'll see if his dealer
has got it finally fixed. I will post what repairs they made.

 

still not fixed!!!! he went to pick it up after they had it for 2 weeks, the choke lever wouldn't move again, and it wouldn't start. now battery nearly dead again as well. He left it there for them to look at one last time and if not fixed by next saturday he told them he was taking it to trade it in on a new polaris efi! Sure is an awesome machine in the summer, but he hasn't been able to use it fo 4 months!
Any ideas??? Doesn't Arctic cat train their techs??? They said they tried it several times after they "fixed" it and it was fine...

 

The choke cable froze up on my '04 650. I used a heat gun. At first I tried the handle bar area - no luck. Then I aimed it towards the front of the engine. That freed it up quickly. An hour later it was frozen again. Knowing it was free just minutes ago, I pushed on the lever a little harder. Broken.

I brought it to the dealer. They replaced the plastic part at the choke lever and ordered a new choke cable because it was frayed. It took them 3 weeks to get the cable. Supposedly, Arctic Cat had none in stock in the US. None of this was covered by the warranty. It cost me almost $200.

That's when I found out that the 2 year warrantly I had been "sold" was really only a 6 month factory warranty with an additional 18 months of third party warranty covering the power train only. I was not and am not a happy customer.

The dealer did use a small adapter to spray lubricant down the choke cable. It works now even in cold weather but it moves sluggishly. I plan to lubricate all cables this summer.

Good luck.

For comparison, a friend sunk his '04 650 in a river and got water in the engine and gearbox. He surely would have gotten water in his choke cable, but his choke has been working fine in sub-zero weather.

 

Sorry to hear you had the same troubles... coincedance??? Well he told me his dealer ordered a new choke cable for his on monday, but didn't mention anything about the lever... I suppose they'll wait until they have it apart and realize it is broken too... then make him wait another week or two for that part to come in, and before you know it the problem will be fixed hee hee!! it will be summer by then!
thanks for the cable luber idea... I have one of those, it clamps around the cable and the spray nozzle fits into it forcing lube into the cable. My grandpa gave it too me, he got one with his max atv for the throttle cable. I forgot I had it, I'll have to try it on his, if he ever gets it back. Thanks, Dan. P.S. Bob, if your reading this, They still have the Dale Jr. efi 700 in stock at the dealer!!!

 

You know I have the same problem with my 650 also. Brought it to my dealer and told him it barely wanted to start during deer hunting and it wouldn't when the temp got around 20 degrees. I finally brought my battery to NAPA and had them do a load test and they said it was a bad battery. Went back to dealership the 2nd time and told them, still said there was nothing wrong but he did put a new battery in it. It cranked over great at the dealership. Then when I trailored it home for 45 minutes in the cold it wouldn't start again!!!! The new battery does help, but on Friday we went riding at Nemadji State Forest and it wouldn't start on it's own. It was 0 degrees that morning, so I had to hit the electric start and pull over the recoil at the same time. Then it started, and was fine the rest of the day. My choke is fine, but I think the battery is just too small to crank over the 650. Maybe next winter I will buy the bigger battery for it, but its too close to summer to worry about it now.

P.S. I too call mine a summer cat [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img], It's kinda sad to pay almost 7 grand for a 4 wheeler, so I would have something to ride all year round(since it never snows enough to snowmobile), and my wheeler won't start in the winter.

 

I am using my 650 to plow. After I had the choke fixed, it has been starting fine. It's been around 0 degrees with no problem. Yesterday it was 10 degrees adn it started immediately and I had not started it for a week.

I did read in some Arctic Cat literature that they recommended a heavy duty battery for some uses, like plowing.

Good luck.

 

The problem with the 04 choke cables is with the grease that is in the housing where the single cable connects to the two secondary cables. When it gets very cold the grease gets stiff and it is very hard if not impossible to get the lever to move. Pull the housing cover back, clean all of the grease out and lube with teflon cable lube. Should take care of the problem.

 

Arcticmech-
Are you an AC mechanic for a dealer, or arcticmech because you live in Mechanicsburg? Sure would be nice if it was the former and not the latter, because we could use someone "in the know" and not have to deal with the factory line of BS or some crap from a dealer who doesn't know his a** from a hole in the ground.