Hello,

my first post and its a question about a problem i'm having (as usual). I have a 2001 arctic cat 500 manual that won't run. I had this same problem 3-5 months ago and i took it to a mechanic friend of mine to have him check it out. He replaced the spark plug and it ran fine. So now i was riding on some trails around a family members house on sunday and it just lost power going down a hill and stopped running. I could get it to restart for a minute or two with the choke applied and after a time or two of that it wouldn't start at all. So i coasted it to the bottom of the hill (probly half mile or so) and tried it again. It started and ran long enough for me to get it to the truck and get it loaded on the trailer. And then the next day (monday) i tried starting it again and it would start with the choke applied and run a minute or two and then die and after few times of doing that it wouldn't run at all. Well i pulled the plug today and its a NGK CR7E and the book calls for a NGK CR6E. Could this difference in heat range cause it to kill the plug or am i looking at a different problem in the carb adjustment? The plug insulator doesn't have a brown color to it, it looks to be white with alittle black tint to it. This quad is bone stock except for a jet change that my arctic cat dealer done shortly after i bought it in 2001.

Thanks for the help

JustAbout

 

First off, Welcome to the forum. Optional plugs for the 500 are the CR7E and CR8E and are both a colder heat range than the CR6E. It could be the problem, but I doubt it. Sounds more like a fuel problem to me. Try selecting the reserve position on the fuel valve. If that doesn't work, loosen the gas cap. If that works you need to clear the fuel vent on the tank. If nothing works, I suspect a carb with dirt in it, which requires carb removal and teardown to clean it. Are you running a fuel filter? If not, you need to install one. If you are running a filter, change it.

 

Bear4570,


Thanks for the reply. I'm going to stop and get another plug this afternoone just to see what happens. I've not installed a fuel filter, but i'll check to see if it has one or not. I didn't even think about trying the reserve position on the valve. If none of that works I'll then take the carb out and have it looked at. I'll report my findings when it quits raining so I can work on it (I hate not having a shop to work in). Thanks for your help

JustAbout

 

Heres what i've found so far. When i got home today i turned the fuel valve to the reserve position and it started right up. I then let it run for a few minutes and turned the fuel valve to the off position and it took 1 to 1.5 minutes to run out depending on engine rpm. When it died i then turned the valve to the reserve position again and started it and let it run a minute or two and turned the vale to the run/on position until it died again after about another 1 to 1.5 minutes. I also let it run for about 5 minutes with the fuel valve in the reserve position. It sounds to me like i have a blockage between the one pick up and the fuel valve. Now i need to check out the fuel valve and lines for blockages. I'll let you know what the final results are when i get a chance to actually work on it this weekend.

Thanks again
JustAbout

 

I remember reading a service bulletin about a small rubber seal in the fuel shutoff/reserve valve that could bind up and tear. Then lodge itself in the fuel line or Carb jet.

An inline fuel filter is easy to do and cheap. I think I have $5 into mine including clamps. Very good insurance though especially with the high quality fuel they are selling these days. (OR was that high priced fuel I forget).

SJ

 

Hey justabout I just had similar probs with the 500 I just bought . Mine had been used very little and had really bad gas . also there is a filter in your gas tank 2 of them in fact. the reserve has one and the on has one . On my bike they were badly varnished. If you take your tank off and remove the shut off valve with the two bolts you can inspect these screens. Put your mouth on the outlett and move the selector from on to reserve and off to see if they are plugged. mine were and it was a simple fix just soaked the plugged one in carb cleaner.Hope this helps ya

 

I forgot to and that this was on a 2001 500 also that I just bought.

 

Thanks for all the help. I'm pretty sure its just clogged or something like that. Unfortunetly i haven't had time to get back to it yet. Hopefully this weekend i'll have it all squared away. Thanks again

JustAbout