Hello all! Here's my problem, I recently brought my atv to a "friend" to do some work on it(bad idea in hindsight!) since I've hadn't much time this summer. Long story short, he had it almost 2 weeks and only power washed and cut off the tip to my exhaust(turned out he was a backyard mechanic who pretended he knew what he was doing), so I took it back so I could find someone else to do the work in a timely manner. This upset him and amongst other things he wouldn't return all the parts I paid for unless I gave him $100 on top of the $70 I had previously gave him. So needless to say the discussion got heated! Upon retrieving my 01' arctic cat 500 man, I noticed he purposely killed my battery by leaving the ignition on as well as driving it around in in 4x4(which was the main problem w it at the time) and stole the power fuse among w/ the $200 in parts. So I haven't started it since I got it back in case he might have poured sugar or something in the gas. How do i go about taking preventive measures to make sure nothing foreign was added which would ruin my engine?

 

change all the fluids and look it over very closely

 

I'd pull your tank and flush it out completely. I'd also replace your entire fuel line and drain your carb ASAP.

Check your plug as well. If it's coated with a burnt sticky substance - you've got your answer....he screwed you...BIG TIME.

After all that, fill w/new gas and cross your fingers. If it runs....FIX the original problem elsewhere and find a shop/garage/shed to lock it up in.

Goodluck.

 

What would be a good agent to use to flush the tank out? Also read about possibly taking the oil drain plug out and pouring 2 cups of kerosene into the top-most opening of the engine and letting it drain through the plug and letting it air dry for a few hours, anything behind this as well or should I not bother w/ that? Thanks for the tips so far, appreciate any knowledge on this topic as I have never had to deal w/ this sort of problem till now!