My wife's 2005 Cat 400 LE has started doing something kinda strange. After setting for a couple of weeks, we start it up and it acts like it has an emergency brake set. As you depress the throttle, it kinda shutters and wont move forward and will die. After a couple of tries and it finally starts to roll forward then its all fine and good. My son says its the carb, but if it runs great after the initail starting off problems they why would it be carb? Any ideas would be helpful before I strike out on my own. It does this everytime we leave it parked for a week or so.

 

Does it have a drum brake on the rear? The drum may have mud and muck in it. Mine acted like that too and my parking brake was very difficult to set/unset. Ended up just needing to lube the pivot arm going into the drum and it worked perfectly.

 

No, no drum brakes

 

you might have some dirt or water in your carb. clean carb and check the gas in the tank to make sure it is clean.Make sure all the jets are open

 

Welcome to the forum reddogdan.

The first thing i would do is jack all 4 wheels off ground and then try to rotate the wheels one at a time to see if the brake's are indeed sticking , not sure of the year that AC started using the one hand brake lever on handle bars ; but my 2006 AC 400 FIS Auto 4x4 has the one hand brake lever that engauge all 3 disc brake's on the left handle bar ; it's also used as a parking brake some like this setup and some don't , my 2006 also has an extra mastercyclinder for the foot brake !

In my qwners Manual AC has a warning about parking on an incline/hill with just the parking brake on to keep from rolling downhill , i've never had my parking brake to leak down in the few time's i've forgotten to release the parking brake while many other owner's have !

One of the worst thing you can do to you quad is to store it outside or inside of a nin climbit controled building for week's at a time between ride's , your brake caliper's can stick/freeze up , tire's will dry rot , fuel will break down especially in the carburator because of the small amount of fuel inside the carb bowl ; i add SeaFoam to every 2 to 3 tank's of fuel it help's keep the fuel fresh longer and will pertect the fuel system and also burn's off excessive carbon deposit's inside the combustion chamber .

If after determining that your brake's aren't the problem i would highly reccomend the SeaFoam , you can get it at most all Auto Part Stores and your local Walmart Super Centers for around $6 dollars and will work on all types of engine's both 2 and 4 stroke , both Gasoline and diesel fuels ; i hope this help's you with your wife's AC 400 LE 4x4 !

williebee.......

 

ditto on the seafoam, use it year around in all my vehicles, best product on the market to keep gas systems clean and trouble free

 

Welcome to the forum!

I too agree that you should use SEAFOAM to clean some of the built up gum and varnish in the carb. I'd also recommend a GOOD carb removal & cleaning if the problem persists. I'm going to also add that you replace your sparkplug....and NOT with a stock one. Go for the NGK brand that fits your bike - HUGE difference.

Lastly.....AC machines are famous for poor brakes. If your brakes are indeed "freezing" up and sticking to your rotors from rust contamination, once you get it rolling.....take it for a quick ride up/down the road to 35mph and JAM on the brakes...HARD! This will "burnish" your pads and rotors by esentially heating them up to burn off the crud. Do this a few times.
I keep ALL my machines in storage and have found that my wifey's 550 tends to have the brakes get sticky when I take it out of storage.

If the problem persists then new brake pads are an option. I bought a new set on EBAY for $50 for my TRV. They work GREAT!

Good luck!

 

The seafoam seemed to have worked. Now, I have to admit I should have listened to my son (not a good thing). Thanks