smoking i purchased a new 500 a 2001 manual shift last september. Its been in the shop 10 times for backfiring and fuel leaking out of the carburator. I have been very patient hoping they would get the problem corrected. This machine was in the shop half of the warranty period and the problem was never corrected. I finally called bob claid at 1-800-279-0179 ext-9836 bob said there was no such thing as a lemon and that there was nothing he could do that the warranty was out on it. It didnt matter to bob that the problem had never been corrected. I finally got a attorney to try and get arctic cat to take this machine back. theres no lemon law in nevada. The dealer finally wrapped some white heat tape around the exaust pipe at the head and at the union between the muffler and the exaust pipe. He claims he replaced the carburator. I told him to sell it i didnt want it back. If your sure you want an arctic cat you need to spend some time and check the dealer out well because artic cat didnt help me at all it was all up to the dealer. I am 45 years old and this is the worst experience i have ever had in purchasing anything. I had 700 miles on this machine 10 trips to the shop and i lost about 2000 dollars on this deal. best of luck on your decision

 

Stevenp, the dealer where you took it for servicing must of been a complete and utter clown. The only cure for the backfiring is to change the main jet size. Back firing is caused by running with a too rich condition. Mine used to back fire quite a bit, it wasn't hurting anything just irritating. I changed the main jet from a 150 to a 140 and all my back firing disappeared. My mileage also almost doubled. The cure is so simple, sorry you had a bad experience.

 

Minehunter,

Another reason for the back firing is the exhaust leak at the head pipe/siliencer joint. On the 2000(I think) and older models there a very noticeable exhaust leak at the joint. I noticed that on the 2001 models they tried to fix this with a new exhaust clamp, not sure if it worked or not. But Know my older 99 model has a hose clamp and a peice of pipe cut in half 2 times to make it "open up" to fit around the same sized pipe. If you put your hand around the joint BEFORE the carbon builds up you will feel the exhaust leak.

After about 150 miles the carbon builds up and the back fireing seems to accure alot less.

But you are right, rich jetting is another reason, just not the only reason for the back firing.

 

Minehunter

Minehunter i think i was more upset at artic cat than the dealer it seemed that he was trying to fix the problem. The more he worked on the carburator the worse it got. It only leaked gas out the overflow when it wasnt running after several attemps to fix the backfiring it leaked gas weather it was running or not. When you let off the throttle it would run under compression and load up then it would explode it had black soot leaking around the head where the exaust came out and the muffler exaust union. I think the tape was a poor solution. I do think your right the dealer is an idiot. Like i was telling smoking 500 if he really wants an artic cat i would research the dealer and make sure he will stand behind him, because artic cat didnt make any effort what so ever to help me. Initally all i wanted them to do was help the dealer fix the machine especially the gas leaking that is dangerous.

 

If it was leaking gas all the time the dealer should have known right away that the dang float was stuck.

 

After reading your reply to my post, I refer back to the statement that the Dealer was a complete and utter clown. Now reading that the carb leaked at all times kind of proves the point. sounds like he either left the retainer pin out of the float or just flat out screwed it up. The more I read your post the less I think that it was a manufacturer fault.

 

I have a 2001 man with 1890 miles on it and they are hard miles at that.I believe that if you do your regular maintance(oils etc)you should be able to ride the thing hard.I had the rear seal replaced at 600 miles,to much gritty sand I think,and the gear indicator lights replaced(neutral would blink).Thats all the problems I had.This is my fifth bike and I will buy another in the future,A.C. that is.My dealer is great and any guestions I have I usually talk to the A.C. mechanic directly.
My previuos bikes were
350 honda (old)
300 honda(very good)
450 ES honda(nightmare)
350L polaris(pure maintance junk)