Ok, I'm a newbie, and I admit I know very little about this stuff....

I am buying an ATV for plowing snow in the winter. Pretty much that's all it'll be used for. Maybe a little yard work, hauling wood and such around my property. But 80% of the time it will be pushing snow. Think, little tractor. It'll probably never see a trail ride. (I know, sad )

So, how important is fuel injection? This ATV will be sitting in a cold Minnesota shed and needs to start up at temps ranging from -20 to 20 F.

I was pretty set on a Honda Foreman or Rubicon, but drove my friends John Deere (which are now Can Am's??) and I thought he said it had fuel injection.

Any help is appreciated!

 

Necessary, no but it does start easier. I live across the border and ran choke machines until 06. You just have to let it warm up longer before it runs smooth. At -20 you need to start easy anyway, the belt and everything else is going to be stiff.

 

Yeah its not a do or die situation.....but having EFI in the cold is a very nice bonus to have. Especially if the quad is going to sit for any amount of time in the cold.

But seeing as how you are in MN, my guess is that you will be plowing a lot. I use my Rancher to plow here in NY (a lot) and since it is started just about every other day or so to move snow around, starting it up in the cold is not usually a problem. But if it sits more than a couple days.....EFI would be nice......

I would go with EFI if its not a big price upgrade.

 

All the my snowmobiles were and are carberated, I run my ATV all the time up here in Northern Ontario Canada during winter and it starts up easily.

Everything in this picture is carburated and believe me it was cold.

Remember EFI or carb you still have to warm up the motor oil to bring the motor up to operating temp. I have yet to see a EFI snowblower.

 

I have an 08 700 Griz with EFI, and an 08 450 Griz that is carbureted and there is a world of difference. The 700 will start and idle hands free, (no babysitting) and the 450 has to be babysat no matter what the temperature is. I live in the Chicago area and it gets just as cold here as it does there, just not for as long as it does there and I started both quads when it was below zero this past winter and believe me you want EFI. Sure you can get by without it, but why would you want to? You won't regret it I'm sure of it.

 

If I'm buying new, sure, I'll get EFI. But in the used market, at least the brands I'm looking at, there's not a lot with EFI. So, there's where my questions stems from.

 

Then don,t worry about it, if you have carb ATV that will not start or run in the winter then it has a problem, probably and will not start peroid summer or winter in that case.

Here is my start up proceedure in the coldest winter days.

Pull chock full out.
Press starter
let run 15 seconds
Push choke back in then go have a coffee until oil warms up.

 

Sorry about that, I assumed that you were buying a new one.

 

i got a carb atv. by choise. EFIs are still haveing problems yet as they have only been out for a few yrs. and cost way more to fix and efi with all the electonic stuff on them. people are relying way to much on electronic stuff. i live in mn. and have never had an issue with carbs. if i did it was becuse of how much i used it. so the needle and seat had to be replaced. ill have to agree with you dont see a snowblower with EFI. carbs have been around alot longer. hence there will be less issues with a carb. if you put it on a batter maintainer or get a block heater it will start with not an issue. luse you wont have to wait for it to warm up.

 

I finally got fed up with carbs and two stroke snow machines. When I bought a new ATV I went with EFI and it starts like a dream at -30 degrees. My new AC Bearcat snowmobile with EFI and 4 stroke is a very docile and useable machine.

EFI is the only way to go. If you're spending any kind of seriuous money for a machine go with EFI and at least be current with existing technology. I have had 2/4 stroke machines, carbed machines and EFI machines and their is no comparison between the two.

Go EFI.