Stock P650 '03. Never had issues with carb before. Earlier in the winter, after snow fall here in NH, I was out riding, broke through the ice into the water, only enough water to cover the floor boards, not deep in comparison to hat I have gone through before. I managed to get it "unstuck" with little effort and kept riding around my yard in the snow. As I kept up high RPM's due to deep snow, it felt as if I lost all power and actually ran the carbs out of fuel. It would idle fine but if I gave it gas, it would spit and spudder for a while and no power to spin the wheels. Id let it idle for a few minutes and it would have good power and wheel spin, untill it appeared to run the gas out of the carb!!! I managed to get it back to the shed with some luck and shut it off. 3 days later I got in a bad car accident and I am now just getting back to walking, 2.5 months later. Needless to say, I didnt get to investigate it.

Yesterday I was out in the yard on my motorized crutches (p650) and it did it again. Just putting around it will go all damn day, put a load onto it and ge tthe PRM's high or any period of time and it seems like it cant get enough fuel to keep going. Let it idle and it seems that the fuel comes back and gives me some time to scream around before it sucks again.

A sucking/tick sound will come from the carb as if it is searching from more fuel while it is starting to die out.

Im on a tight budget as I have not been able to work, and wont be able to for a few more months and am not famaliar with carb work so "laymans terms" are appreciated.
Bored stiff and looking to fix my baby!!!

 

I just had this happen to my wifes Prairie 700 ran like crap above 18-20 MPH, I removed the plastic air box cover,airbox/filter and the 2 carb boot clamps (screws are on the left side if you are sitting on the bike, unhooked the idle screw from mount and lifted carbs up and turned them slightly to remove the float bowl screws to get the jets out and cleanded them out good w/ carb and choke cleaner, besure and do both jets on both 1/2s of the carb, I put it all back together and it runs like it should again, you may be able to just remove the filter and filter housing and this will reveal the jet nozzles (4) , you may be able to spray carb and choke cleaner into these one at a time while its running, if it is moisture in a jet 9which is what was in mine) it may blow it out of the jet, its worth a try as the carb,plastic removal and cleaning took about 3.5 hours of my time, hope this helps

 

Thanks Kawi Powi, a speedy reply I must say!! I will give it a whirl. When there is enough fuel in the carbs I can take it up to 50mph with no issue, it just doesnt seem to keep enough fuel int he carbs for long periods, 40seconds+ at a high RPM. Once it stops raining Ill head outside and try your advice. Thanks again for a speedy reply, 25 minutes!!

 

No problem, I just cleaned our Prairies out Friday and it was really running bad when I started, it does sound like its a jet plugged , they need alot of gas, if they cannot get enough they cough and sputter, hope its a fix.

 

How many hours does this motor have on it?

It isn't a bad idea to clean the carbs good.

Have you checked the obvious things like the filters (Both Air and Fuel). A pluged up fuel filter will do the same thing.

 

Seeing that I am gimping around my yard with a hip that was shattered in 6 places recently, I am working the crowd for opinions on what it might be, to limit the time that I am having to stand or bend over the ATV. I appreciate the tips on the filter, I though that myself today. I already checked the air filter and it is decent as I had just cleaned it last fall, right before the symptoms started. The fuel filter will be my next check during daylight tomorrow.