I keep my finger in the air hose.

Been reading here awhile now, and the info has been invaluable.

Here's the story:

Bought an 02 Sportsman 50, that had been sitting and wouldn't start. No spark. Diag'd as stator. (was 3.8v when cranking, IIRC) Replaced that and the coil, because the coil wire was coming apart. And the plug.
Still no spark. Found the kill switch was open all the time. Jumped it, and there's my spark.

Still wouldn't start. I figured after all the reading here I've done, probably the carb. Plug didn't smell like gas. Old gas in the tank smelled bad, drained and replaced. Made sure it was getting to carb.

Still no start. Sprayed a bit of air intake cleaner in there, and it fired right up. Ran like a champ. Never would suck its own gas in there.

Removed carb today. Cleaned it out. Didn't look that bad, really. I used a welding tip cleaner and ran it through every hole in the carb. Sprayed out with carb clean and compressed air.

Reinstalled. Still no start. I had read the trick about plugging the air tube. That didn't work. Puffed some intake cleaner and it started....and then I stuck my finger in there, and I can keep it running indefinitely. It'll take the gas and runs perfect. Let it warm up good with my finger in there, and removed it....and after about 10-15 seconds, it cuts off. Won't restart, but if I put my finger back in there it fires right up.

So obviously it's not getting enough fuel, or too much air. I reinstalled all the adjustment screws the same as they were in there.
THe big one was 2 1/4 turns out. Little one by the air horn was I think 1/8 turn.
And now it's dripping fuel, too. Don't know if the float is sunk or the bowl gasket gave up, but it should still run.

Any advice is appreciated. I was hoping to make this thing run by Christmas. Thought I had it.

 

Welcome to the forums.
I'd check the compression.
Fuel dripping isn't good either. Get back into the carb and make sure the needle/seat area is fine.

 

Thanks for the response.

I will check compression tomorrow, but for the moment let's ASSume it's okay, since it runs great as long as my finger is in the air tube. Not sure if my gauge has this particular thread pattern. It's metric, I assume.

I guess I'll take the carb back off. I didn't have a rebuild kit available and just cleaned it out. It was spotless, but being in the car repair business all my life I know how working on used stuff can be.

The gas actually seems to be coming out of the air filter housing, and it gets worse if I back the main mixture screw out.

 

"The gas actually seems to be coming out of the air filter housing, and it gets worse if I back the main mixture screw out."
I feel that it's flooding the motor because of that.

 

Okay, maybe I am turned around backwards, but if it's flooding, why would it run better by me cutting OFF the air by putting my finger in the intake pipe? If it was flooding, I'd think it'd want MORE air. ?

 

I don't know your machine so you could be correct.
I do know that fuel leaking out isn't correct.

 

LOL, no doubt.

Took the carb back off. Don't see anything wrong with it. I wonder if I need to adjust the float?
That still doesn't account for it not sucking in its own fuel, but maybe for the leaking.

Bit of good news, the left front and the rear brakes were inop. Turns out the axle (I guess it's called) for the little arm the brake cables hook too were frozen. A little Liquid Wrench and some elbow grease and they are free and moving again.

So now it'll "whoa", just need it to "GO".

 

Do as LT80 suggested and do a compression check. I believe its a 10mmon plug. If compressions is lower that 90 psi,cheaper to replace the top end as a kit than trying to have it bored out. Replacement Cylinder Kit Aeon Dinli Polaris Kasea 50cc ATV | eBay If compression is decent and fuel is still pouring out of the carb just get a kit,cheaper than what dealers want for the needle itself. Polaris 50 Scrambler Carburetor Carb Repair Rebuild Kit 2001 2002 New | eBay
OPT

 

Thanks, OPT. I am going to check the compression in a little bit.

One thing I forgot to mention: Before I ever took the carb off...this is after I got the spark fixed.

It was cranking and not starting. Sprayed intake cleaner and it'd fire, you already know that.

So the little elbow tube that connects the carb to the filter housing, it won't come off the carb. At least, not without a LOT of effort, and I'm afraid it might crack so I just haven't bothered, as there's really no need.

Anyway, I wasn't sure the choke was working, so I put my hand on that tube and closed it off and cranked it. It immediately sucked some gas through the carb. It was still that old gas that was in the tank when I got it, but hopefully that's a good sign that the compression is going to be okay.

 

On the little 50 and 90 2 strokes whether they're electric choke or manual choke,blocking the air box inlet tube allows more fuel than air on cold first starts of the day.Once warm,they usually restart easily "IF" everything is ok. They don't have enough suction in many cases(even when new) to get enough fuel to crank and warm up. We received an in house bulletin from Polaris on blocking off the air tube.If any customers complained on starting we were to show them how. When the 4 strokes came out,no problems usually on starting. On top of compression you can't rule out leaking crank seals too on a 10 year old machine that's been sitting up. OPT