Sportsman 400 parked few year won't start
 

Hi,

Trying to get the girlfriend's 2004 Polaris Sportsman 400 running after being parked a few years. Took all gas out of the tank, took the carb appart and cleaned it before trying to start.

It won't show any sign of life when turning. Have spark and have fuel. No pop, no back fire nothing. Tried both with the battery and pull cord. Every time I pull the plug off it's wet. Compression seem ok from when pulling on the cord.

Anyone would have an idea as of what I should check next?

Thanks,

JerryCanada

Pull the recoil cover and clean the pick up coil and flywheel area.Pull the black kill wire from the cdi module.Then try a shot of starting fluid either in the air filter or back of the carb itself.If it doesn't even try to hit on starting fluid,pull the plug cap,have a new plug in it and ground it to the engine. If it sparks,check valve clearance (.006 intake and exhaust)Plus on carb cleaning make sure you can see though the pilot jet and main jet and blow out all passage ways. Sometimes the smallest things will keep one from running. If it doesn't have spark,then you need to find the reason why. That's where the stator and other electrical tests in the manual can help narrow down the problem.2004 Polaris Sportsman 400 Service Manual PDF Download

So finally got it to start with a new plug. But now I can't seem to get it running right. When cold I have to put my hand over the air intake in order to get enough gas to start it. Once started it won't idle and back fire when trying to rev it. As I said card has been cleaned.

Anyone could help me troubleshoot this?

Thanks,
Jerrycanada

Air box and filter has to be on for it to run right. If you still have to block off the back of the carb,then either a fuel pump may be weak,should be a steady stream of fuel if you pull the fuel line at the carb and crank the engine over,or you still have something stoped up in the carb. Not a fan of just cleaning carbs because that doesn't always help,especially with the same old parts after 13 years.POLARIS SPORTSMAN 400 CARBURETOR CARB REPAIR REBUILD KIT 2003 2004 2005 NEW | eBay