Opt, I hope you can help,Im working on a 2000 magnum 500 that wont start when cold , I have cleaned the carb, checked the cam, adjusted valves, I know gas is good, I Know its getting gas, plug gets wet when you turn it over, has good , constant spark, you can give it a little either and it will fire right up, runs fine, , go ride it , it runs great, shut it off, starts right back up, no choke , turn choke on while its running, tries to die, so I know choke is working, let it sit for an hour and it wont fire, full choke, no choke doesnt matter,hit it with a little either,starts right up, also checked compression, 90 lbs with throttle open which is good for this engine with the comp release, right? Any ideas?

 

I've had a few problem childs like this,one had small bits of fuel hose that deteriorated under the float needle causing the fuel flow to be erratic and would run good after you got it started,but a bear to start after you let it sit. Same thing on another one but it was trash and more hose bits in the fuel pump causing hard starting.
If you can rule out any problems like this,then even if it fires the ignition system could be starting to go south?? Ether is also a lot thinner than gas and if it takes this to get it started but runs good afterwards still sounds like something in fuel delivery? OPT

 

Ok Ill take the carb apart again tomorrow and clean it again, havent looked in fuel pump yet, had the damn thing all apart today, checked everything I could think of, when you turn it over it gets the plug wet with fuel, just wont fire it when its sat for awhile,its beginng to **** me off , if you know what I meaN

 

Forgot to ask about the battery if its good and charging ok too. Have had a few that you could pull start when they sat for a while,but wouldn't electric start because battery voltage dropped (even though it seemed to turn over fast enough) that it just wasn't producing hot enough spark to fire and plug would be wet also.Starter just took too much ump I guess. Load tested the battery and was on the low side.Just another thing I've run into before. OPT
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battery is new and good, will crank forever, just wont fire, think Ill take a look at flywheel today too, see how it and pickup coil look, with plug out and in plug wire, spark will jump a good inch to get to ground ,seems to be good and strong, I figured it was the cam cause macine has 13,000 miles on it but cam and rockers look real good, exhaust valves were prettclose to ,being set right, intake was a little tight, I set them all

 

fixed it, pilot jet was plugged and actually the wrong size, book calles for a 42.5 in the 500, had a 40 in it, also carb and gas tank full of fine sand, have no idea how it got in tank, probably wonderfull Wyoming wind, dumped gas , washed tank out well and flushed at car wash, cleaned carb again, starts and runs, hope I got it all.

 

Sounds like some kiddos have been playing around I've found dirt,marbles,even small toys in tanks over the years. Glad you found the problem. Actually does show to have a 40 pilot on the Polaris Parts Catalog,but a jump to a 42.5 increase is negligible,probably wont notice any difference. OPT

 

yeah my book shows the magnums to have a 40, figured that was for the 425 engine, shows the sportsman 500 to have 42.5, magnum 500 is same engine in those years so I went with the larger one , thanks OPT

 

I love it when I'm right, haha, never giving your kid the credit lol

 

yeah you were right from the start, there s your credit