Now that I have the 500 IFI, I'm not suposted to worry about re-jetting a carg. According to all the PRE-Purchase spects, the 500EFI is good from 0-10,000 ft. After I bought my quad, now it's only good from 0-6000 feet. Unless you get the computer re-flashed for 6,000 ft and above. I will be riding from about 1500-8000 ft. Do I need to stop on the trail and get my computer reflashed at 6000 ft then reflashed on the way down to work properly? My 2004.5 500 ran great even at 8000 ft, just a little power loss. It never stalled or failed to start right up. Will I now have a problem at 8000 ft now that I have the EFI? One of the reasons I went with the EFI was to be able to ride to at least 8000 ft as advertised! Here is a qote from the Polaris ATV Handbook. "POWER AT ALTITUDE. For every 1000 ft./304.8 m above sea level, engines lose power. And at 6000 ft./1828.8 m you need to rejet carbureted engines. EFI automatically adjusts to changing altitudes and temperatures." It then has a diagram that illistrates a graph showing at 6000 ft the carbureted engine having to rejet and the EFI going to 10,000 ft. I looked all through the handbook for the "Just Kidding." and I can't find it...

I know I posted this on another site, but the more the merrier...

Thanks for any input.

 

once you get to a sertain altitude your clutch PVT has to be serviced and re-weighted for the new tempature and air volume, the EFI automaticly calibrates.

 

This is a service bulitin for the 2006 500EFI. What happens when you get to 6000 ft. Do you need to have a Polaris mechanic with you so the service can be done on the trail? I start my ride at 4700 ft then travel to about 8000 ft. I might go from 4700 to 8000 ft 10 times during the ride, up and down up and down. These are the mountains near Lake Tahoe. Should I have kept with the carb model? I live at about 2600 ft on acrage and do most of my riding on my property.

 

no, your fine, your carb would have been alot harder to keep up with the EFI, you only need the belt adjustment if you go over 8,000 feet i belive

 

I agree with asopyder the EFI should be fine.

above a certyain altitude it is best to adjust the clutch (lighter weights) but its not a bneccesity its just best for power.

 

Update: Today I had the "HOT" flash resistor fix. While I was there I spoke with the mechanic about the High Altitude reflash. He said a small number of early production 500EFI's were having a lean problem above 8000 ft. Mine appears to be a later production atv. The bulletin did not have a specific production date. Also, per the Polaris bulletin, the lean problem will not harm the engine. All later ECM's were reprogrammed to fix this problem before leaving the plant. I saw a 07/05 production 500EFI in the show room. Mine is a 09/05 production. Thank you all for your help...

 

From the service bulletin:

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"SPORTSMAN 500 EFI ECM HIGH ALTITUDE RE-FLASH

Polaris ATV Engineering has discovered isolated instances where 2006 Sportsman 500 EFI ATVs operated at elevations
above 8000 ft or higher may experience a partial lean condition, resulting in poor performance. Customers at these
elevations may complain of lean “bogging” during acceleration. A small number of early production units have the potential
of exhibiting this condition.

To resolve this issue, Polaris made enhancements to the high altitude calibration portion of the remaining Engine Control
Modules (ECMs) and made available re-flashing of the ECM through the Digital Wrench Diagnotics program (Version 2.09).
Procedures for performing an ECM reflash are detailed in the following pages of this article.
IMPORTANT: It is important to note that this recalibration applies only to ATVs that are operated, or will be
operated, at elevations above 8000 ft and exhibit this condition....

2006 Sportsman 500 EFI ATVs operated at lower elevations DO NOT need this recalibration. No engine damage will
occur if recalibration is not performed."
-----------------------------------------

So, if you don't recalibrate your machine it may be boggy at high altitude, but it still runs and won't hurt anything.

The key thing is though once you update, your good regardless of altitude. You do not have to reflash AGAIN when you come into low altitude. The reflash only effects the high altitude calibration. The reason the low altitude users don't need this is because they will never reach an altitude where it will effect them.

 

Yea, that's it... Thanks for writing the actual bulliten...I just wish Polaris knew which ATV's were in need of the re-flash, not just early production units. It would be a bummer if you decided to ride to 8000 ft and then had problems.