I'm reposted this under a different title hoping to get more responses.


I'm trying to work through an intermittent stalling problem on my 04.5 SP500. I'm going through the carb and all looks good except the float setting. According to the book it's supposed to be 14.7mm but when I checked at tear down it was about 11.5mm. I have to bend the tab so far to bring up to factory specs that it doesn't allow the needle to come off the seat. I tried several different angles on bending the tab but all had the same end effect. Now I'm wondering if the book is wrong, I'm pretty confident that I'm following the proper procedure and measuring it from the right place. So if anyone can offer any advice it would be appreciated.

As for the intermittent stalling problem it acts like it's running out of fuel and just starts dying out and eventually quits. It will start up usually and after a couple of more die outs it will run fine, sometimes for the rest of the day and days to come or other times it will happen several times during the trip. I've checked the fuel pump and it holds pressure. I'm pretty sure, but not positive, that there is fuel to the carb as the there has been some overflow from the drain tube which is why I'm trying to adjust the float as I've read that a high float setting will cause this. But this goes against my theory that I'm running out of fuel when the stalling occurs. The spark plug is dry when the stalling occurs by the way. The shop said it sounded like electrical and suggested that the reverse limiter might be the culprit. They suggested to depress the override button when it occurs and see if that solves it, but for now that isn't an option until I get it back together. They said that slack in the throttle cable will cause the limiter to kick in.

Anybody feel free to throw your .02 in as I'm looking for solutions. Thanks.

 

just as a generic setting i put them at level by eye and it works pretty good.sounds like you got a good start on things to check for.

 

The problem I'm having is when I bend the tab to get the setting anywhere close to specs it does not allow the needle to come off the seat as the tab is so far bent. Do you recall having any difficulties doing this?

 

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could the problem be fire and not fuel? the 04.5's had a problem of the spark plug wire being pinched between the fuel tank and the frame.

 

I hope you get some answers soon....my 06 sp450 has been doing the same thing since I got it in July. Been back to the dealer 3 times with no luck. They can't find anything wrong and of course it never stalls when they drive it. They have trimmed the snorkle, replaced the plug and fuel filter, checked the carb, ignition, throttle position sensor and all vent hoses...nothing helped. Mine will usually only do it once or twice a weekend and starts right back up, but that shouldn't happen on a new $6k machine. I am at a loss on what to do....

 

how about the slack in the throttle cable, polaris has that etc throttle, something to do with if the throttle sticks open it will kill the engine. Might be something as simple as that. Does it have any situations were it seems to do it more regular.

 

No, it's pretty random. But if i had to narrow it down it seems to do it more after I have been riding all weekend....like Sunday morning after i rode all day Saturday. And happens more when I am on the gas hard for an extended period of time. That's why I thought it had something to do with the throttle kill but the dealer checked that and said it was ok.

 

I checked the plug wire too as the dealer told me about the pinching issue. I adjusted the free play in the throttle cable and it was out of adjustment. I was wondering about the ETC switch too and haven't followed up on testing it like it says in the manual but that is a possibility. It could be associated with the reverse override switch too but I have not been able to get much (any) information from the manual about the wiring. The dealer said that there is a micro switch on the transmission that is part of it but all I can see on the tranny is the gear position switch so maybe it 's part of that. But I would think that all this is somehow connected to the CDI as something has to tell it to limit the revs when in reverse. I took the carb off today and will be bringing it to the shop to see if they can set the float and see if anything else is wrong with the carb.