Help! I can't seem to figure this out. It first started happening once in a while. I would start to accelerate and it would act like it ran out of gas. Then after l let up on the throttle it would continue to run. I could take it out of gear and jump on the throttle and it would seem to pass. A week later it happened again, it took a few minutes of idling, then i would jump on the throttle again and it would seem to pass and it would run good again. Now it is just a constant thing, it will idle but nothing further. I thought it was possibly the fuel filter because it was like it was starving. I changed it and is still the same. What do I do next?

 

What year, how many miles, hours?

 

First, try cracking the gas cap a bit, to allow air in, your vent may be plugged. If it runs better with the cap cracked open, that's the problem. Beyond that, Ive had a bad clutch cause similiar issues, that or carb issues. Start with the easy stuff...tank vent.

 

is it dieing or act like it skips and misses. just wondering if the etc is not adjusted correctly. most of the time it will act this way when you try to go beyond idle.

 

It is a 2001 Sportsman 500 with 769 miles and 165 hours

 

Mine is doing kind of the same thing right now. I attempted to adjust the etc, but I'm not sure if I doing it right. I have other issues going on as well though.

 

Wow, 769 miles and 165 hours!?! That's an average speed of 4.6 miles an hour! You're either using this machine to spray weed killer or you forgot it was running and let it idle for six days straight.

Two suggestions. ETC is one of those "features" forced upon us by the lawyers, like the yellow button. Yes, it has a purpose. If your throttle cable should ever freeze up it's supposed to kill the RPMs, which you can do yourself quite effectively with the key or kill switch. Personally, if I suspect my ETC is acting up I just disable it. You can do this temporarily to eliminated it as a source of your running problem, or permanently. Just pop the top of the box above the thumb throttle, remove the spring and move one of the contacts elsewhere in the box so the two contacts can't touch each other. These contacts touching is what activates the ETC circuit.

My other suggestion is to drain the float bowl on the carb, it may have a bunch of junk colleted in it. The bowl is at the bottom of the carb. Somewhere near the bottom you'll find the drain screw. This screw is not a plug, it's more like a valve. Loosen the screw and you should see fuel leaking out of a small clear tube at the bottom of the bowl. You're going to get raw gas spillage when you do this so the usual precautions concerning open flame and hot exhaust parts apply. The engine should NOT BE RUNNING when you do this. Let a cup or so of fuel drain out, hopefully the grud will drain with it.

 

Sounds like a piece of dirt or rust in a jet in the carb, take the bowl off the carb and spray carb cleaner in every hole.

 

Tried to vent tank and filled with fresh fuel. Same condition.

 

It seems to just be dieing. With the air filter off it sounds like its being choked off. Then when I go back to idle it continues to run.