Hello everyone,

This seems like a good place to gain some knowledge, now that I am the new owner of a Polaris ATV. I recently purchased what I was told was a 95 (I am pretty sure it’s a 93) Polaris 350l 2x4. It was cheap and I think it’ll turn into a nice machine for the wife and daughter to ride. I was told that it had started running rough and was getting hard to start. It will not start at all..I am sure the carb needs a good cleaning. I pulled the plug and with it against the head, there is spark when cranking. One thing I did check was ohming out the stator wires, but which wires should be verified and what kind of value? I did find the brown wire in the stator wire group broken, up by the elec panel. It looked to be a ground wire. I soldered it back together. I ohmed the 2 yellow wires and got very low values, then there is the 3 conductor group also. I pulled the side cover off because the starter sounds like the bendix is going bad, as 3 out of 5 starts it just free spins down there.

My questions are, what is a good stator test? (With spark at the plug, is the stator even in question?)

I think I should probably do a compression test too just to know where I stand….I will do that ASAP.

Starter gear/bendix- I found one on feebay, can this be replaced from the front side (pulling the flywheel)

Any other things I should definitely verify?

Even though I replaced the fuel filter and line to the carb. I question if it is getting fuel. (I think the needle valve could be stuck) although I did spray a small amount of starting fluid into the airbox and got no start (I did use a very small squirt though.)

Are small parts like carb needle, gaskets and such pretty common and interchangeable to where I can just go to the local Polaris dealer and grab them? Does anyone know the range of interchangeability on this machine, like up to xxxx year will fit? My buddy’s dad has what he thought was a 2000 330 Polaris sitting in his garage, and it was very similar. Things like plastics and seat looked identical (I need a seat cover too!) so I was noting that…

I have a 2 stroke dirt bike and have wrenched on vehicles for years but this ATV is a new animal to me, so any info tips are greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

Welcome to the forum! Check compression first before any thing else! If you have spark and compression is over 100 psi then you can clean the carb. If it's a 350 then the latest it can be is a 1993 model. You have to pull the flywheel to remove the starter bendix or you can remove the starter and bendix together from the bottom of the atv.Plus there is a counter balancer that hold 75cc of 30 wt oil. Down load a free manual from Parsthark.com. This will help you with all the maintenance and also any trouble shooting that may need to be done. For online oem parts Cycle Parts Warehouse is cheaper on most parts, DB electric has the cheapest prices on starters and bendixes,plus check Ebay on other items. Just make sure you haven't inherited a can of worms before you sink a lot of money in it! A 19 year old machine is bound to have a few problems unless it's been well taken care of! Good luck. OPT

 

Thanks OPT! that’s good info, I really appreciate the link to the manuals - that is something I was wondering about. A service manual is a must have.

Yes, I did some checking and according to the model# (W937539) she’s a 93 350l. From the research I have done so far, the 350l was the cat’s meow back in the day… It will be a few days before I can get back on it due to work. I hope I have the right fitting w my comp tester. I would think it is a 14mm. Anyone know off hand?

I have already pulled the recoil cover and see the bendix is right there. It looks fairly clean in there (no moisture anyway…) Yeah DB electrical is the ebay store where I found the part, so that is cool. The quad only has 3k mi on it, the ranch hand used it. Been in a dirty/dusty environment though…

What is this counter balancer that hold 75cc of 30 wt oil” you speak of?

If I get this thing going, I may just spiff it up and flip it, so I don’t end up with an outdated headache down the road, I hear mixed reviews on these older machines…Where I live, ATVs are very popular and anything under $1500 sells the second it hits CL, so I’m not *too*worried...yet

Thanks

 

The "B" in BR8ES NGK plug stands for 14 mm. The counter balancer cavity contains oil to lube the crank gear and counter balancer gear,water pump bearing and oil pump gear. On the early 350 you have a 10 mm drain under the bottom of the engine and at the front right of the engine you have a 14 mm fill plug.(75ccs) Later model 400 engines added the c/b dipstick under the carb area. Make sure when you service the c/b that the oil isn't milky colored(water pump seals leaking) This area can be one of the most expensive to repair if the water pump seals,bearing are neglected.Plus if the oil pump at the front of the machine get corroded and frozen from water! Look up the engine breakdown on Cycle Parts Warehouse or Polaris Parts Catalog for all parts that make up this engine,will explain a lot better!. Good luck OPT

 

Thanks again for the info. Got some time this eve to check compression. Hit 100 and held several times. I took a 10ml medicine dropper and added a little gas directly into the cylinder before I reinstalled the plug, she fired right up. Looks like I need to do some carb work. Glad its looking simple for now. Carb clean, starter gear, new battery, some maintenance and paint finish work, and this should turn into a nice machine for what I will have into it.

Is there any of the carb internals that I should just order new as they won’t be worth cleaning? I figure the bowl gasket will be shot.

Real bummer on the online manuals from Part shark. Here is the reply I received from them..

Our server that held our 1200+ manuals crashed last month and we lost all of the manuals we had accumulated over the past 4 years. It is not known when we will have manuals available again.
Sorry for any inconvenience
PartShark.com

 

Holy crap, just priced a needle valve (figured I better just replace it) $32! I figured I could get a whole carb kit for that price

 

k&L Makes one for your machine. Part number 18-9242. Tucker Rocky dealers can get them. TR number 292797. 13 bucks

 

Also complete Moose kits(from Parts Unlimited or Tucker Rocky,can't remember which one) are
available for Polaris atvs along with a lot of other machines,I've used them before on Yamahas and Hondas. Good quality. Still have to go to a dealer and order em,but they are cheaper a lot of times than piece by piece! OPT

 

Yeah I found and ordered a whole kit for $20 right after I posted that. Found it online, but the place was just a few hours up the road so shipping was fast

There is more going on here though…Just before I pulled it out to give it a quick shot of degreaser and wash prior to pulling the carb I attempted to start it again –directly feeding the gas, and it didn’t start. The only thing I tampered with between it running and not running was pulling the side cover that houses the recoil starter( I wanted to get a peek at the inside and the starter gear) also wanted to see if any of my pullers would work for the flywheel. Anyway I put the cover on and fastened it down just well enough to support the starter gear outer bearing. This is all I did. It started and ran on what gas I had injected directly into the chamber, now before I pulled the carb it would again not start using this same method. I pulled, cleaned and rebuilt the carb(didn’t find too much crud, but the needle valve assy was badly worn) Still no start. (but it looks nice!) Lol.

I need to verify if I still have spark. I am going to pull the flywheel to change the starter gear and will inspect and clean the stator….

 

So it looks like Ive got this thing starting consistantly now. after seeing that it appeared I had inconsistant spark, I pulled the flywheel and found a bad ground at the stator. The screw in the pic was backed out and the ring terminal corroded. I cleaned everything, blue loctighted the ground screw, replaced the starter gear and put it back together. It wasnt too dirty in the recoil case.

Now I just need to get it to idle That carb is pretty simple so it cant be too bad...Thanks again for the tips!