so i thought my 1997 sportsman 500 had a cam prob, because thats what the dealer told me but my dad and the mechanics he work with don't think it is. I just started it and went down the road at 50mph, then after driving it abit it all of a sudden it would only go 20mph, any ideas?

 

Could be an electrical breakdown? When it dies on you pull the spark plug,ground it to the head and see if you have spark? Could also be piston starting to seize? Not common for this to happen on the 500,but can. Plus did the dealer have the cam measured or did you talk to a tech? On our end here all we can do is guess unless you are able to post some pics of the cam lobes,etc. There's still carb problems,fuel related problems,(fuel pump)??bad fuel? You've got the dealer on one end,your dad and a friend on the other and everyone here on the forum in the middle! OPT.

 

Last night we took the gas tank off and cleaned it because it had dirt in it, then we adjusted the intake valves to spec, but i didn't try it because i need to buy new fuel lines and a fuel filter today. if it doesn't help we'll have a better look at the cam.

 

we put the new lines and filter on, and it didn't help but at least the gas is clean in it. maybe we'll pull out the cam and have a better look at it.