Working on a 03 sportsman 500. Hasn't ran in years. Drained tank, cleaned carb(used wire, carb cleaner and air) it will only start when I feather the throttle. Dies if I take thumb off throttle. Will do a compression test tonight after work. Carb is sucking air when I put my hand over it, carbut is definitely getting gas. Any tests I can do?

 

Adjust the throttle cable until you have 1/8" slack only at the thumb lever. If that doesn't help,you may need to install a good carb kit instead of just cleaning one.Shindy Carburetor Kit Polaris Scrambler 500 2003-2005 Sportsman 500 03-05 Carb | eBay

 

Ok I'll give that a try tonight. Also I forgot to mention, there is a brass screw that is outside of the float bowl, I'm assuming this is the air/fuel adjustment? Well it looks like someone cracked the flat head off, I tried seating it and backing off 1-1/2 turns but it leaked fuel. So I tightened it back up. It's a pain in the *** to do because the head of the screw is broke. Would that cause this?

What should the compression be? 125-130?

What battery can i pick up from advance auto for it? It didn't have a battery, so I was just using the one from my 05 600, which is a bigger battery.

Imy going to go ahead and order carb rebuild kit asportsman long as compression checks out .
thanks for the help

 

Get the carb kit as it has a new pilot(fuel) screw,spring,o-ring and small washer.That right there is part of the problem if it's leaking from that area.This fuel screw mainly affects idle to 1/4 throttle,then the main jet takes over. HOPEFULLY the po hasn't broken the small tip in the carb. If so then the carb is basically junk.
Because of the decompression device compression should be between 50-90 psi on average.Some will show a little higher.
BB14AA2,14AA2 is the battery size you need. Maintenance free battery is a good oem replacement.

 

Can you replace just the idle screw on the carburetor? I noticed the **** is gone also. Or should I just buy a used it new carb?

 

Ok so I just did compression test. Battery wasn't hooked up so I pull started. Full throttle 5 pulls I got 75 then I hooked battery up and full throttle cranked and only got 30??

 

Ok so I adjusted the throttle cable slack, it still won't start unless I give it some gas, it revs up just fine but it dies as soon as I let off the gas, choke on or off same thing. The idle screw **** is broken off but I caneed still turn it with a set of pliers. Like I said before about the fuel/air screw in the carb, it is seated so it doesnt leak fuel. Could that be the cause? I have no problem buying a rebuild kit or a new carb but I don't want to waste the money if there is a different issue. I tried another compression tester and got 95 when using recoil and 35-40 with electric start. Battery is out of my 05 600 and is only a week old and charged over night

 

The wire idle adjuster were bad about breaking or the **** just turning. You can still get these online.Partzilla is about the cheapest place.Polaris ATV Parts 2003 A03CH50AA-AB-AC-AD-AE-AH-AJ SPORTSMAN 500 HO CARBURETOR Diagram Doesn't appear from the parts list that you can get the pilot screw kit. Only way is by buying the kit. Cheaper to buy the kit as the oem needle and seat costs more than the kit does. This is a hard carb to adjust the float level. Look over this similar BST40 carb used on a Ktm.The BST-40 Bible | Adventure Rider Plus here is the carb from the service manual. Can help you also.https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...U2gGlaHJWSIlbA

 

Ok. Ya like I said I don't mind buying the parts, any input on the compression readings e-start vs pull start readings? Ok so i was just reading a similar topic and I decided to take the pliers and turn the idle screw up 4 complete turns. What do ya know....she started with one pull and idled. I was then able to turn it down while it was idling. I wish this one had the rpm option on the cluster like my 05 does. Now how do you adjust the Iglesias correctly? I'm going to buy the carb rebuild kit and also the idle ****

 

Compression doesn't sound like no biggie. You can always get a higher reading using the recoil rather than the electric starter. As long as it's above 50-55psi,sounds ok.