Sportsman 700 EFI idle issue
 

Been lurking for a long time now on this website trying to figure out my atv. So now this is my first post because I'm yet to figure it out.

2005 Polaris sportsman 700 EFI

Won't idle. Fires right up. I can put it in gear and rip. Drives great. Stop and idle down, the idle will be very choppy and then die. It will fire right back up, but idle will still be erratic and then die again. It also went thru a new battery in about 6 months and battery light would flash occasionally. Volts were at 11.6-12.2. The new stator fixed that issue. Now 12.6-13.5. But the idle issue is still there.
No matter how much I ride the bike, cold hot or whatever the idle issue is present.

Pro caliber did their "diagnostics" and told me the stator was weak and if it's not that, then it "could be the fuel pump going out" That's all I was told. So I don't know if they did a fuel pressure test or what. Won't be going back there. They also wanted 800$ to replace the stator

I've replaced:
Fuel filter
Spark plugs
Drive belt
Voltage regulator
Stator
Battery

I ordered a new fuel pump. Should be here this weekend. I'll try that. I also ordered a new TBAP wiring harness from OTB.

Any other ideas?

thanks for any help!

Charging at 13.5 is a little on the low side. Check with a meter at the battery as the speedo could be off a little. The t-bap harness repair kit hopefully will solve the idle issue as that's the one we had to replace the most often plus the symptoms sound like t-bap wiring/connector related.Erratic idle,sometimes back firing and dying,but runs good above idle rpms.Glad you're getting the otb harness and not the ones Polaris offers. I replace too many of these only to have them fail again.Wish I had otb back then. Thought of one other thing. Throttle needs to have no more than 1/8" slack at the thumb lever.If it has too much the etc contacts can touch and they wont idle also but will run good when throttle is applied.

Using a meter im getting 14 at the battery.

Im hoping either the fuel pump or TBAP harness fixes the problem. Are they're any good instructions for the TBAP harness out there?

I have also checked the slack at the thumb lever and that hasn't fixed the issue.

I should have the new fuel pump in at the end of the weekend. The TBAP harness will arrive sometime next week hopefully. I'll report back on my progress, or lack of.

Thanks OPT, I was hoping you'd find this thread. I've read hundreds of forum threads and you've always been a great help!

T-bap is a simple install. Has about 8" or so of color coded wires with crimp connectors and shrink wrap tubing. You can also check fuel pump pressure. Should be holding 39psi +/- 2psi. If it's within range might as well store the pump on the shelf as most places wont take it back. Plus they do fail at one time or another and you'll have one handy..

Ok awesome, thank u!

ill probably go ahead and swap out the pump anyway as I will have some time before the TBAP is delivered.

Then I'll get that harness in and report back. Thanks again!

For fun, here's A quick video of the bike at idle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLwwlYsWdQ8

Copied and pasted the link and got Taylor Swift.. :huh: Just pasted it to google and found it. Sounds like an erratic idle that a t-bap wiring problem would cause imo. Wiggle the harness and see if you notice any change in the way it runs. I've located problems areas that way also.

taylor swift... hmm. Haha

ok I'll start tinkering around with that also.

Ive also been told a possible vacuum leak? Very occasionally I get an high RPM hang and it sometimes will come down on its own, other times I have to shut the rig off to be able to shift gears. To locate a possible leak I've read to take starter fluid or carb/throttle body cleaner into some areas to locate a leak. I'll try that too!

Possible on a vacuum leak,but my guess is still the t-bap harness. I've had them idle high and low and then just die also.Replaced with the Polaris harness repair kit and were fine until the thin wiring and cheap connector did the same thing as the original. That's why I wish I had the otb kits. Maybe I wouldn't have had to repair so many multiple times.

ok, just as you suspected, it wasn't the fuel pump!

Got the new pump in today tho. Much quieter at start up. Cleaned the throttle body while I was in there real good. I inspected as much wiring as I could while in there also. Nothing I could find anyway. Man
this thing runs great with all the things I've done to it so far. BUT the low erratic idle and then stall is still there.

I checked the throttle free play again. When I adjust to 1/16 to 1/8 of free play in the thumb, idle is around 980 and very choppy. If I tighten it up to about 1180 there is no free play what so ever, but the idle is "better" but still choppy.

The OTB TBAP harness should be here in a couple days. When it is, I'll install that and pray pray pray that is the fix.

Is there anything else in the mean time I can do/order/check? I've been reading about the throttle position sensor issues some people have, and testing that with the "special tool" along with adjusting the D screw on there. Which most everywhere advises NOT to do that.

Im really hoping the TbAP is the issue!!