Hey everyone, I have a friend who had a serious problem last week. He asked me to try and find out what might have happened. Any ideas???? Here's the story! Thanks

A group of seven ATVs were on a leisurely Saturday ride. We stopped at a place. On the way we came upon an open pasture where we could get up a little more speed than we usually do, but only to about thirty miles per hour.

We then came to a heavily wooded area with tight trails where we had to travel
at very low speeds, and slowing to a near stop as we weaved in and out of the trails. We had no more than entered this wooded section when, for no apparent reason, my 2002 Sportsman 500HO roared to full-throttle and stuck! Since we weren't travelling at full throttle, I don't know how it could have revved that high. This sent my machine into a tall wheelie and dumped me off the back of the four wheeler onto the ground. The machine continued off the trail, running over the saplings and climbing over small trees with its front two wheels straight up in the air. I laid on the ground watching in disbelief. It finally came to rest when it hit a full-sized tree with its underside. No one in the group has been able to justify what could have happened to make the throttle stick wide open. It was a very leisurely ride in which we were not getting over a low idle. This all happened in a matter of seconds.

After checking myself out for injuries, we pulled the machine back off the trees and on to all four tires again. I started the engine up and it seemed to be ok. It continued to run normal as we rode the trails to the loading area. Is this something I should be concerned about going foward? What could have caused it? Any help would be much appreciated!

 

Do you have a windsheild or any other accessory that could come in contact with any portion of the throttle cable?? My uncle has a sportsman, and for a long time couldn't figure out why the idle speed would keep changing. Finally one day he went to adjust the windsheild (with the bike running) and noticed a change in the Revs when he moved it. Apparantly the framw came in contact withe the cable and when it moved the revs went up and down like you were using the throttle.

In your case its possible that while traversing difficult terrain something moved and pulled on the cable causing it to remain wide open. A thourough inspection should reveal the cause.

BTW: Dont forget to post what you find!!!!

 

Well, there is no windshield, but he has one of those throttle extenders like in Cabella's. That is the only thing added. We don't think that is the cause though. Great thoughts though! It is at the dealer now, they are kind of confused too it sounds like.

 

gremlins...

 

Yeah I would think that would be something to be concerened about.
Actually for that one ,I myself would take it to the dealer.
You could be dead in those "matter of seconds"
or it could have hit someone else and.......[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-frown.gif[/img]

Is it possable it was just running over the trees, from just the momentum of the bike?
Or was it actually going full throttle?
Thats some scary $hit man

 

We were all very lucky that the person in front of him had just went around a curve and the atv went off into the woods. It could have hit someone very easily and you wouldn't even know what hit you. SCARY!

 

it's weird but you're probably not the first person it happens too.

once when i was around 14 or 15 i was camping with a budy of mine and he had a yamaha DT 50 ( a motorcycle ). it was on neutral on its stand running idle... we were using it as a flash light :-) while setting up the tent. suddently it started to rev realy high... probable around 6000 or 7000 rpm for few seconds and it came back... oh crap lololololololo we almost started to believe in gosts lololololool.

i still don't know what happend... but the only thing a could see is a misfonction of the carb. and air bubble or the gas in the tank i don't know. it happens with chains saw also... just before they're out of gas.

probly something that happens one chance on 10 millions.... wish that DT was a lottery ticket lololololol :-)

 

Alls I got to say is wow. That's unfrickinbelievable.

I'll never forget the time I was coming up a hill when my brakes weren't working and there were huge vines hanging from the trees above. Long story short, when trying to push the vine around me and out of my way, the other vine managed to get stuck between the handlebar and the thumb throttle, giving the quad full throttle, and over I went on the hill...yeah...that was scarry.

I still don't know how that vine managed to get stuck in there. I was just an unexperienced rider then, and that really opened my eyes.

 

Glad you were able to live to tell about it offrder15. I just keep thinking that my wife and several other friends including the one on the sportsman are all very lucky they are ok. So no one has heard of any recalls in the past with this sort of thing on polaris. I thought I had but I must not of if you all haven't heard about it. I guess it will be about 6 weeks to hear back from polaris. It will be interesting to hear what they say.