2006 Sportsman 500 backfire and intermittent start
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06-20-2024, 02:15 PM
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2006 Sportsman 500 backfire and intermittent start
Looking for some help with this. Sorry for the long story but I wanted to provide all details for a good diagnosis.
The ATV lives at our cottage, and probably gets 5 hours of use in the summer. Stored in the winter - Sta-bil, etc. It's a 500 HO EFI, single cylinder. Never had any problems with it starting (except new starter last year), even after sitting all winter.
Started it this spring and it worked fine for a few weekends. Then one day I shut it off for a lunch break, went back to start it and there was a huge backfire then no start. Lots of cranking and a smell of gas. I thought maybe it was flooded for some reason, so left it for two days. Never did start that weekend.
Lots of stories on Google about these bikes breaking the woodruff key on the crank, so the next time we went to the cottage I brought enough tools to look into that. Always optimistic, I thought I'd try starting again. Fired right up! Worked fine the rest of the weekend, so I figured maybe it had just flooded.
But then...went to start it last weekend and same thing - backfire, gas smell, no start. I swore at it and locked it in the shed in disgust.
So before I tear into it this weekend, any ideas what I'm looking for? Given the intermittent starting, I don't think it's a sheared key - wouldn't that be all or nothing? I have a new spark plug to install, and will also check for mouse blockage in the intake - although the air cleaner is clean, and again I don't think a blockage would cause an intermittent issue. Maybe some sort of intermittent electrical issue? The cottage is water access only, so I dread having to drag this thing home via an expensive barge ride.
Thanks for having me in the forum..
The ATV lives at our cottage, and probably gets 5 hours of use in the summer. Stored in the winter - Sta-bil, etc. It's a 500 HO EFI, single cylinder. Never had any problems with it starting (except new starter last year), even after sitting all winter.
Started it this spring and it worked fine for a few weekends. Then one day I shut it off for a lunch break, went back to start it and there was a huge backfire then no start. Lots of cranking and a smell of gas. I thought maybe it was flooded for some reason, so left it for two days. Never did start that weekend.
Lots of stories on Google about these bikes breaking the woodruff key on the crank, so the next time we went to the cottage I brought enough tools to look into that. Always optimistic, I thought I'd try starting again. Fired right up! Worked fine the rest of the weekend, so I figured maybe it had just flooded.
But then...went to start it last weekend and same thing - backfire, gas smell, no start. I swore at it and locked it in the shed in disgust.
So before I tear into it this weekend, any ideas what I'm looking for? Given the intermittent starting, I don't think it's a sheared key - wouldn't that be all or nothing? I have a new spark plug to install, and will also check for mouse blockage in the intake - although the air cleaner is clean, and again I don't think a blockage would cause an intermittent issue. Maybe some sort of intermittent electrical issue? The cottage is water access only, so I dread having to drag this thing home via an expensive barge ride.
Thanks for having me in the forum..
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