I recently got back from a day of hard riding. The weather was hot and we were going through mud and climbing hills. On three occations, I was climbing up a steep mud bank in 4WD. My Griz all of a suddent started to sputter and the engine started to cut off. I ended up going to a flat surface and opening the throttle up and blew some smoke out of my exhaust. I am not sure what caused this problem or if it is a problem. Could it be that all I did was get water in my intake??? I am still learning so any information is greatly appriciated.

Shoot Straight,
Ranger

 

Check for overheating. Sounds as if it may be trying to vapor lock. Have a friend who has a griz which did a similar thing when it got hot. Turned out the cooling fan was not working. His warranty replaced it and he had no further trouble.

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Kevin Gowdy aka Kagey 1999 Polaris Magnum 500

 

Thanks! I'll have it checked out

Ranger

 

Last spring during a poker run in PA I experienced the same problem with my Grizzly. The temperature was mid 60's and we had been sitting at near idle for about 20 minutes in a traffic jamb. My '98 and my brothers '99 Grizzly's both experienced what looked like vapor lock as we tried to get back to speed after sitting. It continued to run rough for the rest of the day. I changed the spark plug twice only to have it foul out again. It was odd that both Grizzly's experienced the same problems at exactly the same time. Oil cooling fans were working properly and it did not seem that it was overheating. I have adjusted the air/fuel mixture screw on the carburetor by turning it in about 3/4 of a turn and have not had any problems since. Occasionally it will start to load up, but it doesn't last very long. My brother did the same to his as well as wrapped his exhaust system from end to end and removed the side covers from his '99. We have been riding in 90 degree weather with no problems, but have not been in the mid 60's since this spring. As fall approaches it will be interesting to see if it happens again. I have heard through the various bulletin boards that this has been an intermittent problem, but to date no one has determined the cause or offered a better solution. Hope this might help you resolve your problems.

 

Rob,

Thats almost exactly what happened to me! My bike is still under warranty so Im going to bring it back in and have them check it out. A lot of good advice here!

Thanks,
Ranger

 

Ranger,
This only happened when going up a steep hill?..
Try this.. put the front end up like it was when the problem occured. (winch it up in a tree, front wheels on the back of a pick-up.. etc..) Start it up and rev it up several times, take it to a high idle and hold it there... if it happens again, then its probably a carburetor problem.
If thats the case, set it back on level ground, drain the carburetor bowl.... check the filter... and try it again (front end BACK up in the air) If it still does it, then you have a float (fuel level) problem. If you have a GOOD dealer and its under the FACTORY 6 month warranty they might fix it at no cost.. most of the time they consider carburetor problems to be periodic maintenance and won't repair under warranty..

 

Hey, thanks, I'll give it a shot! It did cross my mind that it might be a carb problem, and it did happen on a hill when I was giving it a lot of gas, then it sort of petered out near the top and I had to blow out some smoke when I got to a flat surface.

Thanks,
Ranger