ATV question

I am borrowing an 02 Polaris sportsman 700 for ice fishing. This is a farm machine that typically isn’t used in winter. Currently, I have it stored in my heated garage. The other night I started it up and took it out into the single digit night. After just a couple hundred yards it stalled when I let off the throttle and would die unless I gave it some gas (throttle). It died a few times without throttle so I took it right back so I wouldn’t have to deal with a dead atv on my street.

Is this about the idle being set too low? Or does the engine perhaps need to warm up a bit before hitting the cold? Or something else? It ran fine all summer and I used it in the snow one other time (warmer) without problems.

Don’t really know anything about the mechanics but if its a Farm machine does it have a license?

I would check the air filter, under the seat.

Yea we got all the tags figured out a couple months ago but I haven’t made the plate thing yet (good thing you don’t need a title in MN). I checked the air filter and dust bootie – looked good and I blew it out with the compressor a bit.

Died in the cold? Perhaps water in the fuel that froze a jet if carbed. We used to see that in sleds. Fresh gas with occasional isopropyl add was the main remedy for that. If it runs fine once warmed up again in garage I would lean towards that as the issue. Its especially possible if bringing a very cold machine into a warmed garage often. On sleds you can see the frost on the outside of the gas tank. Same thing happens inside the tank. In the day we were always thinking about moisture in fuel. When it mixes with super cold intake air ice crystals can and will form. It was more prevalent in sleds due to snow dust ingestion through air intake but can come from the fuel as well.

Give her a good dose of new premium non ethanol fuel and a good dose of Sea Foam.

2x on the fresh gas and seafoam

My 2007 Can Am started and ran ruff and I turned it off to put the plow on and it wouldn’t start again. put a new plug in and it fired right up. Less than 500 miles on it.

Sounds exactly like carb icing. You took the warm machine out of the shop and then ice cold air gets sucked through the warm carburetor causing water in both the fuel and the air to condense. In the narrow passages of the carburetor, this condensation quickly turns to ice inside the carb.

The best solution would be to get rid of the fuel in the tank and start with fresh, non-ox fuel.

Adding fuel system dryer like pure Isopropyl could also work. Personally, I’d rather use a .99 can of ISO-heet rather the spending $7 a can on Seafoam just to do the same job.

Grouse

Cool, I will hope it is just that and try seafoam hoping I don’t have to drain it. He topped it off with non oxy before delivering it but hadn’t been using it prior to that.

And here I thought I was doing Mr. Quad a favor by keeping him warm and cozy.

My old sportsman was very touchy when it came to the choke. It had to be out just the right amount or it would die when you gave it throttle if it was cold outside and the engine wasn’t fully hot. Also had an issue with the high speed jet once where the needle broke and as soon as it went from the low speed to the high, it would get full throttle fuel and die.

Well.. It depends. I’m not sure how long you let it warm-up, but some machines just need a longer time to warm-up. Especially in those colder temperatures. Even after you’ve let them warm-up you might have to be easy on the throttle for a bit.

John Schultz wrote:

My old sportsman was very touchy when it came to the choke. It had to be out just the right amount or it would die when you gave it throttle if it was cold outside and the engine wasn’t fully hot. Also had an issue with the high speed jet once where the needle broke and as soon as it went from the low speed to the high, it would get full throttle fuel and die.

x2 on the touchy choke until it warms up.
Got the same deal with my ’04 Sportsman.
Just play with the choke a little till she warms up

I have had Polaris ATV’s all my life and when it comes to winter the very low idle is always an issue. I adjust my idle speed up just a bit when it gets cold and that seems to help. In the spring I adjust the idle speed back down. They run at a very low RPM in idle and the cold seems to slow that down even more.

A good dose of seafoam every other tank is very helpful in the fall/winter also.

Get the correct size with the correct positive/negative post location. Get a 12 volt with the most amps that will fit in the wheeler.Fleet, batteries plus, walmart all carry atv batteries, but they are spendy.

I have had a 2004 Sportsman 600 I bought new. If you read around on the Web, these 600 and 700 twins were pretty famous for being VERY cold blooded. Polaris actually issued a service bulletin on the topic (not a recall) that was a carb update to help a person being able to drive off without having to wait so long for the 600/700 machines to warm up. Look around and you will find the bulletin, as well as numerous threads talking about it. Problem is, it’s been long enough Polaris will not cover the update cost, and I’m also told that some of the small carb parts listed in the bulletin are hard to find…but I wouldn’t trust that fully without checking for yourself.