EFI ATV

A friend of mine offered me a really good deal on a Polaris EFI 800 Sportsman. I think EFI’s are supposed to start better in the cold? What makes me leary of this machine is…A couple of years ago we went up to Canada on a fishing trip in March. My brother has a 500 EFI Sportsman and when we were getting ready for the trip, it started right up and we loaded it on the trailer. The next day when we were going to head out fishing…..it was dead. We hooked up the jumper cables to it and it started right up. The second we took the cables off it would die. We even left the cables hooked up for about a half hour and again, when we unhooked the cable…..dead. I assume EFI needs the battery to run the fuel injection. Now luckily we were near a town that just happened to have a new battery for $135. Anybody else know anything more about this than I do?

yes, efi’s start much better in the cold from my experience. just turn the key and start it up, no messing with a choke, let it warm up and run.

my honda efi, will not run with a bad battery, i can’t comment on the polaris, never had one. but i had the same issue you had. battery was dead, jumped it ran fine with cables on, took the cables off, atv would die. bad battery. got a new one, and we’re off and running.

EFI’s have more technology and the potential to break in a way not easily fixed sometimes. However that is unlikely and they are so easy to just run and and have fun. I’m sold on them just from all the years in my cars/trucks. So far I have only one rec vehicle with EFI and so far, so good. You definitely have to keep one eye on the battery. I leave a battery tender terminal permantly connected to battery so I can trickle charge by plugging in from the outside.

My 500HO EFI Sportsman starts perfectly but it needs a good battery. I’ve found the battery in my Polaris lasts barely 2 seasons, even with a battery tender on it during periods of low use. It just failed on me a couple weeks back so I’m off to the dealer or batteries plus for another $90 battery drop.

Everybody says the EFIs start so much better in the cold but I had a Sportsman 400 and that thing would fire up almost instantly on even the coldest days.. A little cold blooded for a few seconds afterwards, but nothing a minute of idling wouldnt cure. My buddy has an EFI and that thing is nearly impossible to start when its really cold. Those 800 EFIs are definitely bad [censored], but my next machine will have a carb…

buy it, you will love it. Every machine has a weak spot, EFI’s just happen to be the battery.

I bought a Sportsman 850 this year and will never go back to a carb machine. No changing jets for summer or winter anymore!!!