I have and 03 Polaris 700 Sportsman that is hard to start. It will crank and even backfire a few times then start. It will run for awhile and just die like someone shut the key off. It has even done this while riding. Everything runs fine and then it just shuts off. Any Ideas?

 

It could be a variety of things,throttle cable adj? Old stale gas? Dirty air filter?
EFI or carbed? If carbed jeting problem? Fouled plug?
What have you done to try and fix it?

By the way Welcome to the forum Metoo2!

 

I started with the battery. Its good. Then emptied gas tank and put fresh gas in it. My next step is to check the plugs. Whats puzzleing me is that it runs fine. Its like someone just shuts the key off when it dies. Thanks for the reply and the welcome to the board.

 

I ran into the same thing with my '08 Sportsman 500 HO. It was a bear to start, would die serveral times till it warmed up. Turned out to be a pinched fuel tank vent line. The vent line goes up behind the headlight on the handlebars, then back down. It was pinched behind the headlight.

 

oh and it is carbed.

 

oh ok I will check that too. Thanks for the tip.

 

if it dies suddenly like you turned the key off,make sure your thumb throttle has at the least 1/8" play in it.you can also take the square top cover off the etc.there are emergency shut off contacts in there.make sure they are not near touching.the adj. is up the cable a few inches pull back the thin rubber sheath,loosen locknut.turn to adjust.............

 

ok. I will check that as well. Thanks for all the help.

 

anymore ideas for me?

 

Update. I also posted this in another forum but cant find it right now. OldPolarisTech told me to check the coil and if it was ducati made in italy that was most likely the problem. I orded one and waited months because it was backorded. Well got it yesterday and installed it and now it purs like a kitten. I also replaced the plugs as well because they looked fouled out from the speratic spark and then no spark at all. So thanks again for all the replys and a special thanks to OldPolarisTech for the heads up on the coil.