2002 Indy 500 carb issue

[Fordpickupjaybird]

I have a 2002 Polaris indy 500 with a carb issue. Started off with bad fuel from sitting. Took it to a mechanic and don’t think he replaced the o rings on the float assembly. Thinking he just did a clean because once I got it back it’s a tricky bastard to get started without flooding and it won’t idle without stalling really. That’s hit or miss. Runs great once I get it going. Does anyone have the specs for the scre turns for all of thr carb adjustments? I can’t reliably go off of the current settings because he has messed with them and he had the sled twice after fixing it trying to correct the issue. Any help appreciated.

 

[850Switchback]

Go get some orings and start there. Arctic Cat sells them separately from the float so thats the best way to get them, they used the same style Mikuni carb.
The closest I could find is 2001 but should get you close, but if you go create an account on Polaris website and enter your VIN in "my garage" you might be able to download the one for your exact sled in the owners manuals section. There was a spec sheet that was included as a manual supplement with the sled new that gave all the settings, that is what I cut this from.

 

[Fordpickupjaybird]

Thanks. I’ll take a look. It flooded bad and I tried starting it prob 5 times and it was acting really boggy with heavy back pressure. I think fuel filled the cylinder and maybe the block. Would this have caused motor damage and if it did fill the block with gas how do I get it out of there?

Thanks!

 

[850Switchback]

Yeah thats not good, if its flooding that bad, its definitely the o rings. You can potentially knock the crank out of phase if you hydrolocked it. Hope you shut the gas off so it stops bleeding more in. Dont try pulling it over again until you pull the drains.
There are 2 drain plugs under the y pipe in the lower front of the motor that'll drain each half of the lower crankcase if there's anything in there. Be prepared for a flood of gas. If you get more than a shot glass worth of fluid out of there I'd get a can of fogging oil and pickle that motor before you attempt to start it again. The gas will wipe the bearings clean of oil.
Thats a very poor carb refresh if he didn't swap the orings, they are the first thing that goes from fuel rot.

 

[Fordpickupjaybird]

Yeah thats not good, if its flooding that bad, its definitely the o rings. You can potentially knock the crank out of phase if you hydrolocked it. Hope you shut the gas off so it stops bleeding more in. Dont try pulling it over again until you pull the drains.

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There are 2 drain plugs under the y pipe in the lower front of the motor that'll drain each half of the lower crankcase if there's anything in there. Be prepared for a flood of gas. If you get more than a shot glass worth of fluid out of there I'd get a can of fogging oil and pickle that motor before you attempt to start it again. The gas will wipe the bearings clean of oil.

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Thats a very poor carb refresh if he didn't swap the orings, they are the first thing that goes from fuel rot.

Yea I’m beyond pissed. This is a referral
From my local dealer because they won’t work on anything over 10 years old. I was skeptic after he didn’t get it right the first time . I did shut the fuel off. I will drain it tomorrow. Just take a can of fogging oil and pour it into each cylinder until it’s full?

I can’t find anyone to work on this thing. It only has like 2000 miles and is a clean machine. How can I get the crank back in phase if it was knocked out and how would I know that it is knocked out once I get the carb rebuilt proper?

 

[850Switchback]

Yeah, not a good sign he didn't understand why it was flooding. That is almost 90% going to be a float issue not stopping the flow from the tank. The only other possibility is the fuel pump has a bad diaphragm and its coming in thru the impulse line off that. Pull that line off and see if the fuel is coming out there. It goes from the pump into the side of the block.
Fogging oil is in a aersol spray can, its meant for coating the internals for off season storage. Usually in with the boating products in most stores since marine guys use it alot. Spray some down thru the spark plug holes and since the carbs are going to be off anyway you can shoot it right in thru the carb boots while pulling it over with no plugs in. Its going to smoke like crazy for a bit when you first start it after fogging, make sure you are outside or well ventilated. Again see how flooded it is first, you might not have to do this.

Easiest way to check the crank is to use a wooden dowel down the hole, rotate the clutch until the piston stops moving the dowel up. Mark the clutch with a marker or something, change holes and repeat. The clutch should be 180deg off this time when it stops moving.
Unfortunately if it is off, the only way to fix it is to tear the motor apart and have an engine shop reset the crank.

 

[850Switchback]

One other possibility is the chokes are hung up or not adjusted right but that shouldn't dump a ton of fuel in, usually just makes it too rich to fire the plugs.

 

[Fordpickupjaybird]

One other possibility is the chokes are hung up or not adjusted right but that shouldn't dump a ton of fuel in, usually just makes it too rich to fire the plugs.

Thanks for a ton for the help. After watching a video last night of the professional tools they use to check the crankshaft alignment I came up with the dowel idea. Great minds think alike. I’m going to try that after I drain the system and see what it does. Fingers crossed it’s not but I have a feeling it is.

 

[Fordpickupjaybird]

Yeah thats not good, if its flooding that bad, its definitely the o rings. You can potentially knock the crank out of phase if you hydrolocked it. Hope you shut the gas off so it stops bleeding more in. Dont try pulling it over again until you pull the drains.
There are 2 drain plugs under the y pipe in the lower front of the motor that'll drain each half of the lower crankcase if there's anything in there. Be prepared for a flood of gas. If you get more than a shot glass worth of fluid out of there I'd get a can of fogging oil and pickle that motor before you attempt to start it again. The gas will wipe the bearings clean of oil.
Thats a very poor carb refresh if he didn't swap the orings, they are the first thing that goes from fuel rot.

Just drained the block and as I suspected it was full or what I would consider too much. Just checked the cylinders and when the one cylinder is at max height the other is bottomed out at max bottom and vise versa. They’re alternating 180 so my assumption is nothings bent and it didn’t spin out the shaft. Am I correct with that assumption? Next step fog the motor and redo carbs.

 

[850Switchback]

Yeah thats the closest you are going to get without getting a degree wheel on the crank and some dial indicators to find the true TDC of each piston, tools I highly doubt you have.
I can't take credit for the dowel tip, I had seen that one years ago when I had a problem similar to what you are going thru. I bought a 02 700 as a leftover and there was plastic debris from the factory in the carbs that stuck the float open and did the exact same thing you are going thru right now.
While you are in there with the carbs off, see if you can get a look in at the reeds. Given their age they might be stating to curl and not seal tight to the cage or have chipped petal tips.

 

[Fordpickupjaybird]

Yeah thats the closest you are going to get without getting a degree wheel on the crank and some dial indicators to find the true TDC of each piston, tools I highly doubt you have.
I can't take credit for the dowel tip, I had seen that one years ago when I had a problem similar to what you are going thru. I bought a 02 700 as a leftover and there was plastic debris from the factory in the carbs that stuck the float open and did the exact same thing you are going thru right now.
While you are in there with the carbs off, see if you can get a look in at the reeds. Given their age they might be stating to curl and not seal tight to the cage or have chipped petal tips.

Thanks I’ll check them too. I just talked to the mechanic and all he did was a carb clean. Some people! Yea the sleds older but it has low miles and I’ve put about half of those miles on and this sled it strictly for ice fishing so no wide open for hours.

Yea I don’t have those tools to check the tru degree. I just did two dowels and replicated the line from the one cylinder for the high and low spot to the other dowel and they’re spot on. From cylinder to cylinder for high and low setting.

 

[850Switchback]

I know why he did what he did, Polaris only sells the float as an assembly for $129 each. If you don't know where to source the parts, it gets expensive fast.
Parts Unlimited sells a whole rebuild kit for those carbs with all the gaskets & orings, Dennis Kirk has them usually in stock. I don't know if I'd trust the jets but it has all the gaskets for a full rebuild.

 

[Fordpickupjaybird]

I know why he did what he did, Polaris only sells the float as an assembly for $129 each. If you don't know where to source the parts, it gets expensive fast.
Parts Unlimited sells a whole rebuild kit for those carbs with all the gaskets & orings, Dennis Kirk has them usually in stock. I don't know if I'd trust the jets but it has all the gaskets for a full rebuild.

Thanks. Like I just told him in the text. I don’t care if it cost me 500 a carb. If it’s running right and I don’t have to be worried about getting stranded 14 miles out on an ice chunk at night by myself in no cell range I’ll pay whatever. I just need to get this thing running right and I’m selling it to by a work horse sled. I’ll have to see if I can find what you found.

 

[Fordpickupjaybird]

I know why he did what he did, Polaris only sells the float as an assembly for $129 each. If you don't know where to source the parts, it gets expensive fast.
Parts Unlimited sells a whole rebuild kit for those carbs with all the gaskets & orings, Dennis Kirk has them usually in stock. I don't know if I'd trust the jets but it has all the gaskets for a full rebuild.

Do you know what jets i would need and where to get them if you don’t trust the ones in those kits?

 

[850Switchback]

So here's where the problem starts, they don't list a kit for your specific sled. What they list is in the link below. Other problem is some of those original parts were custom for Polaris and are not available anymore, this usually pertains to needles.
Since you only use this for ice fishing, I'd just clean the original parts real good. Not like you are out doing long full throttle pulls with the thing across the lake where you really have to worry about fuel metering. If you want to do all the gaskets and orings, I'd just get a kit for a 02 500XC #1003-1507, the carb bodies are the same for all the 500's so the gaskets are the same.
Since you are likely selling it and replacing it anyway, you could just get the float orings from Cat and run it.

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[Fordpickupjaybird]

So here's where the problem starts, they don't list a kit for your specific sled. What they list is in the link below. Other problem is some of those original parts were custom for Polaris and are not available anymore, this usually pertains to needles.
Since you only use this for ice fishing, I'd just clean the original parts real good. Not like you are out doing long full throttle pulls with the thing across the lake where you really have to worry about fuel metering. If you want to do all the gaskets and orings, I'd just get a kit for a 02 500XC #1003-1507, the carb bodies are the same for all the 500's so the gaskets are the same.
Since you are likely selling it and replacing it anyway, you could just get the float orings from Cat and run it.

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Thanks for your input. I appreciate it!

 

[Fordpickupjaybird]

So i

So here's where the problem starts, they don't list a kit for your specific sled. What they list is in the link below. Other problem is some of those original parts were custom for Polaris and are not available anymore, this usually pertains to needles.
Since you only use this for ice fishing, I'd just clean the original parts real good. Not like you are out doing long full throttle pulls with the thing across the lake where you really have to worry about fuel metering. If you want to do all the gaskets and orings, I'd just get a kit for a 02 500XC #1003-1507, the carb bodies are the same for all the 500's so the gaskets are the same.
Since you are likely selling it and replacing it anyway, you could just get the float orings from Cat and run it.

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just cross referenced off the Polaris site. The 96-2000 is the round tube carb so not the same. The 500 xc has all the same jets except the main jet. The main jet is different on xc compared to the Indy.

 

[850Switchback]

I'm honestly surprised they are that close. You have the old Fuji 488 in your sled vs the XC has the Polaris built small block twin. These were the transition years to Polaris built engines

 

[Fordpickupjaybird]

I'm honestly surprised they are that close. You have the old Fuji 488 in your sled vs the XC has the Polaris built small block twin. These were the transition years to Polaris built enginesYea I pulled up the schematic and pulled part numbers for all of the jets. That 500 xc had I thinks 390 main jet. The rest is the same. I pulled my carbs apart and the guy did get everything nice and clean but the left float prong wasn’t even touching the side walls. The right one felt a little snug but I’m sure is on the way out. I’m ordering all new jets, seals and o rings. Hopefully she ran like before. Then the forsake sign hits her and order probably and skandic for next season. I have to do more research on names and models but that seems like the best fit for what I need to do with it

 

[Fordpickupjaybird]

I'm honestly surprised they are that close. You have the old Fuji 488 in your sled vs the XC has the Polaris built small block twin. These were the transition years to Polaris built engines

Yea I pulled up the schematic and pulled part numbers for all of the jets. That 500 xc had I thinks 390 main jet. The rest is the same. I pulled my carbs apart and the guy did get everything nice and clean but the left float prong wasn’t even touching the side walls. The right one felt a little snug but I’m sure is on the way out. I’m ordering all new jets, seals and o rings. Hopefully she ran like before. Then the forsake sign hits her and order probably and skandic for next season. I have to do more research on names and models but that seems like the best fit for what I need to do with it