Idling issue

[Hookmaster]

I bought my first snowmobile last spring, a used 1999 Polaris Indy Trail 2 up. Ran it around the yard some and it would not idle more than a minute without killing. I don't have a tach on it but it would be idling fine, then you could hear the rpms decrease, run a little rougher then kill. If I hit the choke a little it would stay running. If I hit the throttle it would bog and kill. Running around the yard was fine as long as I was giving it some throttle. Where do I start?

[Macgyver55]

Where do I start?

Pull the carbs and clean them. Also inspect the mounting boots for cracks.

[ccarlson]

Make sure when you pull the carbs and clean them with carb spray that you take a fine guage wire and poke it through the pilot jet of each carb. Then spray the jet again with carb spray. Sometimes the spray alone doesn't clear out the film over the jet opening and the wire will do the trick. I use the wire from a bread twist tie with the plastic/paper coating removed. I also keep one of these in my tool kit on the sled for any clogged carbs on the trail.

When you re-install the carb make sure the gas lines don't get bent or kinked which would starve it for gas flow of course. Not that this has ever happened to me

ccarlson

[Hookmaster]

I siphoned the old gas out and put in fresh and pumped the old oil (Fowler?) out and put in Amzoil HP Injector. When I started it and backed it out of the garage (love the reverse), it sat about 5 minutes before I rode it. It idled fine. Part may have been old gas, but the previous owner did put Sea Foam in it. The main thing is I haven't been letting the sled warm up before riding. Remember I'm a snowmobile newbie. Ran it again yesterday. I had to hit the choke a few times to keep it idling the first minute, then let it idle for about 10 minutes. It ran great. If I don't have any issues, I'll wait and clean the carbs at the end of the season.

[Esox_Magnum]

New plugs never hurt either, also take carb cleaner and spray around the carb boots and crank seal if you notice a change in RPM they need replaced. My guess is you had bad gas, I would have the carbs gone through for preventive, better to have them cleaned rather than stuck on the trail someplace broke down.