Whats wrong with my sled?

[pikeprowler]

I have an 1986 Polaris Indy trail. I just had the carbs cleaned this last winter and it ran fine for about 100 miles than one day I was taking it across the yard and it up and quit running on me. It almost sounds like it's only hitting on one cylinder but I'm not very good with sled motors. Could the dealrship that cleaned the carbs messed something up or do you think theres somethin wrong with the float or jets.

[Leader]

it could possibly be a fouled spark plug, you could pull your sparkplugs and compare them, if one apeers black and sooted up that maybe the issue.

if the sled ran good when you recieved it from your dealer then i would guess they had nothing to do with whatever is acting up. sleds can be very high maintenance.

this is a long shot cuz it could be many things.

welome to fishing minnesota there are many of great outdoors people here that will gladly assist you.

good luck

[Knotwood]

Plugs are cheap insurance, keep several sets handy, there's always someone around who needs 'em at inopportune times. My brother's three cylinder XLT was bogging real bad, tried new plugs, lasted about five minutes before it acted up again. When he got home, pulled the carbs off, found out one of the main jets unscrewed and was laying in the bottom of the float bowl. Screwed it back in, never ran so good since he got it! What have you got and what have you found so far? Is it the same cylinder fouling out? How has it been running? My 500 Indy fouled plugs because I was towing some tiny tots around on a sled, and didn't get run hard enough to clear it out for about an hour. Rode several miles on some trails that I used to get air on, just kinda puttered along. Stopped, changed plugs, and yeehaw...

[cweinkauf]

1st, don't mess with the carbs. They usually are not the problem and messing with thme just makes it worse. I know you're not a moron but this is the number one fix for your problem. Make sure the gas is on. Plugs definately could be the problem. change em and check for spark. Make sure your carbs are getting fuel. Just disconnect the line from the carb after a couple pulls and if fuel comes out you're good. after that I don't feel confident telling you to do anything more. Take it to the shop and decide how much money you want to put into the sled. Keep in mind that you can get one ten years newer for $1000 or less. Good luck.

[efgh]

A twin cylinder snowmobile engine has a seal in the middle of the crank shaft case to seperate the pulse which is part of the fuel system, if any of the seals, end of the crank shaft. center seal or lower case are out, you have no pulse to run the fuel pump, check all the seals if you can;t find any thing else wrong. easy check for this is to put a vaccuum-preasure gague on the pulse line and watch the gague when you spin the engine over fast, the needle should alternate between preasure and vaccuum. good luck on your fix.

[hanson]

pikeprowler-

You said it up and quit on you as you were running across the yard. I will guess worst case scenario here and say you lost compression in one of your cylinders.

Do a compression check on the sled first. If you have good compression on both sides, then continue to check & clean your carbs, replace plugs etc. It could be a fuel pump, it could be the crank seals.

There are so many different little things that have to work right for your sled to run right.

[Bob Clausen]

Pikeprowler,

I see you are from west central, MN. I have a guy who does my sled work so cheap I don't even bother "playing" mechanic. If you want his name, email me at rclausen at prtel.com. He lives by Rush Lake if that's in your neighborhood.

bob

[Evenflow]

It sounds to me like a needle fell off one of the throttle cables. It happened to both me and my cousin last winter. Very easy to check, just unscrew the cap from the top of the carb and if the spring shoots out (be careful) then you've found your problem.