My Sportsmen 500 is down again.

[Yamahopper]

I hit the gas and get to about 15 to 18 mph and the engine bogs out, seems like the ignition just cuts out. I have checked the valves,carb is spotless,gas is good. The same thing happened about to years ago and I cleaned up the wires conections on the handlebars and it was fine, this time it did not help. It idles good and rews up good in neutral but can get down the road . Any sugestions before I give up on this machine? Seems like you work on these things more than you use them.

[jltimm]

You best go back to your name, and give up on polaris like I did years ago.I've been happy with my Yamaha's and Suzuki!

[rundrave]

check the etc (electronic throttle control) in my scrambler its right above the throttle, take the cap off there and see if everything looks ok.

Its just a guess but Ive seen this on alot of polaris models. Its basically a sensor that keeps contact but if the throttle cable were to break it shuts the machine down.

[Yamahopper]

Thanks I'll look at that because I have a feeling it is electrical.

[loosegoose]

Fuel filter?

[Macgyver55]

Its been quite a while since I saw it but several years ago I worked on a 330 Sportsman that had a bad connection in the fuse panel area. It caused the motor to act just like it does when it is in reverse where the rev limiter keeps the rpms low. It could possibly be something like this, or maybe it has a reverse sensor that is is sticking and it won't let it rev because it thinks its in reverse still. Just for the heck of it try hitting the override and see if it makes a difference. Not sure if any of this will help or not but who knows? Maybe you'll get lucky!

[Yamahopper]

Thanks for the ideas, here is where I am at. Pulled the fuel line after the filter and ran gas into a jar on both researve and on position. Good flow and clean. I did notice that when the machine is in forward gear and I pushed the reverse overide that the reverse indicator would light up. Maybe the switch is shorting out? Also awd light works intermitingly. I am not great with electric systems , so I bit the bullet and took it to the shop. Should find out later in the week.

[RePete]

I've had the fuel pump clog and cause a condition similar to what you mentioned. It appears that there is clean gas and flow, but when it starts to draw fuel under load the clog will impede the flow enough to cause some stuttering.

I carefully split the pump apart (there's a rubber gasket), and spray it clean with carb cleaner. If you play in the dirt some of it can get in there.

Hope it's cheap whatever the problem.

[Greg T]

Is the 500 one of the models that can have the premature cam wear? A friend of mine had similar problems but I don't remember what size wheeler it was. Anyways the cams weren't getting enough oil and wore out.