Grizzly cold weather starting?

[lancer]

Hello all,

I have a 2003 Grizzly with about 500 miles on it. I have owned the machine since new and it is well taken care of. The problem I run into is when I want to use the machine in temps below 10 degrees. It has always been hard to start. New battery/plug this year and its no different. Using the pull start is not an option either as the compression rips my arm off. I wonder if my choke is not operating properly or what the deal is. My honda rancher has a primer bulb on the carb along with a choke and it fires up evrey time. I am leary of using starting fluid as I have read it can damage a motor.

Any thoughts on what to do?

[LMITOUT]

Have the valves ever been adjusted?

[Guest]

I have an 03 kodiak and mine will start at -40(ok, only tried at -38). I never had starting issues, but I have heard of others who have.. as with all atv's I guess. On my machine I just turn the choke all the way up and I have never had it take more than 1 second to fire.. even when I lived in the northern part of the state where it was too cold for a penguin.

It might be a easy as slightly ajusting the lean on your carb, or possibly pumping the trottle once how its set now.. It could make it worse or better. My guess is something is slightly out of ajustment. You should be able to disconnect your air cleaner and look at the choke butterfly to see if ts closing all the way.. if it doesnt, that would be a problem.

What oil do you have in yor machine? You might have better results by going lighter with the oil.. its hard to turn over molasses.

[Haug Hunter]

I have an '02 and when its really cold what seems to work best for me is to back off to about 3/4 choke and hold the throttle a little while starting, then you have to hold the throttle a minute or two until it will ilde smoothly on its own.

[outdoor charlie]

I also have a 2003 Grizzly and when the weather gets cold I have to switch over to a higher octane gasoline. I also have fairly low miles on mine and I believe the regular gas gets stale very fast making for hard starting in cold weather.

[Uncle Bill]

I have a 02' grizz 660 and I have the same problem.

If I even touch the throttle it will flood.

Just full choke and let the starter crank away till it starts.

The valves were adjusted at 20 hours.

There are only 40 hours on this machine (136 miles)

Mabey there is something I/we are doing wrong ??

Mabey something out of adjustment ??

Mabey run higher octane as Charlie suggested ??

I use 5-30 oil. Yamalube or Honda.

[icecold]

Check to see where your fuel mixture screw is sett ,it is located under the carb in front of float bowl, it is hard to get at unless you have a special screwdriver or rotate carb to gain access, should be out 3.5 to 4 turns for winter use, They are set real lean at factory, they will idel smoother and start better if readjusted

[icecold]

I also forgot to say that make sure air filter is oiled real well with filter oil, a dry filter will not have as much vaccum to carb when crankin over the engine, it will also make your engine run leaner if filter is not oiled properly. good luck

[LMITOUT]

I ran into the same issue this weekend when the unit sat out in the cold temps on the lake. I'm hoping some thinner oil will help. I doubt that adjusting the fuel mixture will matter in this case since it barely turns over. It'd be one thing if it was cranking over fast but not firing, but this is hardly rolling over with the starter and I'm guessing the battery is cold and the oil is thick as honey.

The joys of a big single cylinder engine!

[lancer]

I ran my machine into the dealer on Friday to get ready for my fishing trip Saturday as I knew the temps would be sub-zero. They put a low weight synthetic oil in and checked the carb and battery out. I picked it up and headed on my fishing trip early Saturday, hopped on the seat and NOTHING! Maybe it was just too cold, my friends mid 90's honda fired right up and so did my rancher I was letting a friend borrow, another friends mid 90's Polaris also ran. One of the guys with us had a 2005 Grizzly and his would not fire up either. Needless to say I am frustrated.

[Scott K]

I have an 04 grizzly, and as some of the others have posted, if its not starting for you there is something that is just a little out of adjustment.

1. If it turns over hard, and when you are running a big bore single cylender engine they do, a thinner oil is needed in cold temps, follow the reccommended oil guide in your owners manual for temps. The battery could be weak, have it tested. The ground cable could have a bad connection, the power wire to the starter or to the battery could have a bad connection, clean and tieghten. The starter could be bad, check starter draw, how many amps does it draw?

2. If it cranks over good but doesnt start, is there fresh gas in it? The valves on theses things tend to self tieghten, get them adjusted! If it has been sitting awhile, and as some of you have stated your machines are 3-5 yeary old and have very low miles on them, take the carbs off and clean them thoroughly, check the choke operation, adjust mixture screw aliittle richer for winter. Clean and oil air filter with air filter oil, engine oil doesnt work. Replace spark plug. And as long as you have good compression in the engine you shouldnt have any problems all year!

These are all things that should be done every season, once a year!

I will change oil in mine 2 times a year, winter oil, summer oil. Do some light adjustments on carb. Check over the entire machine, brakes, wheel bearings, tires ect. and repair anything that wore out or that I broke during that time,if you do this you should have a very dependable machine, and worry free riding, or atleast a much better chance of it! Good luck, keep it safe, and ride on!