Choke Cable

[eyemaster]

I have an Arctic Cat 400, it starts fine, once it is warm it does not idle well I am thinking the choke could be the culprit. Does anyone have first hand expereience replacing a choke Cable on one of these? Is it something that can be done easily?

[Dave S]

How old of a machine is it? Many miles? I know some of the Suzuki/AC/Kawi motors are very cold blooded and need to be at a normal operating temp before they run smoothly.

I used to have a Kawi KFX700 and although it's a totally different animal, the air/fuel mixture was off and needed a slight adjustment.

I would suspect your problem is either an idle adjustment, the air/fuel mixture isn't set right or you need a jetting change.

The air is far more dense right now and the jetting would be your first thing to check. Once you get the machine running for a little while, stop, pull out your spark plug and check the color. If the plug is black and/or wet, that means the machine is running rich. Gray in color will indicate a lean condition.

The color you're looking for is a cocoa brown. It wouldn't hurt to check your plug gap per your owners manual also.

[eyemaster]

it is a 99. I didn't use it all summer, I started it late this fall and it would not idle. I figured the gas was bad so I drained it and put in new gas. That didn't help, so I put some gumout in the tank and that hasn't helped. I went out and started it when it was really cold and it ran fine for about a minute than started running rough again. I took off the choke and that didn't change anything. I am assuming the choke is on and the cable broke....but Have not checked it yet.

[Dave S]

If it sat all summer, there's a good chance the carb will need to be disassembled and given a thorough cleaning.

If you suspect the cable might be broke, definitely look into that also. Move the choke lever and watch the carb to see if the cable moves at the carb.

Also, looking back at other posts, there was a guy with a clogged muffler that affected how his machine ran. Anything that restricts the normal airflow of the motor will have an effect.

By all means, do a quick check of your choke cable and refer to the other suggestions in my previous post.