Hi fellow AC riders! First time poster here! I'm sorry that my first post is a request for help. Here's the scoop:
My riding buddies and I went to the "Sunday at the Park" event at Carolina Adventure World on 4/01. It's was a great ride. Man it was packed! Anyway, we rode throughout the morning and part of the afternoon with no issues. My 400 was running great. Out of the blue, she backfired on me and I lost power. I pulled over and poped it into neutral. She wouldn't rev with the throttle. The engine would only sputter and bog down, kinda like the choke was hung. I cut it off and started checking a few things. The oil level was perfect. The choke cable seemed to engage/disengage just fine. The air filter was a little dusty, but it didn't appear to be enough to hinder the air flow. I went ahead and drained a little fuel from the carburetor float bowl in case condensation had built up. I didn't remember the fan running, so I checked the fan fuse, but it was good. I didn't remember noticing the temp light coming on either. After not finding any obvious problems, I cranked her back up and she ran fine and rev'd fine with the throttle. I rode it up and down the trail a couple of times with no trouble. The guys said it was probably just a fluke, so we took off again. After another 10 minutes, the same thing happened - backfire, then loss of power. I pulled over and cut it off again. We tossed around some ideas among us, but we couldn't find a clear cause for the symptom. None of us had tools other than our standard atv kit. I cranked it up after sitting for 10 minutes or so, and it ran fine, so I took off for the parking area. She died once more on the way back, so I opted to let my buddies tow me. On the drive home I began to think it she could be overheating. I don't remember the temp light ever coming on, or the fan running. Could the cooling fan switch be bad? Would it prevent the fan from running and the temp light from coming on too? Or do you think it could be something else? I'd just take her to my local dealer, but they are 2 weeks plus behind with the riding season coming into full swing right now. Plus, my riding buddies just invited me on a trip to WV in a couple of weeks. I hope to get her back in shape in time to make the big ride. I thought somebody on ArcticChat may know exactly what's going on.
Thanks in advance for your help!
Woodbutcher
My riding buddies and I went to the "Sunday at the Park" event at Carolina Adventure World on 4/01. It's was a great ride. Man it was packed! Anyway, we rode throughout the morning and part of the afternoon with no issues. My 400 was running great. Out of the blue, she backfired on me and I lost power. I pulled over and poped it into neutral. She wouldn't rev with the throttle. The engine would only sputter and bog down, kinda like the choke was hung. I cut it off and started checking a few things. The oil level was perfect. The choke cable seemed to engage/disengage just fine. The air filter was a little dusty, but it didn't appear to be enough to hinder the air flow. I went ahead and drained a little fuel from the carburetor float bowl in case condensation had built up. I didn't remember the fan running, so I checked the fan fuse, but it was good. I didn't remember noticing the temp light coming on either. After not finding any obvious problems, I cranked her back up and she ran fine and rev'd fine with the throttle. I rode it up and down the trail a couple of times with no trouble. The guys said it was probably just a fluke, so we took off again. After another 10 minutes, the same thing happened - backfire, then loss of power. I pulled over and cut it off again. We tossed around some ideas among us, but we couldn't find a clear cause for the symptom. None of us had tools other than our standard atv kit. I cranked it up after sitting for 10 minutes or so, and it ran fine, so I took off for the parking area. She died once more on the way back, so I opted to let my buddies tow me. On the drive home I began to think it she could be overheating. I don't remember the temp light ever coming on, or the fan running. Could the cooling fan switch be bad? Would it prevent the fan from running and the temp light from coming on too? Or do you think it could be something else? I'd just take her to my local dealer, but they are 2 weeks plus behind with the riding season coming into full swing right now. Plus, my riding buddies just invited me on a trip to WV in a couple of weeks. I hope to get her back in shape in time to make the big ride. I thought somebody on ArcticChat may know exactly what's going on.
Thanks in advance for your help!
Woodbutcher