1997 artic cat 440 zl... help - Snowmobile Forum: Your #1 Snowmobile Forum

llmMN · 10-28-2012, 12:06 PM

Have a 97 sled, ran great, did carb cleaning as everyone says to do.. regular maintance. Sled won't run now.. Not getting gas.... can dump gas into cylinders and it will run for very short time, cant keep it running. Any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated.

**BC_Dan** · 10-28-2012, 02:03 PM

Welcome to the forum!

First, is gas getting out of the fuel pump? Remove one of the lines and put the end into a small container, and with the ignition off, pull the rope a few times. There should be a few teaspoons of fuel in the container. If there's fuel, check the inlet needle/seats for sticking needles or floats that are stuck, not allowing fuel to enter the carb float bowls. If there's no fuel, there's a bunch of things to check. It could be a bad fuel pump diaphragm, a bad impulse line from the crankcase to the fuel pump, or a bad pick-up tube inside the tank. Once you have gas in the carbs, then you can do more troubleshooting.

good luck!

**kccats** · 10-28-2012, 06:19 PM

Welcome to the Snow Show! Have you drained the fuel tank? Try blowing into the gas tank. If you can with the fuel line off, the pick up may be gone! Good time to replace ALL of the fuel lines including the pick up in tank!

Roof_991 · 10-28-2012, 07:34 PM

make sure the impulse line is hooked up to the pump lol vot a heck of a deal on my 2000 powder special because they couldnt get any fuel because they forgot to hook up the impulse line.

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llmMN · 12-09-2012, 02:18 PM

Ok, got the sled running,,,, But now I can't seem to get the idle right. How much should the air screw be screwed out? Also for the Idle setting, where is a good place to start?

**RJ Gleason** · 12-09-2012, 02:34 PM

Air screw 1 turn out from bottomed and idle at 1800/2000.

llmMN · 12-09-2012, 05:08 PM

how do I get to that rpms for idle? Any ideas how many turns on the set screw for idle?

**RJ Gleason** · 12-09-2012, 09:56 PM

Look at the tach is t has one.
otherwise you will just have to guess where it sounds about right.

llmMN · 12-13-2012, 11:23 PM

ok, can get it to start with 2 pulls, now super fast idle with choke off, runs about right with half choke. Wondering what might be the problem, any ideas and help is greatly appriciated

**kccats** · 12-14-2012, 05:59 AM

You did start with cleaning the carbs right? Pay attention to the pilot jet (up in the tube)

llmMN · 12-14-2012, 09:14 AM

Yes carbs were cleaned, after they were cleaned.. this is when we started having problems.

**RJ Gleason** · 12-14-2012, 09:25 AM

Have you tested for air leaks?

llmMN · 12-14-2012, 09:26 AM

yes... no air leaks

**RJ Gleason** · 12-14-2012, 03:50 PM

If you back the idle screws out, does it slow down?

ZRTEETH · 12-14-2012, 04:38 PM

Are your throttle cables adjusted right? What I mean by that is, are the carbs synchronized? Make sure the carb sides are seated on the idle screw and the actual throttle cable isn't holding the slides open some. Does it try to stall out if you try to bring the idle down with the idle screws? If thats the case make sure the little magnets in the slide didn't fall out when you had the carbs apart. If they did the sled will run only on high idle but if you try to slow the idle down it will stall because the throttle sensor will not sence the magnets and kill the ignition.

**kccats** · 12-14-2012, 06:49 PM

Then go back into the carbs! Pay attention to the Pilots!

llmMN · 12-16-2012, 12:12 AM

Thanks everyone for the information. Its back up and running. Everyone is great here....

**kccats** · 12-16-2012, 06:11 AM

What did you find?

llmMN · 12-16-2012, 09:59 AM

All the problems,,,, cracks in gas line, carb that had bad seal, b/f that took carbs apart and didnt' keep track of where air screw was set, or where idle screw was set. Choke cable was apart. Had to resync carbs..... I did find out 1 thing.... never let b/f work on stuff...