[Familyfirst]

Hello. I have searched as a noob should with no avail! I own a 1998 XC 600 with a little over 600 miles on it. The sled runs, rides and drives perfect! However when the temps go below 15f I can pull and pull with no start. 15-30 pulls and nothing. It does sit outside in the elements. This sled is like new! Now when I put it in a heated area she starts right up after 30 min or so on the second pull. Recently it was in the back yard and I could not get it to a heated area, so I put a propaine torpedo heater above the engine bay and blew the heat at the top of the engine with the plugs out. After about 10 minutes she fired right up (there was no wind thank goodness)! When pulling in the temps below 15 I can see that the plugs are wet and a little black and wont fire at all. But those same wet plugs fire right up after a small amout of time with the engine exposed to heat. All help is much appreciated in advance! Thanks for the help.
Cheers, Rick

 

[novaman72]

from what i think it would be water in your gas and it is freezes

 

[Familyfirst]

Thanks for your reply. It has fresh gas and stable it does this every time the temps drop below 15f. A little heat and she fires right up. Just a pain if I take it on a trip and I don't have options for heat on the motor

 

[69CRUZR]

thats just not right. I have the same sled and its a 2 pull sled max no mater what the temps! How does it run once you get it fired up? Sounds like possibly a faulty coil or something, Ive heard something about these coils (CDI) (which are stupid expensive and not very common) cutting out at certain temps before they all out quit. I would investigate why it does it!

 

[Familyfirst]

She runs like new when started!

 

[dominator_28]

i had the same issue last year was hard to start after a few tons of pulls or in garage it started
what i found was had gumed carbs and fuel at cold didnt flow right after cleaning tune up wow no worries starts great

 

[BC_Dan]

I would first be looking at the enrichment plungers in the carbs. It could be that the plungers are sticking and not opening completely to let extra fuel in when you activate the choke lever.

 

[Skid]

next time try this....unscrew and remove the slides in the top of the carbs and dribble a teaspoon of gas in each carb, then reassemble them and try to start it. If it's carb/fuel related it should fire right up.
Chances are that it's just not getting enough enrichment to fire at colder temps and probably needs some carb work.