Hello All

I have an '03 Summit. It seems to be a bear to start sometimes, especially when I get stuck on a hill and have to to shut it off to unbury myself. A few days ago in Willow it was about 10 below and it didn't want to start, but after numerous pulls it finally did. After it started it ran at high idle for quite sometime, then I noticed the water temp light come on. Man, I was nervous, didn't want to burn it up. I took it out into some powder and the light finally went off. Seem to run fine after that. Does anyone have any information on how to trouble shoot these kinds of things? Like at what temp does the thermostat open? Any ideas on making it a better starting sled or is that just the way it is for it. It has that DPM system on it. Well, enough for now. Thanks all!

yes please, do tell. my bros pro x overheated while we were out at sheep creek last weekend. we ended up pulling the thermostat and riding on. near the end of the day, it started overheating again. so we dumped some snow on the motor and waited awhile. in the dark, never been there. things could have gotten real bad. but we made it. as for the doo, install an aftermarket primer, and your cold start probs may be over. a while back, the recoil cord snapped from the pull handle, and sucked itself into the motor. maybe causing damage to the water pump belt?

Did you clean out the carbs this fall by any chance? Might be some gunk build up in there, never know. Change the plugs. Never owned a SD but my dad does. I don't work on it though, I have my 2 to worry about plus my mom's most of the time. And removing the thermostat helps in consistant cooling and running temps, it is just there for quicker warmups.

buddy of mine has a '01 summit 800...he had prob like yours took over 20 pulls to start and it just kept getting worse...we cleaned carbs no help...checked fuel pump, good.....messed with the choke circuits...fought it for weeks til finally we had to pour gas in one cylinder to get it to start....took it in to a shop a couple times, secound time they pulled the reeds and the rubber surrounding the cages was flaking off....he replaced the reeds with aftermarket ones and voila!!! starts in like 3 pulls now and is crazy fast....so I'd start by looking at the reeds and cleaning carbs...my $0.02

Thanks all! I have new plugs and did drain/clean the carbs etc. I might have to look into the reed area. I can't stand going out and it being such a bear to start. Lots of good things to look into, thanks to you all. Hopefully this week I can look into it....if work doesn't keep me too busy! Take it easy all.

Hutch

Hey Hutch, did you figure anything out? Just curious...Joe

Joe

Thanks for asking. Haven't figured anything out yet really. I did drain the carbs and cleaned them out. I called AK Mining & Diving service department about it. They said to keep the heat tube closed. They have heard that this may fix hard starts after the machine has been warmed up. Guess if you leave it open it has a tendency to evaprate the fuel in the carbs. I have not messed with the reeds. I am not that mechanically inclined with this stuff. I would wonder if I would have to mess with my clutching and anything else if I changed the reeds.
Also, haven't had much time to go riding to goof with it too much. Went to Willow side of Hatcher's in Saturday and it stunk. It was warm and not much powder to play in and trails were iced over. The temp light came on again, but after I got it into the powder (what was there) it went off. My buddies Polaris overheated and lost all of its coolant, had to tow him out. So far this year has been bad luck. Hopefully it will get better. Thanks.

Hutch

sorry to hear about all your bad luck....I'm sure it will get better for ya....reeds are pretty easy to change..the hardest part is getting the carbs out (a long phillips screwdriver is a must)...after that it is pretty easy...my buddy went with aftermarket and clutching is not an issue, you could go back with stock but the price is pretty close and the aftermarket is way better!!! I can't remember which brand he went with, but he did get them at Ak Mining.... hope you get it figured out, Joe