I bought my dad a 1997 Indy Widetrack LX for Christmas. Is has the 500 liquid engine.

I'm having a problem with it flooding during warm starts and some cold starts. When it is cold is starts fine with the choke, but if you give any gas at all it will flood out and not want to start. Same deal with warm starts. It's very finneky an the slightest touch to the gas will result in you having to let it sit for quite a while or you have to pin the throttle to get it to start. I'm assuming my problem is carb related but I'm not sure where to start.

Suggestions?

Thanks in advance for the help!

clean the carbs and make sure you pressure check the needle/seat.
chances are one, or both, are leaking.

synch the carbs and set throttle lever free-play.

put a ne belt on and set belt deflection.
run the belt tight for a good hole shot.

Being that is a widetrack, I don't think he is too worried about a holeshot, but thanks for the rest of the advise.

What do you mean by pressure check the needle/seat?

Just put new needle and seats in it.Most 97's and 98's go bad for some reason. You can get them from dennis kirk or HPE for lot less than from polaris. Are you sure it's flooding out ? usually if the needle and seats are leaking it will wet foul the plugs and you probably wont't ever get it started again without drying the plugs or puting new in. try blipping the choke up as you pull away from a stop, could be lean. the 500 fuji was very cold blooded from a stop till fully warmed up. You could shut the gas off as soon as you stop the sled after riding it and see if the problem happens when you restart it next time(turn the gas on right after it starts)

Well I'm assuming its flooding just based on the fact that if you give it any gas when warm it won't start and you can smell the gas. Also when you pull the plugs they are soaked.

Just so I am clear, the needle you are refering to is not the main needle that slides up and down when you open the throttle, but the small spring loaded needle on underside the carb that you access by removing the bowl, right?

I don't think it is lean because won't the plugs be white if it running lean?

it's a good idea to pressure check the needle/seats after
installing them to make sure they hold pressure.
i've replaced many that did not hold.

use a pressure gauge like the one shown here,
http://www.atlanticjetsports.com/tools__carburetor_tools.htm.

use steel tip, not viton tip needle/seats.

also make sure carb synch and throttle lever free-play is correct.
not havng these set correctly will definitely cause a bog.

the needle/seat i am referring to is #13 in the pic:

Ok, thats the needle / seat I thought you were refering to. Thanks for all the help, I should be working on it this weekend.

Couple of quick questions.

The main needle on the slide. Where should that little e-clip be on the needle. I though the stock settings were right in the middle, but in these carbs it is one click up on the needle. I'm not running at high elevations and I'm assuming it should be in the middle?

The air screw, where should that thing be positioned? It was maybe 3/4's of a turn out, but I have stuck in my head from somewhere that is should be around 1 1/2 turns?

There is a short hose coming off the bottom end of the bowl that is capped at the end? What the hell is that for? I've never seen one.

Thanks again for all the help, this is a great forum.

also just for informational puproses, the main jets are 195's.

You should also check float levels and choke adjustments.

after a through carb cleaning and replacing the needles / seats the machine is running well and hasn't had any problems with flooding


thanks for all the help!