I have a 95 sportsman 400 4×4 2 stroke it will crank but will not start. I have cleaned the carb and replaced the plug. its getting fuel and spark. I also replaced the 2 fuses to see if that would help. I let someone test drive it and it blew all the headlights and died. Will not restart. If anyone has had this problem please help!!! It will also backfire through the tail pipe from time to time when the choke is on.

Up in NH riding this past weekend. Climbing a hill, starting to notice that i’m giving much more throttle than normal, machine seems a little sluggish, slowly lose power, starts to knock and rpm drop to the point where the machine would idle fine, but would struggle to just move forward. Shut everything down, towed machine out and am now ready to start looking for causes.

Here’s what i have observed so far:

Machine will start and idle fine
No loss of coolant, no smoke from exhaust
No loss of oil
Nothing present in the oil(no gas or antifreeze)
No noise at idle, but once you rev throttle, a noticeable knock comes from the engine, heard most around the head area.
Does not appear to be a fuel issue, clutch is rotating fine, even revving throttle in neutral causes the knocking sound, so I don’t think the clutch or transmission is involved.

Has anyone taken down the head on a unit (700 twin) like this, and know of any issues i should look for?

I’m thinking it’s a valve/lifter/head issue, but the fact that i have not lost a drop of oil or coolant perplexes me.

Feel free to weigh in with thoughts on possible causes. I’m going to look to post a video with the sound it makes.

I developed an oil leak at the drain plug on the oil tank of my 2003 Sportsman 400.It was time to change the oil so I did and used the same plastic sealing washer cause it was very smooth and did not have any issues.It still leaked around the plug so I drained the oil again and put on one of the metal crush sealing washers but it still leaked at the plug.Drained oil again and put teflon tape on the oil plug threads and went back with the original sealing washer and torqued to 14 ft lbs.It still leaks about a minute after I put a little oil in the tank.The surface on the oil tank is smooth where the sealing washer goes and I can’t see any crack in the tank.Has anyone else come across this problem? I do not have a new plastic sealing washer but I have the metal crush ones.Any ideas or help would be appreciated.Thanks guys,Bill.

Hello. Could anyone tell me how to install a winch cover?? My son has a 2014 Polaris Ace & he had a small accident that broke the cover, so we bought a new one & thought it would be easy to install. Normally I can figure these things out but didn’t want to take things apart that weren’t necessary. Thanks for any help 😊

I just picked up a 2004 700 4×4 for a song.
the problem is it has an engine noise and I’m not sure what it is. it is a pretty loud knock and when riding it it is quite loud.
the history on this bike was that the last owner that had if said that the float would stick or something and it would flood out badly. it done this over and over and he kept using it.
after a while he got a Ranger and quit using this 700. he sent it to a shop to have it fixed and now it runs fine but when he got it back it has this knock.
I can’t tell if it’s something like a rod knock or of it would be something else.
with it flooding out so bad over and over could that have caused lower end damage to a connecting rod bearing? or could it be something else?
or am I better off taking it to a dealer to have it checked out?

looking for some ideas on what to do with it. I only have about $600 in this bike and it runs great other than the knock

Had my 2008 polaris sportsman 800 out today. Check engine light came on mid-ride so I could only continue. As I was giving it throttle I watched the rpms drop and the bike stall. Would crank but not run. Allowed it to sit for awhile and was able to limp it a few yards until it gave out again. Seemed like a fuel issue. Any help would be appreciated.

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Had my 2008 polaris sportsman 800 out today. Check engine light came on mid-ride so I could only continue. As I was giving it throttle I watched the rpms drop and the bike stall. Would crank but not run. Allowed it to sit for awhile and was able to limp it a few yards until it gave out again. Seemed like a fuel issue. Any help would be appreciated.

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Yesterday my wife and I had a chance to go out and ride on a nice autumn day. She hasn’t had a chance to ride since early spring and this was a nice occasion. It was quickly ruined by our 2012 Polaris Sportman 850 XP EPS. After about 30 miles into the ride the front diff began making a whining noise. I pull over and discover that both hubs are loose and the seal for the front prop shaft has a seeping leak. The rest of the day was ruined. We packed up and went home to begin researching the repair process.

This quad only has 2000 miles on it and it has been nothing but problems. Late spring the one way bearing went out in the primary clutch, in August the wheel bearings, ball joints and bushings all had to be replaced. Then the u joints went bad in the front prop shaft. Now this… I spent more time working on it then actually riding it this year. From what I hear I am not alone. The 850 is being traded in for a Yamaha Grizzly 700 and I am officially done with Polaris. The Grizzly layout is so much more repair friendly and most of the components are simple and you don’t have to buy assemblies for the one little part that wears out. Polaris seems to love selling a common wear component as an assembly only.

Yesterday my wife and I had a chance to go out and ride on a nice autumn day. She hasn’t had a chance to ride since early spring and this was a nice occasion. It was quickly ruined by our 2012 Polaris Sportman 850 XP EPS. After about 30 miles into the ride the front diff began making a whining noise. I pull over and discover that both hubs are loose and the seal for the front prop shaft has a seeping leak. The rest of the day was ruined. We packed up and went home to begin researching the repair process.

This quad only has 2000 miles on it and it has been nothing but problems. Late spring the one way bearing went out in the primary clutch, in August the wheel bearings, ball joints and bushings all had to be replaced. Then the u joints went bad in the front prop shaft. Now this… I spent more time working on it then actually riding it this year. From what I hear I am not alone. The 850 is being traded in for a Yamaha Grizzly 700 and I am officially done with Polaris. The Grizzly layout is so much more repair friendly and most of the components are simple and you don’t have to buy assemblies for the one little part that wears out. Polaris seems to love selling a common wear component as an assembly only.

Yesterday my wife and I had a chance to go out and ride on a nice autumn day. She hasn’t had a chance to ride since early spring and this was a nice occasion. It was quickly ruined by our 2012 Polaris Sportman 850 XP EPS. After about 30 miles into the ride the front diff began making a whining noise. I pull over and discover that both hubs are loose and the seal for the front prop shaft has a seeping leak. The rest of the day was ruined. We packed up and went home to begin researching the repair process.

This quad only has 2000 miles on it and it has been nothing but problems. Late spring the one way bearing went out in the primary clutch, in August the wheel bearings, ball joints and bushings all had to be replaced. Then the u joints went bad in the front prop shaft. Now this… I spent more time working on it then actually riding it this year. From what I hear I am not alone. The 850 is being traded in for a Yamaha Grizzly 700 and I am officially done with Polaris. The Grizzly layout is so much more repair friendly and most of the components are simple and you don’t have to buy assemblies for the one little part that wears out. Polaris seems to love selling a common wear component as an assembly only.