SRX won't start out of nowhere?

B

Bluetop 700

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Jan 29, 2019
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Ontario
Hey all, new here and needing some advice after some serious frustrations with my SRX. I've read many TY posts on starting issues but none are quite like mine.

Anyway, bought the sled running perfectly, about 147psi on all three, and no starting issues whatsoever. Around the end of October (3 months now) is the last time it ran and now it won't even fire without premix down the cylinders. I went out and bought six spark plugs thinking I'd fouled them all up... no results. I thought I'd run it out of gas and so I put in some fresh 93 octane; again, not enough a sputter. I then went ahead and pulled the carbs and found three clogged pilot jets, and I thought I'd found my issue along with a cracked fuel line I replaced. Everything reassembled again and... just as bad as before. Not even a cough without fuel down the cylinders at full choke. Can old gas affect more than just carb jets? Should I go ahead and order a fuel pump? It must be fuel system related but... could a pump just die in a few weeks of not being started?

I've been riding my dad's Polaris 800 Pro S a little too often. Getting frustrated with not being able to ride my SRX, I sold a perfect '95 Vmax 600 to get it that idled and ran like new. Wishing I had that old tank of a sled at the moment. Thanks.
 
Since you found a cracked fuel line. They are all probably bad. I would pull each line off to each carb and make sure you are getting fuel to each carb. Maybe the fuel pump has a cracked diaphram. It is definitely a fuel issue. Just for the hell of it, take off the gas cap and blow in to pressurize the fuel lines , to make sure there is not a partial vacuum in the tank. A cracked fuel line will pull air in instead of fuel, and is frustrating. Blowing in the tank might help find the crack. Dave-R
 
Have you checked for spark? Sounds like a stator/pickup coil issue. Fuel in cylinders will fire no matter what even if the rest of the fuel system is messed up unless you have no spark.
 
Thanks Dave, I'm going to be pulling each carb line and seeing that the pump is good, and changing all the lines while I'm at it. At this point I'm thinking of just installing a new pump for peace of mind anyway, but it seems like a fuel-system overhaul is gonna be the way to go then. Do you think that 93 octane would go bad after two months in a tank or would it be fine since it's lower ethanol? Fuel stabilizer is also on the list of things to buy.
 
There is spark for sure as it fires and runs until fuel down the plugs runs out. I've had my fair share of electrical issues on sleds, so I'd hope not.
 
Check the fuel pick up in the tank. Is your tank full? And don’t forget to check for cracks in your impulse line to the fuel pump. A bad fuel pump is pretty uncommon.
 
I pulled all three fuel lines off of the carbs and found that two of the lines would barely overflow on a hard pull and the new fuel line will get half full and then just stop? No amount of pulling seems to get the stuck fuel past gravity, so I think it might be the pump. Anyway, where is the fuel pickup located, and is there a way to shut off fuel? Tank is about 1/2 or 2/3 full.
 
I'm not sure as far as the fuel pump, it is kind of rare for them to fail but of course isn't impossible. I will say it is surprising how little fuel is pumped when just pulling the cord, that much I've noticed. I'd replace the lines and check the filter before doing a pump like the above folks stated.
As far as the ethanol fuel, around here we can find a few stations with non-ethanol premium. That's all I'll use in my sled, chainsaws, lawnmower, weedeater, etc. Then I can just put some seafoam in when they sit for a while and I haven't had an issue yet.
I've heard that the blue marine fuel stabilizer works much better when ethanol is involved, but haven't tried it myself.
 
unhook the pulse line from the fuel pump, its the line coming from the engine to the pump, put your finger on the end and have a buddy whirl the engine over a few times, you should feel suction, that's what operates the fuel pump. seen those lines wear a slight crack/hole in them and do exactly what your describing, if the pulse is weak going to pump, the pumps response is equally as weak. Pumps don't go bad very often
 
Bluetop 700 said:
Hey all, new here and needing some advice after some serious frustrations with my SRX. I've read many TY posts on starting issues but none are quite like mine.

Anyway, bought the sled running perfectly, about 147psi on all three, and no starting issues whatsoever. Around the end of October (3 months now) is the last time it ran and now it won't even fire without premix down the cylinders. I went out and bought six spark plugs thinking I'd fouled them all up... no results. I thought I'd run it out of gas and so I put in some fresh 93 octane; again, not enough a sputter. I then went ahead and pulled the carbs and found three clogged pilot jets, and I thought I'd found my issue along with a cracked fuel line I replaced. Everything reassembled again and... just as bad as before. Not even a cough without fuel down the cylinders at full choke. Can old gas affect more than just carb jets? Should I go ahead and order a fuel pump? It must be fuel system related but... could a pump just die in a few weeks of not being started?

I've been riding my dad's Polaris 800 Pro S a little too often. Getting frustrated with not being able to ride my SRX, I sold a perfect '95 Vmax 600 to get it that idled and ran like new. Wishing I had that old tank of a sled at the moment. Thanks.
Click to expand...

If my '01 sits for more than a month it requires 1, maybe 2 applications of pre-mix into the cylinders before the carbs will fill. As Don suggests, check the f/pump pulse line for chaffing/cracking. Also check the screens at the fuel inlet above the needle and seat on each carb.
 
Yep my srx is a speed run sled only and has the same issue where we have to apply premix down cylinders to fire. Even after replacing fuel pump lines and after i had the motor rebuilt from the crank up replacing reeds even. Thinking of trying the after market fuel pump replacement, if not well im done. We have notice the sled seems to want to fire more when its warm, so we will leave that sled in the trailer with heat going, and even still the sled requires applying some premix most times.
 
micorps said:
Yep my srx is a speed run sled only and has the same issue where we have to apply premix down cylinders to fire. Even after replacing fuel pump lines and after i had the motor rebuilt from the crank up replacing reeds even. Thinking of trying the after market fuel pump replacement, if not well im done. We have notice the sled seems to want to fire more when its warm, so we will leave that sled in the trailer with heat going, and even still the sled requires applying some premix most times.
Click to expand...

are you running race gas in this speed run sled? if so, that's why its hard to start cold.
 
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