ran out of gas,won't start

[ratherbefishin]

I have a Polaris 600 Sportsman and  foolishly ran out of gas on my moose hunt[we had a bull down] thought it would be a simple matter of tanking up-which we did-but the quad simply won't start-it will cough occasionally, but won;t run.Whats wrong?

[Ranger99]

i would guess most likely the main
problem with 21st century small gasoline
engines. water and/or trash in the fuel.
if it was running fine before it ran out of
fuel, and the only thing you did different
was refuel, it's the fuel.
either the can of gas was contaminated,
or when you ran it out the accumulated
moisture and trash at the bottom of the
tank sucked up in the carb and gilflirted
everything.
most all small atv and motorcycle carbs
have a bowl drain screw at the bottom of the
fuel bowl. open that up and let it drain
a good bit out with a tank of known good
fresh fuel. hopefully that will solve what
problem you have. i hope you have not
sucked some trash up in the teeny passages
of your carburetor. if so, it will have to be
removed and blown out with an air compressor
and blow gun and washed out.
modern gas does not store very well or very long
and you would be well served to only top off
with fresh gas every time. there are the rare times
even gas fresh from the pump is bad.


hope it will be a simple fix

[Dave in WV]

Try another spark plug. Don't ask me how I know to try one.

[ratherbefishin]

Yes,it was running fine until it ran out of gas.I wondered if there is a fual filter[I'm technically challanged] One of the problems is its extremely hard to work on,everything is in such tight quartersI'd take it to the dealer but I have no confidence in him and the garage maechanic I found who did work on quads changed jobs

[Ranger99]

you'd have to verify, but as far as
i'm aware, most atv's and the like
don't have a fuel filter per se, but rather
an internal screen on the petcock fitting
inside the tank to prevent larger grit and
dirt from entering the carb. you can disconnect
the fuel line at the carb and turn on the fuel
at the petcock and check to see if fuel is
properly running out, or if it's just barely a
trickle. you may want to check with a new plug
as suggested to see if that is it. i'll say
right up front i have no polaris experience.
i've worked on many a honda and yamaha.
on my hondas, i've never had to replace a plug.
if it were a two-stroke i'd be inclined to go
along with that, but i'm hard pressed to see
how running out of gas on a four-stroke
would ruin a plug. although this may be
par for a polaris.


good luck with it

[Bugflipper]

 
 Most folks don't use stabil and they have old gas that gums up in their tank. When they switch to the reserve portion where all of the gummed up varnish has set for years it is fed into the carb and clogs the jets. If it's not to bad you can usually tap on the carb a little with the handle of a screwdriver or something similar that will not damage it. If you can get it to run with your choke open all the way then often you can put in some carb/injector additive and let it work itself out by driving it. If not then you will have to clean out the carb. A see through filter is good to have on them. I've never seen an atv with a fuel filter besides diesels. It's also good to run a fuel stabilizer in them if you don't use up most of the tank every season. If you don't then it will be a lot more expensive in the long run. The ethanol fuel is worse for gumming up than pure gasoline was. I've been using that blue stabil for that lately and it's been doing pretty good. Even with that if I don't use up the whole tank in a year with whatever it is in, I will drain it and pour it in a car to get rid of it and start over in the small engine.

[Old Syko]

Not enough information and a bunch of possibilities.  Most likely the fuel system is plugged up somewhere.  If this is let's say a 2004, there is a fuel valve mounted to the bottom of the tank.  The line can be removed from the valve, the valve turned on to see if fuel flows freely.  This would mean everything from the valve back to the tank was clear.  If not remove plumbing from the tank and clear all with compressed air.  If fuel flows freely from the fuel valve the next step is carb removal and disassembly for cleaning.  This is all dependent on the use of proper fuel for the refill and the determination that the electrical system and ignition system have all been checked and found in proper working order.  These preliminary checks should be made first to avoid a lot of wasted effort.  Plugged carbs aren't unusual.


Most larger quads not only have fuel filters but fuel pumps, usually electric, and fuel injection is now quite common.   Fuel tanks are below the seat in many cases and what appears to be a conventional fuel tank actually contains the airbox.

[Empty Quiver]

If the thing is fuel injected check the manual to see if there is some sort of procedure in case it is air locked or something. Can you tell if any fuel at all is getting to the cylinders? If it sat a long time with the key on and trying to make fuel pressure it might just have burned up the pump (aint I just a little ray of sunshine).
 
Being as how it ain't mine here is a trick I use on small engines. Take the air filter out and spray WD-40 down the air intake, while cranking on it. The propane propellant will burn and let you know immediately that fuel is or is not the problem. Don't get stupid here just spray enough to figure out if it's the problem. I don't like to use ether on engines so I started using the WD 40, as I figured it was safer than a coke can full of gas, I decided it was pretty handy, YMMV.

[Ranger99]

thing is, if it is a carb, trying to make it
run with trash in the bowl or fuel supply
only makes things worse.
if it is known there is contamination, one should
drain the bowl and tank, not try to run it through.
the vacuum of the engine only serves to wedge
trash and particles even deeper into teeny
air bleeds and passages, and the more you
turn it over trying to get it to catch, the worse
it will get and the more difficult it will be
to clean out.
a friend always does that when buying a
used mower or outboard, and invariably we
have to spend half a day with an air blow
gun trying to clean out the passages in
the carb.

[wareagleguy]

Not sure about that model but several ATVs with carbs have a primer on the side of the carb.  Look for a button that my looks like a choke knob. If you see one pump it in several times.

[Rex in OTZ]

On Polaris the carb bowl drain is a bugger to get to (get a good flashligh and be prepaired to do some digging to find it, crack open the bowl sump drain and purge out the gastank bottom Krap that flowed in there when you ran out outta gas.
 
On really old Polaris ATV's the "2-cycle ones" there is a pulse driven fuel pump.
 

On newer Honda ATV's with EFI, the electric fuel pump takes a beating running dry, I know of larger yamaha 4 stroke outboards that the electric fuel pump actually runs dry and sends bits of rubber down the fuel injector lines eventually clogging a fuel injector, which lean's out the fuel to that cylinder and burning it up the cylinder, same for snowmobiles.
 
Its best practice to start the season with a clean fuel tank, empty it dry by siphoning and swabbing dry with rag and a length of wire, pick out any foreign objects (plastic caps, disc's and fuel spouts) you'd say OMG how did that stuff get in there!! , when finished add fresh gas, top off fuel tank AFTER each ride.