[AT] Bad Gas in my ATV wheelchair

Thu Dec 2 08:52:20 PST 2021

Carl:  No way of getting the codes to reveal.  There is no dash display 
and the onbard diag is not there.   They did not build in the ability to 
flash the lights to reveal the codes.  A former Arctic Cat mechanic said 
this was the reason the dealership he was at dropped them.   $1800 for a 
diagnostic computer that only works on the VLX series.   Textron bought 
our Arctic cat a few years back.   Arctic Cat will go the way of the 
Oliver tractor......

Cecil

On 12/2/2021 10:47 AM, Carl Szabelski wrote:
> Try doing an online search on reading codes for you machine. Sometimes 
> people post work arounds for doing trouble shooting of codes.
>
> Carl
>
> On Thursday, December 2, 2021, Cecil Bearden <crbearden at copper.net 
> <mailto:crbearden at copper.net>> wrote:
>
>     I spent most of the day with that Arctic Cat VLX today.  It would
>     not start, so I took the fuel pump back out of the tank and found
>     that I had connected the wires backwards.  This has happened
>     before.  Europe and Asian electrical wiring use black for the
>     positive and other colors for the negative.  The US uses Black for
>     negative and Red for positive.   The new fuel pump was make in
>     China and it came with a plug that fit the new pump instead of the
>     spade terminals on the old.  When I spliced the new plug wiring in
>     I connected red to red and black to black.   I had to switch the
>     terminals in the plug.  Now it runs and seems ok.  However, it has
>     one idiot warning light that stays on.  When I researched the
>     service manual I found that it has to be connected to a Arctic Cat
>     Computer to check what is causing the warning light.   The
>     computer is only $1800 on Ebay or at Amazon...   When I said
>     something about that, The Arctic Chat forum Admin threatened to
>     remove me from their list and all previous posts.  I was told I
>     had an adolescent attitude because I didn't want to pay $1800 for
>     a computer to diagnose it or pay the dealership $12 5/hr with a 2
>     hr drive to get there...   If that is all it takes to get their
>     admin stirred up then I think they are too thin skinned for me....
>
>     Cecil
>
>     On 12/1/2021 8:22 AM, Cecil Bearden wrote:
>
>         I tore down the Arctic Cat 2019 700 VLX yesterday.  I bought a
>         lift table at a sellout of a cycle upfitter.  The fuel pump
>         suction strainer had disintegrated in the tank.  The tank had
>         some sticky red crap in the bottom that would not mix with the
>         gas.  I dumped the gas and mopped up the red stuff with
>         towels.  Then found that methanol would make the red stuff mix
>         with the leftover gas and pour out the tank. I think what fuel
>         was in it caused the fuel pump to liquify.  Then the
>         carburetor throttle plate was frozen.  I worked with carb and
>         choke cleaner and finally got the throttle shaft pulled and
>         the throttle shaft had the same sticky stuff.  This only had
>         maybe 10-12 hours on it if that much.  It has been sitting 2
>         years.  I never put anything in the tank but gasoline.  I try
>         to buy only premium unleaded no ethanol.  I buy from the same
>         place.   I have it nearly all back together and I tried the
>         starter and it fired with the little fuel in the fuel line.  
>         Now I have my 2012 Arctic Cat 700 with power steering to find
>         the problems. The power steering, 4wd, lights, fan all quit
>         working. I have checked all relays and fuses.  The fan was the
>         first to go then the power steering, then 4wd and last the
>         lights. Arctic Cat has become very hard to get correct parts
>         for. Textron bought them and now they are producing their own
>         brand of ATV and letting the Arctic Cat division go hungry. It
>         doesn't make sense, but I have 3 of them.  My first Arctic Cat
>         was a 2008 366 model.  i bought it when I first started
>         consulting and it was what I could afford.  I paid for it in 4
>         months, financed it with my credit card.  I bought that 2019
>         model when the 366 would not run above idle.   I bought the
>         2019 700 to use while the 366 was being worked on.  It took 2
>         weeks at least before the dealer would get it into the shop to
>         work on it.  When I picked up the 366, it ran good for about
>         30 minutes.  I put an Ebay carburetor on it and it would not
>         start.  When I was working on it I found all the rubber
>         connections on it were cracked and leaking.  Why the dealer
>         did not change these I don't know.  They charged nearly $500
>         to rebuild the carburetor. It turns out that the dealer I
>         bought all these Arctic Cats from is no longer an Arctic Cat
>         dealer. The closest one is over 120 miles away.   I had done a
>         lot of business with them for service over the years. I
>         messaged them about the problems I was having, and got the
>         response that they were sorry for all the problems I was
>         having.    So, I bought a lift table and will do all my own
>         work like I used to do. The last time I put a fuel pump in my
>         old 700, my back was killing me for days.  I have to be able
>         to work while sitting in a chair. now that i have tried the
>         lift table, it needs a little modifications on the safety
>         stops to get it at just the right height.  It works great
>         though, as it will run off a small compressor.
>
>         Cecil
>
>
>         _______________________________________________
>         AT mailing list
>         AT at lists.antique-tractor.com <mailto:AT at lists.antique-tractor.com>
>         http://lists.antique-tractor.com/listinfo.cgi/at-antique-tractor.com
>         <http://lists.antique-tractor.com/listinfo.cgi/at-antique-tractor.com>
>
>     _______________________________________________
>     AT mailing list
>     AT at lists.antique-tractor.com <mailto:AT at lists.antique-tractor.com>
>     http://lists.antique-tractor.com/listinfo.cgi/at-antique-tractor.com
>     <http://lists.antique-tractor.com/listinfo.cgi/at-antique-tractor.com>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> AT mailing list
> AT at lists.antique-tractor.com
> http://lists.antique-tractor.com/listinfo.cgi/at-antique-tractor.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.antique-tractor.com/pipermail/at-antique-tractor.com/attachments/20211202/ce9f0b6a/attachment.htm>