[AT] Bad Gas in my ATV wheelchair

Cecil Bearden crbearden at copper.net
Thu Dec 2 09:05:06 PST 2021


Steve.  I was in charge of a Trimble GPS survey system back when I was 
gainfully employed.  I had a favorite radio transmitter that worked 
great it was the first analog units they built.  I also had the newer 
digital I used for a relay unit for long distance.  I was out in the 
field one day and set up my system.   I was by myself and I had a helper 
the week before.  He had packed everything up.  I connected up my radio 
and it would not work.  I then looked very close at the battery cable 
markings and found that the digital unit cable was connected.  The  
digital unit had black as - and white as +.  Think "Earth" as 
Ground.....  the analog unit was made in the USA and was White - and 
Black +...   I had fried a $5K radio which as no longer available as it 
was 1 watt over the new limit on the GPS transmitters.    I tried to get 
it repaired and the entire unit was encased in epoxy and only one radio 
repair service would even look at it.  They called a month later and 
said come get it.....  This was why when I went on my own I refused to 
buy any Trimble equipment.   There were many other good survey equipment 
companies out there, but when they started getting a lot of business 
Trimble bought them out. trimble had the Government and military 
contracts and had the money to buy out the competition.   I have a Nikon 
total station that is one of the best units I have ever seen.  The 
optics are the best.   It uses batteries that are proprietary.  They now 
ave to be bought from Trimble.  They bought out Nikon...    I paid $2500 
for the total station.  Batteries are over $1000.  Befoer Trimble bought 
them out batteries were $200.....     Sorry for the rant.  After my 2 
days on this 4 wheeler, I am really not in a good mood....  I don't kow 
if it will go into limp mode with the warning light on or just keep 
running.....
Cecil

On 12/2/2021 6:15 AM, Stephen Offiler wrote:
> I work on plenty of Japanese and European stuff. At work, the CNC 
> machines are Japanese, and their barfeeders are German or Italian.  At 
> home, we have old Japanese dirt bikes and a Japanese tractor, and a 
> German street bike and car.  (Hey at least the old dozer and the new 
> pickup are American)
>
> Pretty consistent for industrial equipment, the Euro color code is 
> brown for (+) and blue for (-).  But on the German bike, brown is 
> chassis ground.  That's a bit confusing.
>
> I have not encountered much confusion with Japanese equipment; color 
> codes seem to be consistent either with USA or, less common, Euro 
> standards.  One thing I've NEVER seen is reversal, using red for (-) 
> and black for (+) as Cecil described.  I am wondering if that Chinese 
> assembly person was having a bad day and got them reversed internally.
>
> Final comment, seems like a LOT of people are pretty thin-skinned 
> these days, quick to anger and outrage.  That experience on the chat 
> forum doesn't surprise me.
>
> SO
>
>
> On Thu, Dec 2, 2021 at 3:54 AM 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
>     >
>     >
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