98 trailblazer 250 wont start.

[nate650]

Well lets start from the beginning. My sister was riding her trail blazer though a big mud puddle and it sucked up some water. After cranking on it for about 45 minutes it started up but ran realy crappy. It was really hard to start and once you got it running it didn't want to stay running. once you got the rpm's up a little it ran fine so we rode it like that for about a week. Then it wouldn't start without priming the carb with some raw gas. Now it won't start at all. It's getting spark, the plug looks good, I cleaned the carb out and blew the jets out, drained the gas and put fresh in but it just wont fire. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[2fun]

Can anyone help this guy out?
I have no experience working on the Polaris quads.

[CLM]

You might try draining the float bowl, It might have water in it.

Chris

[nate650]

I have taken the whole carb apart and cleaned all the jets and still nothing. I changed the plug just in case and notta. I pulled what I thought could have been a crankcase drain and nothing came out. I thought it might be the air filter but nope. Like a said its getting spark and it's getting fuel so I don't know what else it could be. Timing maybe?

[2fun]

What about the stator/magneto?
Is that area clean and dry?

[Woody_YZF]

Have you done a compression check? I'm wondering if your due for a rebuild??

[hardlydangerous]

The drain on the bottom of the engine is likely the counter balancer oil drain. You should have oil coming out of that plug. Check that out

This is one of my biggest beefs with the polaris lineup, poorly designed systems. The ignition is in behind the re-coil like a snowmobile and is not sealed up very well other nor is the starter sealed, so anytime you run it through water you must pull off the skid plates and remove the drain screw fron the starter/case to allow the water to run out. If you don't dirt and water will kill the ignition. I would pop off that cover and clean the igniion with some electrical contact cleaner.

Also the vent for the carb is often routed into the case behind the re-coil. If this is plugged up solid fuel can not enter the carb. if it's only 1/2 blocked the bike will sputter and bog out at high rpms. It's best to cut the vent line and just let it hang down like a normal carb then plug the inlet into the case.

Check the compression, if it's low it's not going to start very easily

Also check to see if it's getting spark with the throttle open and closed. I know some Polaris quads has a throttle over ride safety switch

[Desert Rat]

Hardly doesn't post much, but when he does he is right on the mark! I would do as he suggest.

[2fun]

Originally posted by Desert Rat
Hardly doesn't post much, but when he does he is right on the mark! I would do as he suggest.

Yep. I have to agree!