EFI and cold weather

Hi Guys,

I have a Arctic Cat 700 and a Polaris Sportsman 500. Both EFI. I’ve been stranded on the lake after dark with both machines different times this winter in sub zero temps. When I turn the key on prior to starting, I haven’t heard the “injectors inject”. I can crank and crank the starter, but without the pump fuel injecting, I don’t get a start. I have sea foamed my gas and made sure to buy new 91 gas, thinking that maybe I had water forming in my gas tanks, but it happened again with full tanks of new gas. Once I tow off the lake and stick it in a warm garage, no problems starting.

I’m gun shy to go out fishing now with an ATV unless its warmer out, which this winter means I’ve been watching lots of TV at night. Is this just a fact of life with a fuel injected ATV or am I doing something wrong? Time for a snowmobile?

Thanks

This is what I did t solve the problem for me and my Griz.

ATV

I have a newer kawi 750. There is a minimum rpm that has to be reached before the injectors are turned on. I had to get a bigger battery and change the weight of my oil to 0w40 synthetic. Still my starting limit is -20. I’m in the same boat. Either I get an older carbed atv, or a snowmobile that may or may not start on the cold.

Probably a low voltage issue. Have you tried using a jumper pack on the battery? Let it sit outside over night at the house and try starting it with a jumper, they are cheap and good insurance for your battery in cold weather.

Dr.
Search ATV not startng, check thread dated Jan, 8 2017.

With mine it was the relay getting cold. I found turning the key on and letting it sit a second and then pumping the throttle about 30 times worked for me.

Eeelpoutguy, great link to an old thread. ( I should have searched first.) I need to figure out where that relay is.
Are relays easy to pop out? I’m obviously not very mechanical…
Thanks guys!

I’ve packed hand warmers around my CanAm’s battery on the really cold days. Helps it keep the voltage up.

Dr. Pomoxis wrote:

Eeelpoutguy, great link to an old thread. ( I should have searched first.) I need to figure out where that relay is.
Are relays easy to pop out? I’m obviously not very mechanical…
Thanks guys!

LOL – I have no idea where the one is on my Griz.

I havent run my efi quads in severe cold. Only my carbed one. But both my current sleds are efi and they work fine in the cold. They may start then stop then start sometimes after sitting overnight in -15 or colder but neither has failed to fire up. I imagine the systems are designed that way more so on sleds.

In real cold weather, I’ve just always started my ATV every hour or so and let run for 10 minutes.

On the Polaris if you don’t hear the injectors pump it didn’t. I had this happen last weekend. Turned on the key and couldn’t hear it cycle. Just by accident I figured it out. trying to make sure the kill switch was in the on position I turned it to off then back to on with the key on and the pump ran and it started.

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but I assume your 91 octane gas is ethanol free?

I have a 2014 polaris Efi 550 X2 EPS that had continuous trouble starting in cold weather conditions.
After 3 yrs my local dealer finally figured it out.
There are parts of the fuel injection system polaris out sourced to different manufacturers that fail in cold weather.
There is something like 5 or 6 different electrical components that make up the system and I believe they switched out 3 with polaris made parts and haven’t had a problem since.
Parts are on the cheap side but labor is where it gets expensive.
My wheeler was out of its warranty but since I took the machine into the dealership each and every time for its reoccurring problem and scheduled maintenance they had a record of it and covered the cost of the repair otherwise I want to say it was going to be around a $400 repair.
Other than that electrical issue it’s a solid machine with no other problems.
Hope this helps!

Nick – that is interesting. Thanks. I’ll talk with our dealer and show them your post!

Resurrecting this slightly older thread. I have a 2012 Polaris Sportsman XP 550 and over the last couple yrs I have got stranded a few times when temps get below -15 degrees. Turned over fine but would not fire up. This year I got a new
Duracell battery from batteries plus and now the same thing happens when it gets to around 0 degrees. Tried turning the key on and hitting the throttle 10-20 times then trying to crank and nothing. Had to remove the battery and walk back to the pick up, drive home to recharge the battery then walk back out the next morning, put the battery in and fires right up. The 1st morning I had to do this it was -20 when I went out with the fully charged battery and it did not even hesitate, just fired right up. I now carry a booster with me at all times, haven’t needed it yet but now that I know it’s a battery issue that should be my fix to this problem. FYI when fishing I would start the wheeler about every hour and let it run 10-15 minutes which it would always crank over right away until the temps got down close to 0 then it would not fire up.

Polaris is notorious for fuel pump relays failing in the cold.

I hear ya on the relays but my wheeler sat on the ice all night at -20 degrees while I was charging the battery at home. Once the battery was installed the next morning it fired right up, you would think if it was the relay it would not fire up even with the fully charged battery.

I fish out of an 8’x6’ insulated Clam hub shelter. I own a 2012 Yamaha Griz that won’t pump up the efi in ultra cold weather. I simply put the machine under the shelter and crank the Big Buddy on high. In about 20 minutes she starts right up

Zach Poehler wrote:

I hear ya on the relays but my wheeler sat on the ice all night at -20 degrees while I was charging the battery at home. Once the battery was installed the next morning it fired right up, you would think if it was the relay it would not fire up even with the fully charged battery.

The fully charged battery simply had enough juice to get the relay to close. The night before, with a cold slightly discharged battery, it wasn’t quite enough voltage to jolt the sluggish relay into functioning.

I carry a spare relay in my pocket where it’s warm. Swap out the relay and the machine fires right up. Other thing one can do is remove the cold relay, warm it up with body heat or inside a shelter, and reinstall the relay. It will work just fine.

Right on, appreciate the info. I’ll get a spare relay and keep it in my fishing backpack.