Finally got my old Arctic Cat to start after 3 days of tinkering

I swapped the carb jets and bumped the pilot screw a half turn richer on my 1999 Bearcat, and it fired up on the third pull after sitting all summer. Turns out the ethanol in modern gas had gummed up the bowl worse than I thought, and a simple cleaning fixed it. Anyone else had luck with running non-ethanol fuel in their older sleds?

2 comments

2 Comments

margaretf401d ago

Did you try running some Seafoam through it after cleaning? I've had good luck adding a bit to every other tank on my old Ski-Doo, keeps the gum from building back up so fast. Non-ethanol is definitely the way to go if you can find it around your area, it makes a huge difference in how long the fuel stays fresh.

shane_ross1d ago

Three full days of fighting with a carb and it turns out that ethanol was the real problem. I had the same fight with my 94 Polaris last fall, cleaned that bowl three times before I realized the gas station down the road sells the good stuff. @margaretf40's right about the Seafoam too, I put a splash in every time I fill up now. My only regret is not just draining the tank when I parked it last spring, would have saved me a Saturday and a lot of colorful language.