Polaris Carbon Clean VS seafoam

prdicon · February 24

My 2018 Polaris Sportsman engine operation feels jumpy when I ride. It happens when I am trying to keep constant speed and throttle is fixed position. ATV will misfire and feel jumpy. Not smooth..
Idle is good more or less. Will always crank up on first attempt.

I am thinking to start using carbon cleaner.

Any different between the Polaris carbon clean and Seafoam?

Polaris carbon clean
https://a.co/d/ee529C9

Seafoam

https://a.co/d/4h04dKk

**Gwbarm** · February 24

I was just watching a video on that, and Marvel Mystery oil beat Seafood on carbon removal, put into carb while running, another one I like to use is Berryman Chemtool. Never used the Polaris.

**Mech** · February 24

Are you sure your spark plug is good and set to the right gap ? That can cause symptoms like you describe.

So will the ignition timing being too advanced.

prdicon · February 24

Yes. Spark plug is brand new. Gap is accurate.

**Gwbarm** · February 24

Try using premium gas with a little fuel injector cleaner added to gas and see if it helps. Certainly won't hurt anything.

prdicon · February 24

Which one would you recommend.

I was thinking Polaris carbon clean or Seafoam.

**Gwbarm** · February 24

I haven't used either of those, I use the Berryman 1 oz per gallon , but as new as your machine is I would probably stick with Polaris Products, they are made for that machine, and see if they have a fuel injector cleaner. As new as your machine is carbon is probably not causing a problem.

**Mech** · February 24

I think it will be lucky if the symptoms, which sound quite pronounced, go away with an injector clean or a decarbon..

It would be interesting to know how quickly these symptoms came on, and what the circumstances were.. And what model this is exactly..

prdicon · February 24

More detailes:

It 2018 Polaris sportsman 570 efi. t

It will crank right up and idle no matter if cold or not, no matter if was sitting for one minute one day or two weeks..

But!! once you push the throttle to start moving is will stall. Forward and backwards.

When cold it happenes a little bit more frequent. But definitely happens when engine warm too.

Only in this case!

**Mech** · February 24

Oh. Those are different symptoms to what you first mentioned.. not unrelated though I think.

I'm not familiar with Polaris so I'll have to go read the manual.. haha. Do you happen to know whether this has a cable throttle or an electrically operated throttle down on the engine ? Just so I'm reading about the right thing.

It sounds like it's too lean, which they always are when you cruise along with a fixed throttle and light load, but that cutting out when cold sounds like really lean.. Injector cleaner might help, but only if the injectors are gummed up from stale fuel or sitting for a long time unused.

If it misfires when you are riding at fixed throttle and moderate loads, but doesn't set the dash flashing or anything, or set any trouble codes, I'd be suspecting a wrongly set sparkplug, an air leak into the inlet manifold or some small vacuum hose somewhere.. Maybe a tight valve.. That's what I'd be checking first.. but I'm a mechanic..

Try the fuel additive, it's easy and won't do any harm, and it might cure it.. Let us know if it doesn't.

prdicon · February 24

Thanks. When you say fuel additive, do you mean Seafoam or any other carbon clear (and fuel stabilizer).?

**Mech** · February 24

I'd say that if anything was going to help it would be an injector cleaner product.

I'm in New Zealand though and don't know seafoam or probably any of the products you might use.. We don't seem to have much trouble with our fuel here.. perhaps it's because we don't have the freezing conditions you do in some parts over there. The only additive we use here is for diesel..

Gw sounds like he's used some of the fuel additives..

prdicon · February 24

I have single cylinder 2018 Polaris sportsman 570. Spark plug is new with good gap. But I'll check again just in case.

**Mech** · February 24

Nah I got it wrong.. it was a 450 that had the different settings. A wrong plug can give those first symptoms you mentioned, but not generally the second cold start thing.. The plug with the wrong settings causes the problem because efi leans out the mixture when it's on a light fixed throttle, and then the spark struggles to ignite the fuel while it's weak. When the motor's cold though it should be getting a lot of fuel, and even a fairly wide gapped plug should work fine.. It is probably running lean all the time, not just at light throttle and speed. .. Have you taken the plug out and checked if it's white ? If it has vacuum hoses you should check them for splits..

I'll keep reading..

prdicon · February 24

As for the stalling when hit the gas. I believe it doesn't matter if it's cold or warm. I would stall anytime before move.

However, if I hold the brakes while keeping the gas a little bit pushed, and simultaneously release the brakes, it won't stall!

**Mech** · February 24

Ha.. That's a strange one.. And is probably a pointer to what's at fault.. but I haven't figured what ..

It's possible that that behavior is caused by the brake lights effecting the electrical system.. Perhaps if you try it with the brakes on but after disconnecting the brake switches wiring... It might lead us somewhere.

The other thing that should probably be checked is the fuel pressure..