Sleeping Hammerhead

[RLS_Underground]

So I've got a Hammerhead in my garage to work on (for a guy up the road) and My process is to look everything over and rule out the simplest small stuff before grabbing tools to go at it.

He said it's ran like absolute trash since day one off the trailer home, but ran great in the show room.

First thing I took care if was a mud wasp nest blocking 90% of the spark arrestor screen. The second was a fuel tank full of steel dust.

Has anyone seen anything like that before on a new machine?
It does have a steel tank, but I'm not talking about chips, or drill shavings.

I litteraly mean fine powdered steel dust all in the bottom of the fuel tank and plugging up the inline filter (meaning fine enough powder to get through the in tank filter)

I've flushed the tank, cleaned the in tank filter, flushed the inline filter out (will replace after it runs again)
It currently sits on a charger because the battery was dead.

[edit] Update: It has intermittent spark, I removed, trimmed and reinserted the HT; didn't help.
It has a resistor cap so Ill check to see if thats loose.
Any thing else specific I should check?

 

[panchothedog]

Get yourself a quart of your favorite whiskey and a 12 ga. shotgun and have some fun putting the thing out of its misery. Permentely. Tell the guy up the road it tried to bite you do it was self defense.

 

[RLS_Underground]

Get yourself a quart of your favorite whiskey and a 12 ga. shotgun and have some fun putting the thing out of its misery. Permentely. Tell the guy up the road it tried to bite you do it was self defense.

Have the 12GA and a wide assortment of ammo ranging from pepper to slugs... no whiskey though.

Seriously that bad?

 

[Thepartsguy]

Grabbing a new plug is simple enough. Test light the back of the keyswitch and find the kill wire. Disconnect that with a new plug and the fixed plug wire. Try to start it at night.. The sparks you might see arcing to the frame won’t help anything. I diagnosed a bad running 185 bayou by trying to get it started outside in the dark. frayed wires sparking everywhere.

 

[BaconBitRacing]

Have the 12GA and a wide assortment of ammo ranging from pepper to slugs... no whiskey though.

00 Buckshot is ideal for max carnage. Anything too tough can hit with a slug.

 

[Denny]

All I can suggest is clean the gas tank, filters and carb. Take apart and check all wiring connectors and maybe add a little dialectic grease. Then give her a try.

 

[RLS_Underground]

All I can suggest is clean the gas tank, filters and carb. Take apart and check all wiring connectors and maybe add a little dialectic grease. Then give her a try.

The intermittent spark issue, turns out the key switch is just janky enough that you can only turn it just far enough to roll the starter over... turn it till it stops, and there's no spark. I did put dielectric on both ends of the HT as well as in the cap.

I got it running after the second time pulling the carb apart and cleaning it out the steel sediment out of the bowl.

The main and pilot jets were both completely plugged by green brass corrosion/scum so while fuel was getting to the bowl, it had nowhere else to go since even the bowl vent and overflow was plugged up.

There's a small amount of sediment in the tank still, and the battery is toast but it starts quickly and runs good after sitting on a charger long enough to get it cranking over fast enough.

00 Buckshot is ideal for max carnage. Anything too tough can hit with a slug.

It runs good now, but he's been informed that he paid way too much for the biggest rolling turd Polaris has made to date (its an LE-150 if that matters any)

 

[Denny]

It’s a Polaris? New? Sounds like it was improperly stored. Those were great karts in their day! Worth a good buck these days. Not Honda odyssey money, but good money. They haven’t been made in well over a decade or 2.

 

[RLS_Underground]

It’s a Polaris? New?

Yes, 2022 (2023 model year) I provided an embedded link for a reason

Sounds like it was improperly stored.

After it started running like trash (gas tank full of anything ither than gas tends to do that) it got parked in a shed and when it wouldn't start it got left behind the house so definitely neglected.

It needs a new battery since this one doesn't hold a cranking charge for more than an hour after being ran, but it runs like new for now.

I did warn him it may act up again because I really didn't want to hose the tank out with water and stuff a hairdryer in it, but I got more than half the steel sediment out so it might not

 

[Denny]

I thought it was a Polaris manufactured kart. My mistake, they just bought hammerhead is all.

 

[BaconBitRacing]

$3499? That's highway robbery!

 

[ezcome-ezgo]

 

[RLS_Underground]

I thought it was a Polaris manufactured kart. My mistake, they just bought hammerhead is all.

I wouldn't have known it was a Polaris without spotting the Polaris sticker in the passenger floor pan

 

[RLS_Underground]

$3499? That's highway robbery!

He done decided after I'm done with it he's selling it .
It got its new battery, but I gotta tune the VC now that the exhaust has had the 4" catalytic core removed from tye header inlet

 

[Denny]

He better keep it and use it. He’ll be out too much money to get rid of it now.

 

[RLS_Underground]

He better keep it and use it. He’ll be out too much money to get rid of it now.

Not my problem, I'm get paid either way