QuestionQUESTION: CAN YOU PLEASE HELP ME
I was given a Honda ATC200 so I thought as a project I would do it up with my son, Not being all that good with motors my father in law helped out we stripped the motor down to find the head with seised
Shortly afterwards he passed away and I was left with a bike and motor in bits. My son was heart broken as this was a project we were all doing together. So after sometime I took it to the shop and they re-built the head, new rings, lifters.
I took the motor home after spending $600 feeling a hole in my back pocket but happy to have the motor back in one piece.
But it didn’t start at all I took the carb off and cleaned it the best I could still no luck, so back to the shop and another $400 they rang me 3 weeks later to say the bike is going.
Got home and it wouldn’t start, so back on the trailer the shop replaced the spark plug and it went.
Wouldn’t idle and seemed really ruff but hey it was going that was the main thing.
Two days later went out to go for the first ride and no go.
Pulled and pulled on the pull start but wouldn’t fire, I checked the spark plug and found it was sooted up with black carbon and the plug was dry.
Cleaned plug checked for spark all good there so put plug back in, still wouldn’t go.
Plug seems dry like there isn’t enough gas going through
Pulled carb off again and re-cleaned it, float works there is fuel in the bowl, fuel is new, and there is no blockage in the fuel lines.
I’m totally lost is the problem the carb ? I have spark, fuel, spark plug is clean and seems dry. I understand that when I pulled the plug out the first time and found it was sooted up to hell and gone then it must be to do with the air fuel mix But seems it won’t fire at all I can’t even adjust this.
Can’t see or hear any air leaks, have good compression ( just as well seems head has been done with new rings)
Any ideas at all? Do I need to buy a new carb? Will this fix the problem? I’m way over budget now and could have brought the bike 3 times over for what I’ve spent.
Help please anyone
ANSWER: If the shop told you that the bike was going properly, I would go back to the shop and tell them about the problem, and that you need them to stand behind their work. Sounds like they took you for $1000, since those ATC engines are available used and complete for less than half of that cost... It may be time to find a new shop.
The problem may still be in the carb, you need to ensure that all of the internal small fuel jets and air jets are clean, this can be tricky on these carbs. A blockage of one of these will give you a wrong mixture at idle and above. The main jet is only used at higher revs and is rarely the problem.
Good luck, Jan
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: thanks for your help, I've cleaned the carb 4 times nows checking everything blown air through all the ports and it's clean but still no go. can't find a new or second hand carb anywhere. I've spoken to the shop and they have told me to buy one off ebay if i can and they will fix and tune it for me.
while there are hundreds of these bike in New Zealand parts are very hard to get.
after cleaning the carb the last time and put it back on the bike i got a fart from the motor but that was it. the spark plug wasn't very wet at all it had a little bit of petrol on the end but not much at all. so with fuel being ok, having spark, and cleaning the carb god knows how many times it looks like i need to get an after market one from e-bay and hope for the best.
thank you for your reply.
AnswerBlowing air through the carb orifices will not clean it. Typically the slow/medium jet clogs, and since they are normally very small (a few 10ths of a mm), they can be very tough to clean, even carb cleaners will not dissolve the old fuel. It is usually worth getting the Yamaha carb cleaner (thinned with water) and ultrasonically clean the carb for a few hours in a jeweller's ultrasonic. Find out what size the small jets are, then make sure a wire of that thickness goes through that jet. Then rinse the carb out thoroughly with fresh gasoline.
Good luck, Jan
