Good Morning. I have an '02 Kawasaki prairie 650 that I got from my father. He bought it new in 2002 and has never really ridden it. It has something like 4 hours on it. So I get to play with it. It starts after I charged the battery, however, it runs only if I have the choke on and will die out if I take the choke off. I am going to check the spark plugs and look at the carburetor to see if there is any crap in it and change the gas. Does anyone have any ideas or should I just take it to the shop to let them fix it. I would rather do it myself, but it has been years since I have worked on ATV's or motorcycles so it may take some time to get back into it. Thanks and Happy New Year!!!
Your carb jets are clogged. This is caused from the quad sitting around with gas in the float bowl. Running carb cleaner through it probably won't help as it won't idle at all. If your good with a wrench, loosen the manifold and airbox clamps, rotate the carb sideways. If it won't rotate far enough, you'll need to remove it.
Remove the floatbowl and both main and low-speed jets. You'll need to clean the holes in the jets, but don't force anything through them, (unless you have the proper jet bits). Try using a 'spray' carb cleaner to clean the holes. If they are plugged solid spray the cleaner into the cap, (becareful it doesn't spray back at you), and soak the jets for a half hour or more.
On a side note, if it has a foam air filter I would replace it. After sitting that long it'll probably be dry-rotted and start falling apart once your riding.
Your carb jets are clogged. This is caused from the quad sitting around with gas in the float bowl. Running carb cleaner through it probably won't help as it won't idle at all. If your good with a wrench, loosen the manifold and airbox clamps, rotate the carb sideways. If it won't rotate far enough, you'll need to remove it.
Remove the floatbowl and both main and low-speed jets. You'll need to clean the holes in the jets, but don't force anything through them, (unless you have the proper jet bits). Try using a 'spray' carb cleaner to clean the holes. If they are plugged solid spray the cleaner into the cap, (becareful it doesn't spray back at you), and soak the jets for a half hour or more.
On a side note, if it has a foam air filter I would replace it. After sitting that long it'll probably be dry-rotted and start falling apart once your riding.
Like stated above- you need to clean out the carbs. Most likely your pilot jet is clogged. You will have to take the float bowl off to get to the jets. The pilot jet is the small jet that is like imbossed/seat into the carb right next to the big main jet in the middle of the carb.
When you have the pilot jet out- hold it up to a light and see if you see through the jet hole. If not take carb cleaner/brake cleaner and spray through, if it is still clogged take the air compressor and blow air through it- it is brass so it wont hurt it- make sure you hang onto it though so it doesnt go flying.
If you dont feel up to cleaing the carb- I can do it for you if you wanna ship it to me for $40.00.
Most shops locally charge around 60-90 bucks. The process is not very hard but alot of people just dont feel comfortable doing it. If it helps you can take a after the bottom float bowl is off and i will point out to you what the parts are and what to clean good.
Thanks guys for all of your help. I took it apart and cleaned it out with cleaner and cutting torch tip cleaners. Put it all back together and then synced the two carbs. It runs great in the garage. Am going to take it for a spin tonight after work. Hopefully all will be good and I can take it out for some fun this weekend.
