I recently had to relearn something I already knew.. Bought a 2008 Yamaha 350 ATV that was in nearly perfect condition and had obviously spent most of its life sitting in a garage. Guy told me it had just been fully serviced by his "really good and cheap" mechanic and was good to go. It seemed to run fine so I just assumed it was all good. Fast forward to the next day and its very hard to start and acted flooded. After I shut it back off fuel was running out of the airbox drain. Needle was stuck open and was dumping gas into the motor. Oil way over full.
Got a real Mikuni carb kit and rebuilt the carb. The 'mechanic' hadn't rebuilt the carb he had just blown some carb cleaner through it to get it to fire. Needle was bad and there was a ton of trash in the fuel inlet/under the needle seat (its removable). Found a chinese spark plug in it and a new, but unoiled air filter. Several stripped or missing bolts and (this is my favorite) an allen head clamp they had cut with a dremel so they could use a flat screw driver on...
Bottom line is everything you buy needs a mechanical once over before you go to using it, regardless of how nice it appears. Happy to report that the ATV is running great now and I'm still quite pleased with it.
Got a real Mikuni carb kit and rebuilt the carb. The 'mechanic' hadn't rebuilt the carb he had just blown some carb cleaner through it to get it to fire. Needle was bad and there was a ton of trash in the fuel inlet/under the needle seat (its removable). Found a chinese spark plug in it and a new, but unoiled air filter. Several stripped or missing bolts and (this is my favorite) an allen head clamp they had cut with a dremel so they could use a flat screw driver on...
Bottom line is everything you buy needs a mechanical once over before you go to using it, regardless of how nice it appears. Happy to report that the ATV is running great now and I'm still quite pleased with it.
