Bought a used 2012 Peace Motorsports 4x2 off cl. showed up to purchase. Seller was riding it. He parked it and it idled for about 30 secs then just died. battery we knew was already bad but there is kickstart. tried for over an hour to kickstart with no luck. purchase it anyway cuz I offered the seller half his asking price. Got it home jumped on it and it started right up n ran idle for about 5 mins. went to put it in reverse n back it off the trailer and it died. kick started it and it fired right up again. put it in gear n died again. Tried again for an hour to kickstart with no luck. So next day drained all the gas out n put fresh 91 octane in it. Took the carb off n looked at it n it wasnt even dirty. Removed n cleaned spark plug. I noticed on top of the throttle body there is a connection that is damaged, it connects to the throttle lever. wiggled that connection n tried kick starting it n it fired right up first kick . I dont know if that is the problem or I was just lucky to get it started. i immediately put it in gear n took off it rode great for about 10 mins then just died. kick started it again n it fired right up n rode it another 10 mins then just died n wouldnt start. Gave up. next day purchased a new spark plug n put that in and after a couple kicks it started. drove it around for about 5 mins n it just kills again and wont start. i dont wann give up cuz this was my daughters 11th birthday gift n pretty much all she got. PLEASE HELP!!!. A friend said that if its air cooled its possible it over heated once and therefore its damaged internally. I dont think so cuz it ran so great WHEN it ran. Is it this throttle cable thats damaged?? or what?? my boss is real good mechanic n he says that cable could mess up the carburator. PLEASE PLease help.

 

I doubt if a faulty throttle cable can produce those symptoms but can cause the throttle to stick open, which can bring big problems for an inexperienced rider.

First the "easy fix," if the fuel cap vent is blocked you get these symptoms so, when the fault comes on, slacken the fuel cap. If you get an instant re-start, and the machine continues to run fine, you have found the fault. Did you notice the colour of the plug nose? A black, sooty nose indicates running rich, a bike needs rich for starting, hence the need for a choke but, once warm, a rich mixture will kill the engine. However this is accompanied by some smoke and spluttering so unlikely to be your problem. Sadly the most likely cause is an electrical component failing when hot, these are the devil to trace and substitution is usually the only way, cheapest first, so coil, then rectifier, then CDI then trigger unit and/or stator. There is also a possibility of a wire or switch doing this so you could end up with spending on new electronics and still have a fault.

 

I have these exact failure modes on two Chinese quads. In both cases it was the fuel shut off petcock.


Quad 1: There was a manufacturing defect in the fuel shutoff petcock where the fuel passage hole was severely restricted which machining debris. It would start and run on a full float bowl, but riding around would use up gas faster that it could be replaced, and eventually the quad would run out of fuel. It would just die. It would not start again right away. If I waited 30 seconds it would start up and run again for 20 seconds or so, but die again. If I waited 5 minutes then it would run for 5 minutes and then die. This was from day 1 since I bought the quad. I fixed it of course by replacing the fuel shutoff valve.


Quad two: Worked fine for a year, then same symptoms as above. In this case the fuel shutoff petcock was not designed for gasoline, and the shutoff neoprene cylindrical seal swelled up and separated from the petcock rotating shaft. When the gas was turned on the seal still blocked most of the gas flow. I replaced it and it fixed the problem.


Merrymans plugged fuel vent cap is also a very viable explanation (and also a common problem). So definitely try out his suggestion. They both produce the same symptoms: Not enough gas being delivered at speed to keep up with gas consumption by the engine. You run out of gas, and have to wait until the barely trickling gas feed fills the carburetor float bowl back up.


A test:


Find the gas line feeding carburetor. Pull it off and feed it into a clean gas tolerant container (like a two liter soda bottle). Turn on the fuel see if you have a fast and steady gas stream for 30 seconds. Since you used a clean container you can reuse the gas.


If you suspect electrical issues, the way to troubleshoot is to use a volt meter - not by substitution in my humble opinion... You're asking for trouble whenever you add more unknowns into the mix.... Two problems at once is ten times harder to troubleshoot than one problem.