My dad told me if i could fix his quad and took care of it, i could keep it, so ive been doing that. It mostly sat for 10 years, my dad only took it out a couple times throughout each year to keep it running. I drained the gas, replaced it, replaced the fuel lines, cleaned the carburetor a dozen times, changed the oil, new battery, changed the spark plugs, cleaned the air filter, changed the tires, and cleaned the whole thing. But when i tried starting it, it starts, but when i try running it, it will run for a bit, then die. And when i try starting it again it wont start. And every time i start it, it fouls the spark plug. Its black and wet instantly just from trying to start it a couple times. The whole plug turns black. And my cousin helped me tune the carburetor and clean the jets and adjust the float and everything. He basically helped me tear the quad apart and put it back together a couple times, the carburetor was taken apart, cleaned, and adjusted at least a dozen times. Weve got it to where it runs for a bit, but then after maybe 20 mins of riding it dies. Itll idle for as long as we want tho. We cannot figure out whats wrong, and ive noticed that this seems to be a problem for a lot of people.

 

Shouldn't have to go into a carb but once. Cleaning doesn't always help. Shindy is a good Japanese kit equivalent to oem parts. Plus have you checked valve clearance,checked compression? If valves are too tight,it may be loosing compression as it warms up. A Plug that is constantly wet is either getting too much fuel from the carb,float setting off,float needle worn/leaking or low compression to begin with,or valves that may be tightening up as it warms up not allowing good compression.Shindy Carb Carburetor Repair Kit for Kawasaki KVF300 99 02 03 109 | eBay

 

Are you cleaning or rebuilding the carburetor? What you need is a complete rebuild kit from the factory. On mine I did a rebuild and added a Uni performance kit with new jets and metering rod. It ran great after that. I would recommend a thorough go thru to evaluate the engine. Compression test, check valve lash (clearance), get a spark jump tester and see if the spark is hot enough. Make sure there are no air leaks where the carb mounts. Do you have a factory service manual to get the correct carb setting for the metering rods? Slide carbs do require an accurate setup to perform correctly. If you have a hot enough spark then the carb is your issue as long as you haven't messed with the timing. Something has gotten out of adjustment, spark is weak, or the carb is not set up correctly. That 300 is an awesome motor, one of the most trouble free that Kawasaki ever built. In fact I see they are reintroducing it all over again in newer models.

 

Just curious...which newer models have the 300 motor in them....thats actually a Kawie engine.....share with all of us as I have not seen them. Thanks....and by the way, the carb has no metering rods....lol

 

 

Interesting....my 2000 praire300 has metering rod....the UNI carb kit had a new one with it. Had a different taper for performance.
As far as the newer models.....Kymco builds the engines for Kawi and for artic cat. It also makes most of the under 200cc kids units for all the brand name mfgs.

 

Only metering rods I've seen are on car carbs.. Sure you don't mean the jet needle that goes into the slide?

 

I may have the name incorrect, but it is a long tapered needle looking item with a circlip rings at the end. The circlip had to be positioned at the number 3 groove and it appears the needle like object slides up and down or the slide moves up and down over the needle in some way. Just sold the machine and the guy is on his way to pick it up, still have the instructions from the kit with all the paper work from the ATV.

 

Yes, you just got the name of it wrong....

 

OK, I just assumed the name of the part....had be going there for a minute wondering if my praire was the only one that came that way.... so...what is the correct name for that needle type item?