Hello all! New to the site... Looking for the possible answer behind my smallish problem. So I'll be riding my quad for maybe 45 mins or a little longer and everything is fine... Then for some reason, it will start to sputter and pop a little and then immediately die. It doesn't seem too bad because directly after I try and start it and can and it runs fine after that. May happen again if I ride for a few hours but not more than once or twice in a 3 or 4 hour ride. Just curious as to what it could be. I was thinking it could either be the spark plug or the carb needs a good cleaning but wanted more opinions as I'm not too mechanically inclined... Also the weather I'm riding in is around 30-40 degrees Fahrenheit. Thanks for any and all responses!

 

Start simple first...which is a good carb cleaning...there may be debris in the bowl that gets sucked up into the jets and is just large enough to cause partial fuel blockage, but then clears itself...


Electrical can be a beast to chase down, so let's hope it's a dirty carb...

 

Oh geeze... I hope it's not too crazy of a problem. I also should mention I have an inline fuel filter, and last time it was changed was at the shop... I should note before the shop it never had done what it's doing now. It is different, much smaller. But I was also talking to some buddies and they run the VERY same filter that the mechanic put on... So I'm pretty sure it's not that. You don't think it's the spark plug at all? I will start with the carb if so.

 

I'd validate the fuel flow after the filter looks good...if it started showing these symptoms after a new one was installed...


It could be electrical (including plug), electronics have a mind of their own and I've seen too many strange symptoms to ever rule them out...however, they can be difficult to track down, so I always start with the easier/cheaper potential issues first...

 

I am going to change the spark plug and find a new fuel filter (it's always full, not half way, so I have a feeling it's restricting flow somewhat). Do you know what size socket I need to change the spark plug? Scouring the Internet for info but no one mentions the size.

 

Clean that carb!