So I need to clean my pilot jet/idle circuit on my 2000 Kawasaki Lakota sport. I did lots of searching last night to come to this conclusion but couldn't find a guide as was mentioned in one of the threads. If anyone has a link to one or knows the best/fastest way to get this done, please let me know and save me the trip to a dealer.

Rehash of the problem, bike only runs on choke, anything below 3/4 choke and the bike dies out. Tried adjusting the idle, no difference. If I stay on the throttle pretty good and then let the choke back in, it backfires through the airbox/exhaust and then dies when let off. It sat for the winter and was not winterized (which is why I got such a good deal on it). So its basically running too lean and will not idle. I examined the rubber on it last night and it is in really good shape, no cracks or tears. It runs good on choke though, just rich as you can imagine, and doesn't have quite the power it should (I have a 96 Lakota for comparison)

Your help is greatly appreciated, thanks!

 

plenty of vids on youtube. basically you tear down the carb, clean the float and area, remove jets and clean them well, see daylight through them? clean again, blow air through them, clean again, see daylight again? clean again. clean every nook and cranny in the carb. inside/outside, in/around/through everything. reassemble carb, reinstall carb. fire up atv.........the reason for making sure the jets are clean, people claim to clean them, the atv still acts the same due to inadequately cleaned jets. just make sure they're as clean as factory, maybe even cleaner......

 

Yeah what he said

 

Thanks, didn't think of checking youtube. I got impatient and had some time to kill today so I picked up some carb cleaner and tore into it. Took all the plastics off and the gas tank, then removed and cleaned the carb. Thought I was all fixed up, WRONG. The internals of the carb were very clean, carb spray came through all the orifices and there was no varnish buildup. Until I removed that countersunk jet. It was all green and gummed up. I soaked it in carb cleaner for awhile, then used compressed air to blow it out so I could see daylight through it like I could all the rest. Blew a bunch of soot type sediment out of the other passages with the carb cleaner. Inspected diaphram and it was not ripped, all looked good. Put it back on, hooked up the gas tank and NO DIFFERENCE.

After spending 2 hours with the stupid carb, I'm ready to just shoot the stupid thing. I swear I made it worse. Now it won't accellerate/rev up when in gear, it gets power for the first little bit of travel on the thumb throttle, but anything more makes no difference (either in engine noise or acceleration) no matter what gear you are in. Still starts and idles fine with the choke on 3/4 to maybe 1/2 before it dies out when moved any lower. It backfires through the carb/airbox when the choke is off and the throttle is held on.

I cleaned the 3 jets and the passages, even ran some fine copper wire through the passage ways after spraying them with carb cleaner and compressed air. Is there another adjustment I'm missing? I didn't touch any of the adjustable screws on the carb, not sure what they do, but did nearly cut my finger on a needle like protrution sticking out of the engine side of the carb, looked to be attached to a screw head on the carb. Should I have removed that?

Cleaned air filter, re-oiled, checked for leaks in the rubber around the carb and its in real good shape. Even painted my racks when they were off. In frustration I put it all back together again hoping I could drive it and it would then clean up, but it has no power in any gear and won't rev up now. Time for a shop? What should I expect to pay if I remove the plastics and just deliver the naked bike for a carb clean/adjustment??

 

Are you getting a good flow of fuel out of the fuel hose at the carb. connection? Unplug it turn the fuel on and see, the petcock may be clogged, some have screens on the bottom some have screens inside the tank some have both or it may be clogged in the channels in the petcock itself. Also if you are sucking air at the intake boot it will rev. high due to a lean condition created not die out.

 

Yes, there is excellent flow, I drained the tank through the petcock into a can and it flows out very well. I suspect the lean condition because of the white smoke and back fireing, and lastly, because it gets very hot, even the plastics get hot and my 96 never gets hot even after riding all day (at least not on the plastics) I ran it with the airbox unplugged completely (inside the garage so nothing could be sucked in) for a few minutes with no change, still dies right out when choke is removed and backfires when choke is off and throttle is held on....

 

gets hot? pipe glowing red? if so, too lean, richen it up with the mixture screw. if it still won't rev, i hate to say it, but maybe still have a small pluggage somewhere. did you get the slide back in correctly? need to make sure.............

 

pull and check the condition of the spark plug. prong, insulation, etc...
spark plugs are cheap, so go ahead and replace it.

 

where can I find the mixture screw. Do i have to remove the carb again to adjust the mixtures screw? I'll probably let the problem and myself "cool off" for a few days then tear it apart again. Is this something that can be done without removing the front plastic, it was a real PITA to get off and then back on again.

 

a shop is going to charge anywhere between $75-$100 dollars an hour to fix it, it will be cheaper to buy a known good carb off ebay, thats what i had to do with my raptor & fixed the problem 100%. just my 2c