My owner's manual for the 400i says to start the motor and leave the choke on full for about 2 minutes, before switching it to normal position. My motor will only run for about 30 seconds before it will die if I don't switch the choke off. Is this normal?

 

The chokes on most of these bike and I'm sure the 400I included is an extra fuel circut rather than butterfly valve in the air stream. Try moderating the choke rather than shutting it off entirely.

 

rbarbot2- you are not leaving the choke on fully for a whole 2 minutes are you?

 

That's how the book reads. But it doesn't make sense. I can get it to run for awhile by putting it at the half way mark.

 

Well you are supposed to leave the choke on fully for at least 4 seconds. Then lower it to half or 1/4 for a minute or two. Then turn it off and make suure it is not sticking. Then rev the engine. See if this helps.

 

Ya mine wont run on a full choke for 2 mins! And the machine is far from new. I just use full choke to start, then right down to half for a min, then off.

 

Same here, my 500i won't idle with the choke on. Full choke gets it started in the coldest conditions, back down to half choke when the engine starts running rough (about 5 secs), and then hold a bit of throttle until it warms up.

 

JohnO, I'm having the same problem now with my 500i. I can't figure out why it's decided it don't like to idle but my guess is it needs a valve adjustment. I'm gonna pull the plug to check it and I'll try to let you know what happens. You can always Email me from here.
Chuck

 

If your quad will not just idle turn your idle adjustment screw.

 

Mountainclimber, we shouldn't have to simply adjust the idle speed. As the enigne warms up while riding, this will cause the RPM's to go much higher than required when idling. We would be constantly making idle speed adjustments that are not necessary if conditions are right. Your suggestion isn't a bad idea for short term performance.
Chuck