HI I have a 2003 trail boss and it is fussy when starting. It starts fine with the choke out fully. I gradually push in the choke as it warms up. it will sometimes stall when the choke is half way in. Once this happens it will only want to idol with the choke almost fully or fully in. Once it is fully in it will take a while (5-10 min) until it is running smooth. if i try too soon to give it gas it will sputter. Once it is warmed up it works and idles fine, until I stop for more than 10 min and the same process must be repeated. Is this normal?


Any info will help.

 

if you let it sit a while with bad gas the carb might need cleaning, one came into my dealers a couple days ago and it would not run at all unless the choke was out, here the jets were coated with this green dried out gas.

 

ya, mine is like that too. mines a 2002 325. i think that the clutch, belt, etc just needs time to get warmed up. i just give it some gas really gently for a minute or two, and off i go.

 

I always ride all of my stuff around easy before I go and hammer on it. Same thing goes for you sticking your cold hand in a hot water... It doesn't feel good unless you do it slowly.

 

I have an 03 Trail boss too. At ~ 50F I half choke it and crank for no more than 5 Sec. at a time (no more than a couple, three tries) . I give very, very little throttle to get it to hold it's own (a matter of seconds). The idle quickly picks up. After this I can shut it off for a couple hours and it starts much easier with less choke for less time. They seem to be all dif. from Boss to Boss.

A question for you. My boss has a hollow engine knock sound at a cold start that lasts for a couple minutes but only about every other very cold (first start of the day) start. It does this even as the Idle quickens. Do you have this condition?

 

I think your choke may be out of adjustment. The easiest way to check this is to remove the carb, get a flashlight, find the hole that coincides with the choke. It is very easy to spot if you are shining a light in the holes and flipping the choke at the same time. Once you find it, flip the choke to the half position and adjust the cable until the hole is halfway covered up by the plunger. Now try full choke and the plunger should be clear of the hole, and with the plunger off, the hole should be completely sealed. This is the easiest and most accurate way to adjust the choke in my opinion. If the choke seems ok, then you may just need to make an air screw adjustment, turn it ccw 1/4 turn at a time and see if it clears up. The way you are describing you are running too rich because it gets worse at it warms up, so either your choke is letting gas by when it should be off or your air screw is out of adjustment. Just my opinion.

 

my dealer says if you give it gas with the choke on it turns the choke off as long as you are giving it gas

 

what i would do first is take the carb off and clean it out good, then check the choke

 

That may be somewhat true kblazk, but if it is not adjusted correctly to start with, then there is no way to turn it off, you will be constantly running rich because of a little extra gas getting through the choke circuit.