Help! My nephew was riding my 2001 250 when he ran low on gas, but the tank wasn't empty. The ATV began stalling. He had to run the choke to get it back to the house. I filled the tank but it still won't stay running w/out the choke on and runs rough. I checked the air filter and cleaned the plug. Dirt in the carb? or any ideas on what to check for? The ATV ran perfect before this happened, never needed the choke unless it was a real cold day. Thanks..Joe

 

This is actually a very common problem. The pilot jet is plugged. The carb float bowl will need to come off, and the pilot jet cleaned good. Itll run with the choke on, because the choke is actually a starter jet, and that makes up for the pilot jet being plugged.
Check out these sites.

carb
carb clean

 

KEEP AN GAS TANK WITH A FUEL STABUILIZER IT WILL KEEP THE GAS NEW AND HELP CLEAN OUT THE CARB.

 

Does it get run very often? Could the carb be gummed up with old gas?

If not - Try the easiest things first - Pull the fuel line and drain / blow out the tank - set the switch to "reserve" - Refuel with new gas and give it a try.

 

Thanks,, That did the trick. I removed the carb from the air breather and engine. I had enough slack that I didn't have to remove the throttle or gas line. I took the bowl screws out, toook the jet out and cleaned it with carb cleaner until it shot a stream through it. Cleaned the rest really well, reassembled an it runs like a charm again!