i have an 84 atc 200.....i was out rideing today and it suddenly began to like flood itself almost, couple backfires..and it kept stalling. it runs kinda with the choke completely on. just put a brand new plug in this morning and it seems to be getting fuel. i pulled th eplug and it was kinda white......am i running too lean?.....if so, how do i adjust the carb.....and why would it just suddlenly strat doing this? any input is appreciated....thanks

 

Sounds like a classic case of plugged pilot jet. Also known as the idle jet. Youll have to drop the float bowl, and remove the jet and clean out the hole in the center of that jet.

 

i have had something similar to this happen to me on my 350X this summer, it turned out that the e-clip holding the needle valve with the carb plunger, somehow fell off the needle and the needle dropped , it resulted in about the same symptoms as you are describing. you may want to clean the main jet as suggested before, but if that does not fix it, i guess its something to look into if nothing else works. any questions feel free to contact me.

 

thanks abunch guys and ill let u now what happens after i clean the jet in the morning.

 

My 84 200M had a similar problem. To begin with, Yes,white plug means you are running too lean.
If you are operating the bike at temperatures below freezing, fuel starvation due to frozen fuel line / carb jet etc. is a possibility, this drove me nuts for a while till I was able to purge all the water out of my fuel system. Another time my bike died half way across a lake (yes it was frozen) and when I checked the plug it was white, I unscrewed the float boal drain screw and no fuel came out. I thought this was strange since I was almost certain that I had fuel in the tank and the fuel **** was definately open??? Long story short, I twisted the fuel cap off to look in the tank and heard the hissing sound of the vacuum releasing from the tank. Turned out my fuel cap valve was busted and not allowing air in as required. Sorry to ramble on, but just a few of my experiences that may be of use to you. good luck and keep us posted.