Hello all! Just picked up my first atv and it's an '01 ds650. I just got it from a guy who had it sitting since '09. When I saw it at his house I knew it needed some cosmetic work because it had been rolled. Frame is strait, axel is good and I thought the motor was good until today. I went out and checked the oil just to see the level it was at and noticed the oil was creamy. My automatic thought was head gasket but I also know condensation could be a possibility too after sitting for so long. So my first question is, are the complete engine gasket kits the same for an '01 as an '02? Not the top end gasket kit as i need to replace the clutch casing. I can find '02 and up gasket kit on eBay but no luck with the earlier models. Next what brand is the oem carb? I have a makuni on there but not so sure if its the tm45 that I keep reading about or not. Also, it's dumping gas out of the bottom of the carb. Float issue? Thanks for the help on getting this beast running again!

 

gasket kits will be the same.....

the stock carb will have a gold color tin top ... tm 45 will be all aluminum colored..

yes the fuel comming out the bottom is a float problem . pull the carb off and clean it real good with carb cleaner.

get a manual the ds has some steps to follow when changing the oil.


goodluck

 

Yeah I've read up on how to change to oil and the little screen to clean as well. The only thing I am unsure about is whether or not condensation would have built up in the engine too after sitting for so long? I don't want to replace the head gasket unless its necessary.

I will pull off the carb and clean it out though. Thanks for the heads up on the stock question. Looks like its stock. Also the link for the omr stock carb mod is expired. Is there a more recent link?

 

first I would change the oil and clean the carb, get it running and see if its got problems... dont mod anything yet ....I would just use cheap motorcycle oil first.

 

Sounds like a plan. Thanks!

 

Stock Carb Mods - DS650

 

Awesome! Thank you!

 

Well I did the check where you take off the radiator cap and watch for bubbles and I did see quite a bit of them coming out. Even after 10 mins or so. Also I put the cap back on and it's pushing coolant into the coolant reservoir. It looked like there may be a small leak at the bottom of the seam of the radiator. So just to make sure it's the head gasket, I heard about a co2 test they can do. I read something about napa having it? Do they actually do the test or just sell/rent the equipment to do it? My local shop wants to charge $40 so I'm trying to avoid that...:-)

 

I bought the NAPA kit to check for head gasket leaks for $50. Granted, it will do 5-6 checks for that price.

If fuel is coming out the bottom of the carb, it's the drain that's leaking. Same thing happened to me. Junk collected around the drain screw and caused some corrosion. I pulled the screw all the way out, cleaned it with a wire brush, put it back in, and just to make sure, I plugged up a short piece of hose and pushed the hose onto the drain nipple of the carb. no more leaks. It's probably a good idea to pull the carb to clean/reset the floats but it's not necessary if it runs great and the only problem is fuel leaking from the bottom. I ended up pulling the carb apart because I thought I had to do it to fix the leak. I spent a good amount of hours taking the carb on and off again to get the floats set right, and then a handful of rides before I figured out how to adjust the air mix screw correctly. It was a good experience overall because I learned how to deal with the carb, but it was not necessary at the time to stop the leak.

My guess would be the the slight leak in the rad allowed the cooloand to go low, and overheat the bike. Overheating caused the head to lift. Even if you got moisture condensation in the oil, it would not be enough to cause it to look milky. Pushing coolant into the reservoir is also a classic sign of head gasket leak.

 

Yeah I went to napa today and the test strips were what they recommended too. However the coolant overflow test kinda is just pushing me to just go ahead and do the head gasket. I didnt ever overheat it so I don't know how it happened. I rode it when I picked it up and it ran great. Aside from the a arm being bad. Lol
Thanks for the carb help as well. I just noticed that it is leaking from the intake side of the carb. Where the tube connects the carb and intake. I tried to pull the carb off to see exactly where it was leaking but I cant get the throttle cable off. The screws going into it are stripped. So I've gotta get that off first. Then I can dig into it more.