Hi Everybody. I’m new with these quads. And I’m new to the forum. I would just like to explain my problem with you and hopefully you experts have some advice for me. I just bought a regular 01’DS right before winter. So far I have had to replace the radiator and clean the carb. Everything is stock, to the best of my knowledge(except I took off those stupid snorkels on the airbox. Right before the first snowfall I seemed to have had It running well and drained the gas and stored it in the shed.
Like 3 months later I check to make sure carb is still clean and it was so I took it out for a spin. After about 7-10 minutes the motor shut down on me, so I waited a few seconds and started it back up. It kept shutting down on my way back to the shed (not to far away). Then I took out the spark plugs and they were looking lean as hell, so I put the clip on the 5th position of the needle.
Now my quad doesn’t shut down but I haven’t run It too long because the carb is still lean and I’m scared to wreck anything. Raising the needle didn’t really do anything.
So today I took the valve cover off and inspected things. The exhaust valve clearances are fine (about .006”). But I was very surprised to see that there is like zero clearance on the intake side, and the cams look pretty new. What could be going on. Well I’m sorry that I’m a boring writer(I never liked English Class) but I wanted to tell you guys everything I knew because I’m stumped To why its running so lean and no clearance on the intakes.

 

Welcome to the forum
First off as I was readiong your symptoms I thought that the vent hose on the fuel tank was getting pinched. May still have been for that matter. When you put it all back together make sure the tank cover doesn't pinch it off.
As far as the intake valves go. Mine have done the same thing. And so have others on here for that matter. I am all the way down to using the smallest shims possible. It's possible that the previous owner never adjusted the valve clearences. So now it will be up to you.

When I had a stock carb I ran a dyno jet kit with the clip on t6he 4th pos. Some run it on the 3rd. As far as the snorkels. You may want to reinstall them unless you jet up for the removal of them.

You have found a great forum for getting info on your DS. Everyone here likes to help when they can.

 

yes I've noticed that everybody is very helpful and very knowledgeable. That's why I would see what you guys thought about my problem. What is the deal with the intakes doing that. Is it possible that my intake valves are not even closing all the way? Would that result in a lean mixture? And what size do you reccomend for the intake shims because zero clearance is not good.

 

Valve clearance decreases over time - the previous owner did not bother to read his owners manual and service the bike like the schedule instructs. You need to have the valves adjusted prior to riding agian.

Removing the snorkels has allowed air to flow much easier into the carb - this has leaned the fuel/air mixture drastically and the carb needs rejetted. The main jet needs to be larger. Continuing to run lean will cause premature wear and excessive combustion heat.

There is also the possiblity that the battery is low after storage - the DS will not run properly with a low or dead battery - it needs juice to make juice the way its charging system is designed. Use a bike battery charger to fully charge it.

Hope this helps, there a zillion prior posts on valve adjusting and jetting, you can find links to sights that will help there, I strongly encourage the purchase of a shop manual.