I say start by pulling all the tanks off everything, emptying them, and starting with fresh gas. I had a batch of bad gas once that messed up the carbs in all my machines.

 

I'm by no mean a mechanic. In the wife's Honda TRX350FE owners manual they tell you to run a hotter plug below I believe 41 degrees.It also says it in the Honda shop manual.There has to be something to it.

When I bought a extra plug for my 680 I about had a heart attack. It was 16.50 for that one spark plug.

 

the hotter plug idea for colder climates makes some sense, but as reconranger pointed out, it has nothing to do with starting... the hotter plug has a longer distance for the heat to travel to the threads for it to dissipate to the aluminum of the cylinder head...which has a direct control over the combustion chamber temp.. on an air-cooled engine, the ambient temp is what cools the engine... in the case of a cold climate, the cumbustion chamber can be cooled so well due to the air being cold that you may not get complete combustion, causing excess carbon buildup. the hotter plug raises this combustion chamber temp to compensate for this. on liquid cooled engines, it's not much of an issue, the engine temp is around whatever the thermostat is calibrated at. it would be nice to know what color the 'fouled' plugs are to get an idea what's causing it.

 

A hotter plug will help it warm up faster in cold weather, but at initial startup it makes no difference. If you are having trouble on cold weather starts, look for another cause.....

 

I understand what you guys are saying. I was going by what the Honda manual was saying. I asked ths question when I was in Florida and they didn't have a clue. They were who looked it up in the Honda shop manual. I appreciate the information.