Hello all, first post and hope someone can help me out. 1995 300 fourtax FW has stalled out the last couple of times i've ridden it, and not after going very far, couple blocks from the house maybe. Anyway, it will sputter a little and then just die. It will start back up after a minute or so, and then do the same thing. The other day i discovered that when it is sitting and idling I can lightly pull on the choke cable where it goes down in front of the hanlebar before going under the seat to the carb and get it to stall.
I don't yank on the cable, or even have to pull on it firmly. Just a light upward pull will cause it to choke out and stall. When i release it and hit the starter it will crank right back up. I thought maybe it had come loose from the carb, but checked that and the nut was still tight. I disassembled it anyway just to take a look, and the plunger was working when i slid the choke lever. After reassembly I have the same issues.
Is a new choke cable in order? Is this problem related to the stalling problem when riding it? Could just the vibration be causing it to flood itslef? Sorry for the long explantaion...

 

No one with any fourtrax choke cable issues? Allright, I'll just keep working at it and post back with any findings. Hopefully what i find can help someone else down the road.

 

If the choke is moving normally, I don't think that is your problem... Does it require choke to start when cold, and if so, if you close the choke right after you cold start it does it stumble or die? If so I think the enrichment part is fine.

When you said you ride it a couple of blocks and it sputters and dies, does it seem like it is running out of fuel?

I'm thinking you have a restriction that is only allowing a trickle of gas into the carb, and once you run the float bowl dry-- engine stutters and dies until the float bowl fills back up again.

On many hondas there is a fine screen up in the tank, and you get to it by removing the screws around the petcock (with tank drained).

I'd check and clean that, along with the petcock valve. Put the petcock back onto the tank and fill it, and before you hook the gas line to the carb, put it over a can and open the petcock. Make sure you've got good gas flow throughh the screen and petcock.

Then put it back together and turn the gas on, and open the carb drain screw. You should get a pretty good trickle of fuel. See that it continues and doesn't trickle out after a minute. If you get a float bowl worth and it drops to a little dribble, then I'd pull the carb and check out the float needle, seat, and float level.

 

Thanks for the reply JeffinTD, i will try that as soon as i get a chance and report back. Do you have any idea why just pulling on the choke cable a little bit would cause the engine to stall out though? That seems like a completly separate issue then.

 

I'm guessing when you pull on the choke cable you are activating the enrichment circuit, making the mixture go rich and the engine stall?

I'd still take it off and take a look at it. Does the choke work like it should when you do start it?

 

Yep, the choke works as it should to start the engine from a cold start.