I went to start my 2006 Rancher yesterday. It started normally but soon died. After investigating, it looks like the carb is not getting any fuel to it. I had not moved it in about 30 days but it ran fine when parked. I keep it on a battery tender but it has been very cold since last start up. I poured some gas into the carb and it started and ran until that gas was gone. It has not been under 32 degrees for weeks. What do you think is the problem?

Another thing I thought was odd was that when I had it running with the gas I poured in the carb, I would rev it up in nuetral and the electric speedo would jump around (ES model). The speedo should not change unless it's in gear. Any ideas?

Anyone have a detailed schematic of the carb and fuel line routing? Thanks!

 

Speedo is no problem.
Has gas? ... try draining the float bowl..on right, bottom screw on carb, facing out to you -- 1 or 2 turns.... does fuel run to the ground?.. if yes, then it is getting fuel.
if no fuel---try switch off fuel, take off carb gas inlet rubber and blow some air through the carb.
If none of that works --give carb a good blast of carb cleaner and let it sit for an hour or so. Re-connect and try again.
If no luck -- check that the plug is clean, dry and sparking..
In future -- if you are going to leave it for a week or more -- run the engine and switch of the gas tap until the engine stops from no gas ( before it stops you can even pull out the choke to get every last bit out of the carb)
That way you are leaving no gas in the carb.. better starting..

 

check all ele. connection thru bike . clean with air and then lube all connections with silocon grease.That will take care of most prob. with spedo.and other stuff.
Gas problem ....could be any of a number of things. one thing to try get bike running with or with out choke, take the air filter off while engine is running at high rpm and put your hand over it, this will help suck trash thru the carb. This OLD trick has worked on cars and atvs for years...
Hope this helps.

 

So you know you are not getting fuel to the float bowl...

I think it would make sense to see if the problem is with the float and valve in the carb, or if it is in the petcock and the filter screen that is attached to it.

Try shutting the gas off and unhook the fuel line to the carb. Put a jar over the hose and turn the gas back on.

If you don't get gas, pull the tank. A couple screws retain the petcock to the tank, and when you pull it out you will see a fine filter screen. If it is clogged or frozen, it would probably be a good idea to dump out the gas and rinse out the tank.

If you do get fuel when you pull that hose off, then it would make sense to take the float bowl off the carb and see what's up with the float and needle valve.


I wouldn't worry about the spedo. My Harley will sometimes do the same thing. Like the quad, it uses a hall effect sensor and exciter wheel, and I think when the thing happens to stop with the sensor lined up on the edge of one of the teeth, vibration from running will cause it to generate a signal.

If it operates normally otherwise, I wouldn't worry about it.

 

Thanks, I'll give these things a try this weekend. What hose is the actual fuel supply line from the gas tank?

 

Just follow it from where it attaches to the petcock/fuel valve.

 

I traced the fuel line, unplugged it at the carb and found there is plenty of gas getting to the carb. It just seems like it's not getting into the carb. The line plugs into a 90 degree nipple which I blew out with compressed air, opened up the carb and blew everything inside out, but it made no difference and it's still not getting fuel. It must be somewhere in the nipple no? Any further advice?

 

Is fuel getting into the float bowl of the carb? Open the drain screw on the bottom of the float bowl, and gas should run out the overflow hose that exits under the machine.

If fuel is in the float bowl, but not getting into the engine, then I'd imagine you have a plugged passage in the carb, in which case it would be time to pull it off to disassemble and spray out with carb cleaner...