I'm a noon. Just got my quad in January. Its a 2000 Honda 400ex. I just rode it about 2 hours ago and it was running fine. Started right up and was great.

Just tried to start it bout a half hour ago and it wont fire. It has spark (brand new NGK plug as of 2 days ago) gets fuel fine and has compression. I can smell gas thickly through the tailpipe so I'm assuming its flooded. What's the best way to clear it out?

 

I meant noob. I'm a NOOB. damn spelling.

 

Pull the plug and turn the engine over for 5 seconds or so.

Put the plug back in and start it up.

You might also want to see if your carb float is sticking and flooding things out.

 

I've pulled the plug, dried it, and turned over the engine a bit w/the gas lever off and after putting it back in its still a no go.

I've tried turning it over a bunch trying to clear the excess fuel but can't seem to get anywhere. Gunna check the air filter tomorrow

 

Is there a way to just crank something open to drain out the Carb?

I pulled the plug and shut the gas OFF and turned it over for about 30 seconds. So I'm fairly certain it should have cleared out all the fuel. However, when ibreinstall the plug and turn the gas ON to try starting it, its a no-go and I can smell an excessive amount of gas out the tailpipe.

I guess my biggest question is what the hell? Brand new plug.

 

How do you "know" it has spark? Did you 100%, bet your life on it, check for spark?
Did you check for the sticking float like I said to do?

 

100% I pulled the plug, put it into the wire and heldnit against thebgrlunded block and I Can see a clear blue spark shootin out. brand new NGK plug.

How do I go about checking the float. That's what I'm trying to figure out. I'm sure its something like that cause its instantly flooding it seems.

As a side note, in an attempt to clear the excess fuel, I pulled the plug and cranked it over with the throttle wide open and a couple times a heard a puff of air from where I think the Carb is.

You'll hmostto excuse most of my dumb questions as I am not very mechanically intelligent.

 

And I apparently need to type slower on my phone.....

 

As dr.turbo said sounds like the float is sticking, when you turn the gas valve on it's not stopping when the carb. bowl is full and dumping fuel into the cylinder flooding it out. I would suggest tapping the bowl with a screwdriver handle, or better yet take the carb. off and flip it upsidedown and rightside up a few times. Try to free up the float.

 

Thanks to both of you. I will give it a try and see what happens. The Carb I'm assuming is where the choke lever is located? Remember, I'm kinda ra-tarded.

Any explanation on the puff of air sound from the Carb??