I think you will have some pressure from the breather hose, but it shouldn't be excessive, & it should start with out the exhaust, however it will likely be lean... are you getting enough juice to the starter / CDI ??? the CDI can be pretty current sensitive, mine didn't want to fire when cold... I replaced the battery, & it starts fine now... if the rings are too dry ( washed down with gas ), you will have a leak down through the rings... Have you checked the upside down, safety switch, on the frame, at the rear of the quad ???

I'd give Mickey & or Mike a call for any aftermarket parts available... they are likely to be much cheaper, or better performing, than the O.E. parts

 

thanks newbeatle,

I am sure my upside down switch is good becasue i have spark. the switch kills the spark from what I understand of it. the compression test read about 25psi or a little less. that is well out of the usable range according to the book and i would say the pressure up the breather hose is excessive and it smells like gas. I will check with FST to see if they have hi compression kit of some sort. what is your opinion of having my cylinders and heads magnafluxed. i don't think i want to jump up the big bore just yet. thanks for the advise on the CDI, I did not know that it was that sensitive.

one more question for you. does the air box need to be installed and closed in order to run the engine.

reason I ask about the exhaust and air box having to be installed is becasue i don't want to have to install them everytime I test to see if my Prairie will run.

 

As far as I know, the carbs will not work properly ( vacume ), with out the filter box... the quad runs very poorly even without a filter...

have you pulled the jugs yet ??? they may be scored from the mud's grit, if it got in there ??? if thats the case, you may need to go over size, if the scoring is deeper than can be honed out...

they checked my valves by spraying penitrating oil in the air way of the head, on top of the valves, & they leaked pretty bad... I'd check the heads like this first, before pulling it apart any further, in case grit got into the valve seats, as, if the cylinders are not scored, this is the likely cause of your compression loss...

having the heads flowed & valves done, didn't cost me more than $400.00, & made way more difference, than my full aftermarket exhaust, & it cost about the same... It would be too bad, if you couldn't do a few mods, while you've got it apart...

 

newbeatle,

i also want to put a world class snorkel on my rig so i can go deep in mud and water and not worry about this ever happening to me again. i saw your pics and you looked pretty deep in it. that is how i ended up in this spot. I sank in a seious mud bog and mud ran down my intake. the engine did not get much chance to run because i slid 90 degrees sideways into the hole and the flip over switch took over. i will check the valves like you said. when i tore it down at first I found about 1/16 of an inch of mud sitting on top of my piston.

you can bet money that when i put it back together i will use aftermarket products. I like the idea of polishing the intake too. so far i bought a high performance kit with dynojet jetting, supertrapp idsx, k&n airfilter, lift kit, and iridium ngk sparkers.

before I started all this I was a total newbie at working on engines and thanks to people like you and this website I have learned a wealth of knowledge.