Hello, I am a newb here. I didn't see a tech forum anywhere so I figured this would be the best place to post. I work at a campground and we have 2001 Prairie 300 2wd. Anyway, one of the other employees was using it and she said that she was having trouble getting it started and keeping it running then it just quit running at all. I went to start it and all it did was back-fire, very loudly. I had used it all day long the day before with no problem with it starting, running or anything. So, I called the local Kawasaki dealer and he said it was probably the sparkplug was fouled. As I was looking around the carb and stuff I noticed a wire hanging down and it was to the heater on the carb so I replaced the heater too. Anyways, it is running now but at around half throttle it just wants to spit and sputter. It runs perfect at the low end and when it gets past the sputtering at the mid range its runs fine at high end. Could this possibly be a plugged jet? TIA for any responses.

 

The sputtering and backfiring are symptoms of lean . ..Air leak, plugged carb passages, missing/torn air cleaner, low float or fuel level, plugged fuel filter, even old stale gas.
Heres a few links that may help you fix it.

carb jetting
carb clean
carb
let us know how it goes.

 

Aight, thanks for the tips and the links. I will check out the info provided and get back with ya. Again, thanks for the info.

 

I took the carb apart and clean it good, checked all the passages, adjusted the float and everything looked good. I put it back together. After it warms up it run perfect, but it is still a little cold natured, but I can live with that. Thanks for the help.

 

I have a 2001 - 4 X 4... I've never touched the carb... but IMO, it is really rich, from the factory... make sure the filter is always cleaned & not over oiled ( alot of people over oil the foam type filters, after cleaning, & this can greatly reduce the air flow through the filter, causing the plug to foul...

was the plug black, when you changed it ???

I run Stabil in the gas through all my small engines... it will help alot with carb problems on engines with intermitant use...

 

Yes, it was very black. In fact the one I just put in looks really black now also. I guess it would be best to change it now?

 

If there is a fuel filter id check that also.