You still may have bad or weak springs or plungers or cable, alowing your carbs to fill with gas and overflow into your cylinder or a bad petcock that lets fuel slosh during transport, may be worth a chekcout. Can't help you on how to go about venting your tank.
Shop manual has detailed procedures for adjusting the floats.

 

Transporting a quad with out turning the fuel off may be a cause , i have never turned mine off and have not had the problem but bad choke spring got me a couple of times . cured the problem by removing the choke cable. when i ever find my choke cable again i will re install it with heavy springs.

 

This machine had not been moved for months. It was just hiding out in the garage and one day the wife said she smelled fuel. Its done it like 4 times.

Im not really enthused about putting in new choke cable, sprins, plunger, petcock.

How many hours to do that?
How long does it take to pull the carb bank? On my FZ1 the carb bank pull took longer than the jetting.

Dealer thinks the a needle is sticking flooding the carbs. If that is the case I should be able to drain the bowls and 1 should have a ton more than the other.

 

Sitting around with the gas turned on is bad for any machine, it will build pressure, lower the fuel level the more pressure will build. Unscrew the gas cap sometime, you'll see there will be pressure or vaccum when you do after running it or letting it sit for a few days. I agree, I also have never had to worry about this with All my Hondas or Yami's, but I guess its no big deal when you get in the habit of shutting it off. The spring isn't very hard to replace, but I guess that depends on experience. Some machines seem to do this more than others. You can let it sit for a couple days, but after a few days of changing temps, pressures start to build an force gas into the crank oil. don't worry if its been driven some with gas in the oil, I think it would take a while to cause damage, or have to be heated up pretty well. Compared to a 2 stroke, which actually uses gas as a lubricant along with very little oil, I"m sure its just fine. Just change the oil, shut the gas off from now and see. If you still have trouble, then try the needles. I bought mine in the same condition from a dealer, gas in the oil, but not hydro locked. I've been shutting the gas off and it hasn't happened since and my machine will sit for weeks at a time.

 

Thanks man. I guess Im just a bit disapponted here. I have a 02 FZ1 that I have never shut the fuel off and a 88 Yam 350 that I dont even know where the fuel valve is.

In my mind this is dinging the prairie's reliability, adding a procedure to shut-off sucks. Plus this fans the flames for my Polari efi riding buddies.

What if you simply drilled a hole though the gas cap and added a vent line?

 

hmmmm,
Having to shut off the gas after every use and during all transports seems to be a pretty drastic action for a $6k quad. I guess you’d just have spare oil strapped to the back rack.

If the problem is as simple as pressurizing the tank isn't there a cap with a vent line built in that one could use?

I can't imagine this is something that any prairie owner would actually consider putting up with. If so; they must me unbelievably better then the competing models with novelties like EFI.

I’d hate to be on a prairie in the mists of SP 700efi owners the morning after I forget to turn off the fuel.
[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

Thats right fellas, I know exactly what you mean. I haven't shut my Honda CBR off in the 10 years I've owned it. BUT, yes a breather hose would be any easy fix I believe. I think they didn't put one on because of how low the gas tank is (Which is a bonus of the design), ITs a supreme machine! I was ANTI Kawi until I got this thing, believe me! The low tank and high air filter(in place of the tank) makes so much sense its awesome. Its a great machine, and yes most us Prairie owner can live with a little quirk like shutting the gas off. Don't worry, its not going to happen all the time, I think it depends on the temps etc. But easy an easy and good habit to have anyway.
Happy happy happy, is all I can say.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

Yep, Owned mine since 2002, Only problems I've had was self induced, had it belly side up in a creek. Drained the oil & changed the filter & plugs, she's been purrrrring ever since. Just performed regular Maintenance, belt adjustment, and added a few mods.

Shutting off the gas is sure better than some of the problems some of the other quads are having and It's FREE with no down time for your quad.

 

So is it fair to say that prairie owners should just assume they are going to have to shut off the fuel when its sitting? Or is this more of a per atv thing?

 

I would not assume that turning off the fuel is what is needed . in the past the choke plungers being stuck open has been the problem that has related to the over fueling.