I have done the choke springs.....no big deal if you are mechanically inclined.I have never had the hydro lock issue but I do shut the fuel off if I am done done for the day.You have to remember one thing....these are not gravity fed but have a fuel pump so it's not really fair to compare them to gravity fed carbs or expect them to act the same.If the choke springs are the culprit it will idle poor after it's hot....like it's loading up which it is.When Mine did this I did smell gas in the oil.The only bad thing about hydro lock (or at least one bad thing) is you can bend a rod if cranked hard enough.I see this alot of flood cars so be careful.
02 650 camo

 

I have been reading all I can on this fuel stuff.

So why would a bad petcock flood the bike, is that because the tank is doing the pressurization thing? The fact that a petcock is bad/good shouldnt have an impact on flooding the bike unless there is a force pushing fuel, am I correct or not?

Additionally I dont see how a choke can flood a sitting bike, the references have to be to a moving bike.

If the petcock is bad, where do I get one (online) and how much are they? I think Im heading into this beast tomorrow.

 

Its called a plunger spring, but its not probably what you think, its not simply a cable spring, its kind of like an auto primer, it controls a diaphram, thats why it shoots gas in. But it gets too much or operates when it shouldn't, due to pressure build up from sitting or bouncing around on a trailer. Try This link the part no# is 92145A

 

ahhhhhh thank you

 

I can fix that! Ill do the rattle bars lube and stretch.

'02 Kawasaki Prairie 650 CARB STUFF
If your choke was ever stuck, check your oil. If it smells like gas, then the stuck choke caused washdown on your cylinder walls. CHANGE IT! THE OIL! NOW! (your crumby petcock will do this too so make sure you store your Prairie with the petcock turned to off)

If yer fouling (especially rear) plugs and she runs like the reverse rev limiter is stuck on in all gears....... My very early 2002 650 choke cable sucked and was (I hear lots were) made poorly and caused binding plus the stock return spring was weakly inadequate. Bummer! If yer cheap like me, you can fix it kinda easy. Just take apart your stock (stuck) choke at the carb, lube the crap out of the (especially rear) cables and stretch the plunger return springs to 1½ times their length before re-assembly. Works great! NO COST! Actually, if ya have an '02, do it BEFORE ya get jammed up on a nice high climber and run outta power by surprise! My Prairie also had a problem with the idle adjust screw. The locking spring was too long and the idle screw never contacted anything inside hence, no idle adjust at all. Solution was to cut about one third off the spring. Works dandy now! Click the pic for details...
Synch your carbs! On a six banger like my Valkyrie, this is a real job (as you can imagine), but on the V twin Prairie, it's a breeze. I use a Carbtune for the job on both.... and here's a page on how to do it on the Prairie.

You can shim your stock needles for a buck using washers from Radio Shack! They are precision and cheap! Part #64-3022. Fuss with them 'til ya get it right. I have not done this on the Prairie (my plugs look good) but I did do it on my Valkyrie.

HA! Be careful where and when you store your quad. Those little critters just LOVE snorkels..... Check the pic.

 

Well tomorrows the big day, Im heading over to tear into this hog.

Heres what I plan to do, please let me know if I missed somthing.

1. pull plugs
2. turn the quad over and see if gas sprays out evenly from both
a. if the gas shoots out even, then im going to do the plunger, petcock investigation
b. if gas shoots from 1 cyl then im going into the carb and see if its stuck open
3. fog the cyl a bit (since it got gas washed) and do a compression test to see if anything got bent
4. drain oil/filter
5. clean check plugs
6. refuel
7. warm up
8. carb sync (morgan)
9. hopfully be tearing up a snowbank [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]