short little back story, picked up my very first ATV, a non running 1985 kawasaki KLF185 bayou a few days ago for literally nothing, guy was fed up with it. Got it home and started to work on it. got it running in about an hour, put new fuel in it, changed the oil, and adjusted my carb. rode it around all day, and it never died on me. here are where i'm at now...

after sitting overnight I went to go start it the next morning, and no matter what i did i would not start. it has a pull start and electric start but electric start isn't working at the moment (that's another issue) so after enough pulls to leave blisters on my fingers we decided to "bump" start it by pulling it with a buddies Polaris. it started after about 200ft and rode great for 10 mins then shut the quad down for about 15 mins and again it refused to start! So we tore apart the carb completely, cleaned the body, jets, needles, and floats with carb cleaner and compressed air, it was spotless. put everything together and still no dice. we "bump" started it again, I rode it for about an hour and turned it off and it started in one pull the rest of the day. its now day 3 and i haven't gotten it to start all day, for 4 hours off and on.

I have adjusted the idle and mixture screws till im blue in the face, i have them both at 2 turns out right now. im getting good spark off my plug, my air filter is clean, im getting good compression, and im getting fuel...my plug keeps getting fouled with fuel if i pull it to many times. and my choke is a plunger type and its all the way "down" which is no choke for cold start i believe. is this just a hard atv to start or is something wrong? thanks for the advice.

 

If the carb rebuild is correct, then you might want to adjust the valves. I can say this, some bikes require a lot of learning and practise to start...when cold. I'm saying applying the correct amount of choke, and knowing when to start reducing the choke as the bike warms up...I'm a Kawie man ( the V twins ) but IMHO, Kawie can be very "touchy" when it comes to cold starting... But again, adjust the valves, that may take care of the issue.

 

Thank you, I'll try adjusting my valves, the carb rebuild is correct I'm sure, I had help by someone who has done a lot of carb rebuilds.It just is crazy how it either starts great or not at all! I'm going to get a new plug as well just in case.

 

OK. Adjust the valves and get back on here and let us know if that resolves the issue for you....

 

Alright I adjusted the valves to factory specs, (intake .015mm) and exhaust (.020mm) and pulled and pulled and pulled and nothing....plug was damp but not wet. also my pull start feels like it's "catching/locking up" halfway though a pull every once and a while...round two of suggestions

Off topic but any idea why my starter bech tested good, put it in my quad, worked in my quad once, and then stopped now won't run on the bench? Literally didn't touch a thing and in 1 minute went from spinning great to not spinning at all, ( I can spin the shaft freely with my hand, and the brushes are touching)

 

OK, one thing at a time . I read your first post again, about the carb. Looking like new and being clean....did you install a new kit? Looking like new and functioning like new are two different things. The pilot jet is a trick to clean, as well as the choke tube ( but yours may have a jet for the choke, not sure ). One must use the correct sized wires, and unless you know the sizes of wire, its hit or miss, and is not 100% effective. So, first thing I would do here is to actually rebuild the carb, and install new parts, and I recommend the Shindy kits which can be found on ebay....and inexpensive. I say this to eliminate the carb as the starting issue. In regards to the starter....replace it...$40 on ebay from DB Electical and a one year warranty. We all want to be frugle with our dollars, but sometimes we need to spend a few to make our machines reliable...

 

Have you checked your float adjustment??you may have bent it while cleaning it with air..

 

I did not install a new kit, I know carbs are very touchy and float needles and jets can be clogged very quickly and easily! So it is possible the carb is malfunctioning...I have had it apart about 5 times now and cleaned with carb cleaner and compressed air. I could buy a new carb / rebuild kit, I'm not looking to be stingy but I don't like replacing something I can fix, I'm sure you understand, I wish starters for my bike were $40! Starters on eBay for the 185 run about $150!! the starters for the 220, 300, ect...all run about $40.

I'm not sure I understand my choke now though, it's a plunger choke on a cable to the handle bar...the lever has a "S" and an arrow pointing left (if your sitting in the bike) and a "R" with a right pointing arrow. I'm assuming "S" means START and "R" means RUN....buuuut the plunger is down when the lever is pushed all the way to the right which I think is backwards? Let me know what you think!

 

My float level is good (I think) it looks right and haven't messed with it or used compressed air since it was adjusted...if the carb is sitting upside down the flat bottom side of the float should be parallel and level with the carb body seam correct?

 

All the way left is choke on, all the way right is choke off....as you are saying. But, you should have a slight freeplay in the choke cable....say 3 or 4mm....this ensures when in the off position...the plunger is all the way in, and not slighty open.

In regards to the carb....I still recommend a kit....Shindy. By the way, Whats the compression on the bike?