Ok. Tomorrow I will use my battery tester and do a series of tests to see what happens to the voltage.

Ok, let me know if you need guidance in hooking the meter up. Testing for current is a different setup than voltage.

In all probability it is excess fuel in the exhaust, however it maybe a good idea to remove the end cap and see if the packing is still good and there are no blockages in there. Are you sure the choke is working? On my Praire it was an enrichment unit rather than an actual choke but it still needs to work correctly. Why only using the start button for 5 second intervals? I think the manual says for a max of 30 seconds at a time, perhaps your letting up on the starter before it has a chance to get started and this could add excess fuel into the engine.....just a thought here.

I just tested my battery on the Bayou and it showed 12.5V. It still won't start but I think my regulator or wires running to it might have gone bad or need to be cleaned. I have the battery on a tender and will test the bike after dinner. I have a theory that if I get the battery back to 13V the bike will start since it started the other night while the battery had 13V and it did start twice.

See if this helps on eliminating whether a battery is good or bad.https://www.batterystuff.com/blog/ho...ry-is-bad.html

Thanks for the link. According to that table, my battery is between 75%-100% charged. I've had it on a floater for the last 12 or so hours. I'm gonna attempt to open the carb back up and clean it once more and replace the carb kit. Spark plug is new, battery is new.

Again voltage reading is only part of it. A fully charged battery should read somewhere between 12.7-13.2 volts but that still doesn't mean the battery is ok. Testing voltage under a load is the best way to tell if a battery is good or not.

"A healthy 12 volt motorcycle battery should maintain a range from 9.5 - 10.5 volts under the load for a good 30 seconds straight. If the battery begins to hold and then steadily drops in voltage, there is a problem. If the voltage instantly drops to 0 volts, that is also a problem. We call this the open cell. On a new battery, this can be a result of manufacturing flaws, but it also may be caused by sulfate crystal buildup. Under the intense heat of the load, one or more of the weld pieces connecting the cells is coming loose and separating. This will cut the current, and voltage will drop. When the battery cools off, the pieces will touch, barely giving a complete connection. This gives you a false voltage reading. Batteries with open cells may read fully charged in idle, but they fail under a load test every time. Once a battery reaches this point, there is no going back. The best thing to do is recycle the thing."

You definitely want to check all your electrical connections, they need to be clean, shiny clean and tight. You would be surprised to see what type of voltage drop can come from a poor connection. I have a boat and in the marine environment corrosion is a big problem, so each spring I go thru all the electrical connections and clean them and add dielectric grease to keep them from corroding. As you bike is an older model it may pay you to do the same.

Hey OPT, thanks for that battery link, very interesting reading there!

May I get some helpful advice?
 

So we have the same ATV and we are having the same problems. The problem we are having with our ATV is that when you crank it instead of it backfiring it coughs and it will blow the carburetor right off?.
we are currently working on taking the carburetor off to thoroughly clean the inside.