As soon as I unloaded and started my new dingo 250 from GreatLakes ATV I knew I needed to take it back. It would almost stall whenever you punch the throttle. The only way to get it going was to really feather it and sometimes give it a push. There is no way this thing was running right at the dealer.

When I brought back they could not figure out what the problem was and told me to leave it with them while they try to figure it out. Well, who wants a lemon. They had 3 other ones sitting there they could have given me but the owner is a total jerk. His attitude is tough luck, you drove off with it your stuck with it.

The only saving grace is the employees who work there. One of them offered to deliver it to me on his own time after they fix it since I am an hour away. That tells me that he knows his boss needs to take a course in customer service.

 

i'm guessing you live in the midwest (like me) where it's been pretty darn cold. it doesn't surprise me at all that your machine runs poorly when cold - i've got a buddy with a 200cc chinese quad that complains of the same thing and my 110 is not the greatest. problem is that most of these machines have mikuni "ripoffs" that don't quite work as well as the genuine ones, especially when cold. i'm not necessarily sticking up for this dealer, but realize that there may not be much he can do, short of replacing the carb with a good mikuni replacement. if he hasn't tried it already, adjust the idle mixture richer and check the choke's operation (i think these have mechanical choke plates, and not electronic enrichment circuits).

 

Yes, we have a 110 as well and it was very hard to start today. But the problem with the dingo 250 happened a couple weeks ago when it wasn't quite this cold. I think there is a design flaw, the dealer even said that they have alot of problems with this type of machine. I was just frustrated with the poor customer service. Especially when this is the second machine I bought from him in 3 months. So much for establishing a good relationship.

The problem may be the automatic choke. My opinion is that an automatic choke is not a good idea. You never know what it is doing. Is it stuck ? Maybe. It might be worth replacing the carb altogether with something simplier.

 

Is this the SAME GREAT LAKES that is in Flint Michigan on Fenton Rd?

If so,I TOTALLY agree with you.I've had nothing but COMPLAINT after COMPLAINT against this guy and his dealership.

He had a class action lawsuit against his dealership just this past summer.

 

Fredsanford,

You can call John at Raceway. There is a manual choke conversion for these carbs. He may be able to help.

 

This great lakes ATV is on Gratiot in Mt. Clemens, Michigan. So, must not be the same business, maybe the name is just bad luck.

 

Thanks for the info, tooManyToys. I have a feeling a manual choke conversion is in my future.

 

I have a dingo 150 and the electirc choke dosen't work correctly on cold days. It doesn't sound like your problem is a big deal could be simple as a loose carb or needs an adjustment. Wouldn't go as far as calling it a lemon. I agree the dealer should do more. I bought a part on ebay from that guy and it's been over a month and it still hasn't shipped.

 

I have a Dingo 250 and was running it yesterday and fired it up this morning just to warm the motor up. Both times it fired right up. I will say this, there are intake and exhaust valve adjusters on the side that weren't done right from the factory. Once I got that down it ran great.

This was linked in another post. It might be of some use to you too.
Kazuma 250 valve adjustment

 

Your link does not show the adjustment. Just how to bleed the radiator.