Probably getting sick of me posting questions about turning off the fuel on these little quads, and if you are I do apologize.

I'm just a nut about all my stuff running right, when I want/need it to run. Probably even more so when it comes to making sure my sons little LT50 is ready to go when he is.

If you haven't read it in other threads we've had our 2005 LT50 for only a few weeks now. This thing is like brand new, not a scratch on it...anywhere. Guy I bought if from bought it new in 2007 and he took great care of it.

Anyway, he had no manuals for it (I'll never understand that ) although he did have the title, so we're good.

Question I have is about the petcock. I know down is ON, says it on the plastic. What I don't know is what is reserve (or if it even has reserve) and what is off? When looking at the petcock, down is ON, but to both the right and left they both say PRI. I've turned it both right and left to try to let it run out of fuel and it just runs and runs. I have no idea though how long it should take this little engine to run out of gas?

Just for info, I have not had any problem with leaving the fuel on all the time.

Any help is appreciated.

 

Well, my son rides a Eton Viper 90R. When I have arrow (lever) parallel to the ground it is off, with the arrow pointing up it is on, and with the arrow pointing downward it is on the reserve. I use to turn my off and run it dry until one day the float got stuck. I just turn it to the off position as a piece of mind. I hope this helped you out.

 

ON means just that....fuel is ON

PRI means prime. In this position fuel will run constantly to the carbs. Use this position to start the ATV if it its run dry and there isnt fuel in the carb already. You will likely never use it.

There is no OFF. Your LT has a vacuum operated petcock. When the motor is running it creates vacuum which opens a diaphram in the petcock to allow the fuel to flow. When the motor isnt running the diaphram closes and stops the fuel. This happens in the ON position.

 

Thank you guys, wow, really appreciate the quick specific responses.

Kind of thought that PRI would mean PRIME but once again these little quads are new to me and never seen such a thing on larger ORVs.

Does seem strange there is no OFF position but it is what it is.

"Vacuum operated petcock" doesn't give me a warm cozy though. Vehicles I've worked on that have vacuum operated anything usually means trouble at some point.

Thank you for the info.

 

There are some big ATVs and alot of motorcycles with vacuum petcocks.....Ive had 4 or 5 around. Your also right that they can be problematic. I bit of dirt in there and the petcock hangs wide open potentially filling the crankcase full of gas. I now have ZERO bikes or ATVs with vacuum petcocks.....they have been replaced with manual petcocks.

All these machines where from the 80s and 90s though.....so they gave plenty of trouble free service.....just easier to replace with a manual petcock then to rebuild the vacuum one.

I believe I used a manual petcock from a Yamaha TTR90 on my sons LT80 (which I think is the same as the LT50). I used that same petcock on my Suzuk DR370 as well. My son has a TTR90 as well as the LT80 so I had one to take measurements from. After finding it fit on all these different machines I actually keep a spare one around......they were cheap, like $20 or so. The rubber piece to rebuild one cost $7.

 

on my quad the arrow pointing left is off, then up is reserve. altho i think i switched the gas lines, so down may be reserve and up is on, but to the left is always off on my machine.

 

I guess my fuel delivery uses gravity to feed the carb. Thats why I stated that I have a Eton Viper 90R. My settings are off, on, and reserve settings....no prime. I read that the prime "pri" setting uses gravity to feed the carb (aid in starting the engine) and once started switch to the on setting which uses vacuum to fed the carb when running. Always learing something new on this site.