My buddy just bought an 05 Predator. When he went to buy it the bike fired right up ran fine no problems. Well he gets it home and the next day takes it for another ride, and it wont go full throttle seems to be cutting out. So he rides it around for a little bit and parks it, goes out later and can't get is started again. So he changes the plug, soaks the carb in carb cleaner (dont know much about carbs), changes the oil, air filter, fresh gas, and still wont fire up. I tell him they are very warm blooded and won't start if they sit in the cold too long, so he takes it to his dads garage and has a turbo heater on it for a couple hours, and still wont fire up. It's getting spark but he did say that the plug isnt very wet after turning it over. Maybe not getting enough fuel???? Any ideas????? Thanks guys I know you'll point us in the right direction.

 

LOL... dumb question but is the fuel line on???? worth a try

 

Yeah everything seems to be in order nothing missing. I guess he shot a little bit of ether in it and it sputtered a little like it would run if you gave it a whole shot. Told him not good to put starting fluid in it but he wanted to see if it would fire at all. I have a predator too but never had to do anything but change the oil so I dont know much about it. I did look it seems the fuel line comes out of the tank and into something in the front with other hoses then goes back to the carb. Not sure what this is didnt really look into it much. I just thought it wasnt starting cause it was so cold I started messing with mine and couldnt get it started either but once I heated it up mine fired. Mine has been sitting for about 6 months havent rode it since I got the Sportsman but its firing up everytime now.

 

what it runs to is a gravity pull in the front of the quad, maybe something in there is clogged. try cleanin that up and make sure all the hoses on there are not leakin or kinked. Did he actually take the carb apart???

 

Not sure if he tore it totally apart. All hoses are good, not kinked and breather tubes hooked up. I really dont think the guy selling it was ripping him off the thing fired right up and ran fine when he picked it up. Just weird after the first ride its done. Were gonna mess with it some more today. I'll keep you up to date.

 

Thier may be a plugged jet in the carb or something. tear it apart and see what it looks like. check the jets and needle. I had a needle drop on mine once and it didnt run right. could be the float bowl as well..

 

My neighbor had the same problem with his Predator 50. This is what fixed it. He put a blow air nozzle into the gas tank. Held a seal with his other hand & gave it a shot of air forcing gas through the line. It has run like a top since.

I have a scrambler 90. If don't turn the gas off when I travel with it, it is a SOB to start.

Does the predator have the electric choke or the manual choke?? The Scrambler has the electric & it is very finicky.

 

O.k so we got good spark. Fuel to the carb. New plug Fresh gas. He took the carb to dealer and he said everything looked good. We can get it to sputter by spraying gas into the carb but it wont take over from there. We pulled the plug and its totally dry. What would be keeping fuel from reaching the cylinder do you think that the valves are totally out of wack. Seems strange that this bike ran fine when he picked it up and he even rode it up the road but couldnt get full throttle. Seems strange but possible that something broke on his first test ride.

 

Im not sure. Find out what the specs are on the valves and check them.

 

Well I found a shop manual online and downloaded it (FREE!!!!) and the thing is way out of time. Tore it apart got everything lined up and threw it back together, hit the starter and low and behold the monster came alive. After about 30 seconds it died again check the cams and out of time again. So he ordered a timing chain and tensioner. Should have the parts by the end of the week so I'll let you know next weekend. This should do the trick as everything else looks good. Thanks for all the suggestions!!