I have a 97 scrambler that lost all power and now would not even start. It started spewing fuel out the exhaust...after a carb cleaning and replacement, that turned to water. i had several overheating issues that got fixed by bypassing the rad switch, then removing the thermostat but those never really worked out. All this time and no real power back into the atv. I read on here similiar problems pointing to the head gasket. I have her apart with parts on order. I am down to the cylinder jug. My piston wobbles in the cylinder indicating that i do NOT have burnt rings...hopefully. My question was should i inspect anything else before i put it all back together and find out my problem was something else? When i tried to start it before....water overfill jug got pressurized and spit water out, water poured out the exhaust, compression test yielded 75 psi...and it held it for a while. I just dont want to put it all back together and find out i should have checked...( insert missing item here). PLEASE help me! iwant to sell a running atv so i can upgrade instead of buying a new one " retail"

 

Time to rebuild the top end.You need very minimum psi of 100 best if over 120psi

 

So is there nothing else to check? Just rebuild the top end and go from there? i guess thats cool....Thanks for your help! Ill let yall know what happened.

 

Check head and cylinder for cracks and see if you can tell if the head gasket was blown letting water in.

 

How can you tell? Everywhere was either wet, rusty, or dark black. The head looks ok. The piston looks ok, just carbon dirt. I guess I'll move the crank out of TDC to look at the cylinder walls. If that checks out ok would that be the last of the BIG issues before I can rebuild her? Thank you!

 

use a feeler gauge and check the piston to cylinder clearance .004 is max .002 is good

 

OK...she has life...not very great running...but running. It starts up fine...now it idles REALLY high! Since the carb went thru a rebuild replacing most of the removeable parts...what could this be? Is there a break-in procedure for the new head gasket before i run it wide open? Thank you!

 

Do you have the throttle valve in correctly on the carb?

 

i never took that out to mess that up. I considered that as a clean around item

 

OK...now i have a problem. When i took off the fuel tank to remove and clean the carb, i did a compression test. She is still around 80 psi. People said on here it should be easily above 100 psi. I replaced the head gasket, cleaned everything, it does not leak down. What could be the problem?