Since I bought my 93 350L 4x4 and rebuilt my 96 Xplorer 400, I have had good luck with them. They run flawlessly and I have put many miles on them both without any trouble. Last weekend, summer finally hit here in Wisconsin and we had some upper 80's and it was muggy. We rode all three of our Polaris's on a ride and put about 30 miles on them. Everything was great. Nothing overheated and the only casualty of the day was a young guy with a Honda 400 EX that had to be towed home because his spark plug kept coming loose. We got back to the campground and made some dinner and after about an hour the kids went to hop on the Xplorer and go for a ride down by the lake and it wouldnt start. I was like, great, now what. I went over and cranked it over but it wouldnt fire. I flipped the choke and it popped right off and ran great. I went to start the 350L and the same thing, I had to flip the choke. Is that normal on a hot day? I thought the choke was only for cold weather. I usually flip the choke half way when I first start my 2 strokes for the day, but never took them on a long ride in such hot weather. I pulled the plugs and they both looked excellent. And by excellent, I mean if I looked in a book for the description of a properly tuned engines sparkplug, the picture would look identical to my plugs. A nice light tannish color with no oil or fouling.

I remember years ago on the farm, our old Farmalls would start hard if worked on a hot day and left to set for a bit. Most of the time you had to choke them a bit and my dad always said it was because the carb was heat soaked.

Just a minor problem, but maybe it's normal and I'm worrying about nothing.

Thanks,
Mike

 

Most of the time no you don't have to choke the old 2 strokes or 4 strokes for that matter when warmed up.But depends on condition of machine,how long it's been sitting since last used,carb settings,float level,jetting,etc. If they run good then I wouldn't worry that you have to choke them when warm..When an old 2 stroke is running good,it's a good day..