Hi All,

I was doing some research on the above problem and I happened upon this forum. So, I thought I'd drop my questions here. I am at a loss as to what the problem is.

For a little background, I found that my quad could be quite tempermental if it was treated roughly. My son was burnig doughnuts on the ice last winter and put it on its side. After that, it was very difficult to start but once it got going again, it was fine. Then, I toppled it end over end when the winch cable broke while winching it up a very steep (80*) incline. After that, it just didn't run right. Cold, it ran fine but once it warmed up, it idled fine, but touch the throttle and it would choke. If you were fast enough on the throttle, you could inch the rpm up, but it would take a while. Eventually, it wouldn't start. I went through the normal trouble shooting of a dead engine and I filled the tank to make sure that there was fuel and then pulled the spark plug to check for spark. There was a strong spark, but I noticed that when I hit the starter, the fuel/air mixture coming out of the spark plug hole was extremely rich. I also noticed that when it was turning over, it would ocasionally seize with a noise that sounded like either a dropped valve or hydraulic lock. Then, I ended up out of town on business, followed by our vacation and then out of town on business again, so it was almost two months before I could get back to it.

So, I stood there looking at the quad trying to figure out what was wrong with it. The first thing I noticed was that the fuel tank was empty. I was sure that I had filled it, but I could have been mistaken. I figured that if I was lookiing at hydraulic lock (the most probable problem considering how rich that mixture was) then I was probably looking at a carb problem like a stuck float. So, I started by removing the air cleaner lid. The air cleaner box was full of fuel. Not good. I removed the cleaner box and dumped the fuel into a bowl to have a look at it. First sign that there was something else going on: the fuel was brown. The only thing in an engine that I could think of that would turn fuel brown was oil. So, I removed the dip stick and behold: I had filled the tank. Unfortunately, it was all in the crankcase now.

My question, then, is what happened? There is a crank case breather line attached to the air cleaner box, so it is easy to see how any fuel in the air cleaner box could get into the crank case, but how did the fuel get into the aircleaner box? Or, am I looking at this backwards? Did the fuel go from the air cleaner box to the crank case or (shudder) the other way around? Does anyone know of a problem with the Suzuki Eiger 400 (or just the 400 in general) that may cause this kind of problem? Any suggestions on how to fix it? I would appreciate any assistance anyone can offer. The snow will be flying here soon and I am going to need my plow

Bert

 

Take the carb apart and clean extreemly well. Make sure there is no burs on the float pin. Make sure the is no gas inside the floats. Drain the oil and fill it with fresh oil.

 

I had to register just to answer this question.
I have a 1 month old Eiger that just developed the same problem only I haven't gotten any fuel in the crank case or filter box yet since I ride mine at least 3x a week.
The problem is in your petcock. Something happened to the vacum open portion of it and it is now always on. You let it sit for 2 months and the fuel just kept flowing in the carb and when that filled up it just kept on following gravity into your filter box. If you pull your filter you will see the crank case ventilation hose in the neck of your air box where your filter hooks up. Thats how it got into your crank case.
What I do is when I am running my Eiger, before I shut it off I stick a screw driver into the gas tank vent line on the gas cap. I let it run for a few seconds which creates a vacum in the tank and then shut the motor off. The vacum in the tank should keep the fuel from flowing.
The only reason I haven't brought it in for warrenty work is the town in my shop sucks. I took my bike in for its first service and got it back running like crap, I have since fixed their mistakes. The closest good shop is 2 hrs away.
Instead I will spend my own money on a petcock that has a deffinate off position so this doesn't happen again. I thought this was a stupid design from the beginning.

Hope that helps,
Keith

 

Hi Bert,
The same thing happend to my 03 Eiger. I was doing donuts on ice and put it on its side. When I rited it it ran like crap!. I removed the air filter and lid and limped it home. The next morning Wouldn't turn over. Cylinder was full of Gas and quite a bit in the air box. At that point I pulled the carb and found the float stuck open with some junk in the bowl. I bought a inline filter, a manual fuel petcock, and a jet kit. I put it all back together, found a vent hose that was kinked, and have not had a problem since.

The factory fuel petcock sucks (IMO) Since then the only time I use the manual one is when it is going to be sitting for longer than a day (I dont trust the factory petcock). I think everything cost me about $55. That was in 2002 so things may have gone up.

I think the reason gas was in you crankcase and you airbox is because the float was stuck on you carb (stuck open). This allowed gas to flow through the main jet, at that point some went to the air box and some went to the intake. Because the piston was on the intake stroke (bad luck) the intake valve was open and gas filled up the cylinder and then leaked past the rings to git into the crankcase.

Pull the carb and check the float, buy an inline filter and petcock, change the oil (maybe a few times), reoil your air filter. And let the good times roll again.

 

Thanks for all the replies. I did pull the carb and check for a stuck/defective float and everything seemed fine. I haven't been able to have a close look at the float valve yet, but hope to tomorrow or this weekend.

The suggestions about the petcock and inline fuel filter are good ones. I should have done something like that a while ago. They are probably part of the problem I am having because the quad has had hissy fits since I bought it. It would usually run fine, but would occassionally run like crap.

I'm not sure about the jets, though. How would a person determine if they need a new set or not? And, if I do, what size should I get?

And, if all the stuff in the original post isn't enough, when I removed and dismantled the carb, I wasn't paying close enough attention to what I was doing when I removed the throttle cable connection. The spring release and some parts went flying. I am pretty sure I found all of the parts, but was hoping that there might be a diagram online somewhere showing what I should have. Does anyone know of such a diagram anywhere? Also, I found that the butterfly will no longer move. I didn't reef on it for fear of damaging it, but is it normal for this to happen? I thought that perhaps since it is not completely assembled, there may be a lock stopping it from moving.

Bert

 

If you take the petcock apart and clean it and then suck on the outlet to create a vacuum it will make the petcock function properly. Eigers are notorious for dirt getting into the fuel system and carbs. I just removed a seed from the main jet that was making it run like crap. I think the factory jet is 122, I put a 128 in and it was a big improvement especially in the winter, the best $3 I ever spent!

 

yes...seeds got in my main jet many times...even with a filter on it...they still get in there...i also jetted up and it gave it enough power to wheelie from a take off with little body english

 

What you need to do to keep those seeds from getting into the carb is take one of those inline fuel filters and put it into the carb vent line. On an Eiger it comes up right there under the front of the seat. One thing on the filter on the carb vent: should you ever get gas up into it ( it can happen ) you will have to blow it out as it will vapor lock the carb. Either it vapor locks or it doesn't let the carb vent properly. In either case it won't run until you blow it out. This works on more than just Eigers.