Hey, Ive got a 1991 Suzuki 230 Quadrunner and have not had to many problems with it. This past weekend I was out riding, hitting all the snow drifts etc and all in the engine area was packed with snow. I cleaned as much of it out as I could and on the way home, the throttle got stuck open...revving very high. I killed the engine and it finally went back to normal. I did not have any other problems with it sticking but it runs very rough. It doesnt start unless you are giving it gas and after about 20 seconds, if that, it will really bog down and eventually die with the engine making a knocking noise. No gas is coming out of the carb overflow so I know the float isnt stuck in that sense. The gas is topped off and I am getting a spark, sparkplug is working ok. I did remove it and noticed that it was black and wet with gas. The choke cable seems to be working fine and isnt broken. The last few things that I can think of, is something going on with the carb...jet clogged or maybe an air leak in a line somewhere....Running out of solutions. Any help would be greatly appreciated - Thank you!

Chris

 

If it reved to high you cold have broke a ring, piston skirt, or even bent somthing. The 230 isn't really mode for alot of rpm's. i don't think you have any jet problems. If that motor got hot enough it will peg the idle and some times not even die with the kill switch off and self destruct it. I had the happen with a dirt bike once.

 

I really hope it is not that severe of a problem. When it is ready to die, I hit the gas and it will usually run fine for another 15 seconds or so (Seems like until the gas is gone in the bowl?) and then will start to die out again. If I rev the engine and then let off, re-apply the gas, there is hesitation and it will sputter and then eventually rev back up as to how much I have the throttle applied. To me, it seems like a carb/setting issue...I am hoping so at least.

 

you have a vent that runs from the carb up to the underside of the gas tank check and make sure its clear. Take a compression tester and check the compression should be above 114psi. How does it run when the choke is applied? If a jet is stopped up usally it will run on choke but not with the choke off.
Check the rubber boot clamp from the front of the carb to the intake make sure its tight and not sucking air also the back rubber boot to make sure all air is being pulled thru the air filter. Another thing to check would be how fast gas flows from the gas tank main fuel line to the carb by pulling the main gas line and
draining the fuel for a minute or draining from the bottom of the bowl on the carb.

 

When the engine is cold, I can hit the start button and it will start right up. I doesnt rev up to its normal idle range after it has warmed up though. After the engine is warm, I can not get it started unless I hit the throttle to give it gas and then after a lil bit, it will eventually die unless I keep hitting the throttle as it is choking for fuel. I have drained the carb bowl and then turned on the gas to make sure it is making it there, it would flow out the bottom so I know it is getting the fuel. Today, I will really pay attention as to how it runs with/without the choke, I will check the carb vent that runs under the gas tank and check to make sure everything is tight from the carb to the intake. I will keep you posted as to what I find out...Thanks for the replies.

 

Update...It started right up today, using the choke/cold engine. I ran it for 6 minutes and it was still running although you could tell it was missing. The engine was still cold but the pipe was extremely hot...could feel the heat coming from it with my hand 6" away from it, is that a sign of rich or lean? I then took it for a spin and took the choke off completely...Still kept running but still missing. If you put the choke to on after it had been warmed up then it would kill the engine unless you were revving it and vice versa. I checked/tightened everything going to the carb and it didnt seem to make a difference....Still doesnt have the rev and power like it used too. Also, when I revved it, I could smell some gas (Around the middle of the exhaust where the clamp is). Could any of these signs be from a leak in the exhaust or do you guys think it is carb related....Something clogging the jets etc??? Any more ideas - Keep em coming!

 

Pull the plug and check the color of the porcilan (sp). If it is black, I would wonder if the float level is way too high, or even a sticking needle/seat. I would also try a new plug.

 

ok I agree with the last post check the plug and see if its black if it is then the motor is running too rich or the gas in the float bowl is too high and flooding your machine. Can you check your compression and let us know what the psi is? Also the air mixture screw on the left side of the carb ( if your sitting on it) may need to be adjusted a normal starting point would be to turn it all the way in and turn it back out around 2.5 turns to 3 turns. You never said whether you took the carb off and cleaned all the port holes, if one jet has even a speck of trash in it the machine will not run right. Also take the bowl off and just hold it up to the carb with your hand and turn on the gas and let it fill up then turn off the gas and remove the bowl and see how much gas is in the bowl if its too high or two low that could also be your problem. let me know.

 

I have pulled the plug and noticed is is really black. I know it is running rich and yet when it runs it seems like it doesnt have enough gas. At this time, I am not able to check the compression, but if I need to, I will go out and buy the right tool. I did move the air mixture screw around a little bit but it seemed to make no difference. I am coming to the conclusion that there is something in one of the jets and I will be taking it off and checking that out. Also, I will check out the choke, I might be missing something even though it seems fine. I will also check out the float level...Thanks for all the help so far.

 

let me know what you find out when you take the carb off. Remember when using the carb cleaner, that stuff is very bad on rubber parts so dont spray it on the gaskets. Also sometimes when you take a large O ring off some Carbs it seems like the O ring is too big to go back in place, so what do you do? Put it in the freezer and shrink it back down before you reinstall it.