What is up with the weird fuel petcock on the Eigers? I never saw anything like it before. So far all I really figured out, is that when there is air pressure in that line that goes to the petcock, the fuel will flow. I can't really figure out what it's purpose is. My best guess is that this is a safety feature, but I really don't know.

We're trying to narrow down the possibilities for the problems we're having with my buddy's 2002 Eiger. Sometimes it'll run fine, and then all of the sudden it'll just totally geek out, and starts backfiring, popping, sometime it stalls, and it barely makes any power. It seems like it just starts running extremely lean. We tried to figure out what brings on these fits, and the best observation we can make is that usually we start having trouble when he gets into really rough terrain or jumping it. Water seems to have no effect, nor does the engine temperature or air temperature. It's not bad fuel, because it's been drained, and I don't think it's possible for junk to be in the carburetor, because we installed a fuel filter and had the carb apart for cleaning several times.

Today when we were riding, we saw another rider with an eiger with the same problem, so it seems like it may be a common problem. But the suzuki dealer tells us that it's all in our heads, and the thing is in perfect working order. I'm fairly confident that complete loss of power, and backfires complete with muzzle flashes is NOT all in our head.

If anybody could shed some light on this, or give us any kind of guidance, I'd be very grateful. This has been going on for almost 3 years, and the Eiger has been sitting in the shed unused most of that time because of it.

 

You can turn it on to the PRI position and then it's on all the time. Eigers always seem to have junk in the carb. Check the main jet and float bowl for stuff. Like grass seeds and spider legs are common.

 

Thanks. Anything you can think of other than dirt in the carb? I had it apart and cleaned it very carefully several times, and there has been a fuel filter in place for a while, so i don't think any more dirt could find it's way in.

 

The vent hose from the carb could be kinked or have something in it. This is the hose that goes from the carb to under the seat.

Mine drove me nuts trying to find the problem, carb came off 4 times looking for something in it. then I noticed the vent hose is run over by the exhaust and got soft & kinked.

I removed the hose from the carb & ran it a few miles & it was fine so I replaced the hose with a piece of heavy hose ( I think 3/8 fuel line ) and everything has been great since.

Mine is also an 02 so your hose could be routed exactly the same.

 

Hey there, I feel your pain. Check out my thread from a while back:
My Thread

Sounds real similar to what you're dealing with. Turns out, it was the idle mixture that was all out of whack with mine. Idled fine, but wouldn't let it rev up off idle without either sputtering or dying unless the throttle was babied to get it revving. Anyway, lots of great suggestions in that thread so if it isn't the same issue, maybe one of the suggestions might help you fix it.

 

BTW, halfway down on the first page of the link in my previous msg, you'll see the link to another one of my threads on the same topic.

I wanted to add a few suggestions:
When it starts acting up. Try turning the tank valve to Prime and blowing thru the hose on the gas cap... that'll pressurize the fuel tank. I've noticed on both my Eigers that on really rough trails, basically rock crawling, low-range type stuff, the motor is starved for fuel... this is after we added fuel filters inline. We have clear filters on them and they'll be empty until we flip the valves to Prime. If we're on rough trails, we usually just run them with the valves set to Prime.

 

Well, I had a hard ATV problem to figure out for a 2002 Eiger LT-A400 4X4. This thread and others have been a big help. Engine would idle fine but give it some gas and all it would do is spit and sputter, backfire and at full throttle die completely. This forum suggested all kind of solutions like water in the gas, dirty gas, vent hose plugged with seed, vacuum hose plugged or kinked, bad electrical component, dirt in carb jets and believe it or not a spider leg plugging jet in carburetor bowl. Checked everything and narrowed it down to the carburetor and took the bowl off to take a look for plugged jets. Unbelievable! found a piece of a spider leg covering the main jet and a whole spider in the bottom of the bowl. Put it back together and it runs fine. Is there really a way for a spider to get into the bowl of the carb? The only thing I can figure is there was a spider infested carburetor bowl part bin at the factory and carburetor was put together with spider enclosed. Maybe that's how the other ATV'ers also found a spider leg. Go Figure!
Anyway, thanks all for all the suggestions. Saved me a lot of time in finding the problem.