I have a94 LT80, that hasn't run in a couple years, went through carb and cleaned it, put in some fresh gas, new plug, new battery. When trying to crank it the motor turns over very slowly, to slow to get it to kick, when you take the plug out it turns over like normal, also, I noticed some BLACK oil leaking out from the exhaust manifold. Is this thing junk or is it worth trying to fix.

 

It is pretty common for unburned oil to partially fill the exhaust, there is a drain on the bottom,if a lot of oil comes out, your best bet is to remove the exhaust, build a big fire, lay the pipe in it,and let it burn all the oil and crud out. A blocked up exhaust would create a lot of back pressure,and prevent starting. If you have a meter, see what the battery voltage drops to when cranking, it should not drop below 10 volts,or you may have bad brushes in the starter, or a weak battery. Look up LT80 on the forum (his name is Jack) if he can't help you, I doubt anyone can. Good luck, and keep us posted on what you find.

 

I'd fix it. Still years of riding left in it.

Good call on the pipe 95wolv. That's where I'd start.

And thanks for the kind words.

 

Thanks for the advice, any tips on getting the rusty manifold bolts out w/out breaking them, other than soaking with pb blaster?

 

If they are really rusty,shoot them with penetrating oil,then wad up a bit of rag or towel on them and soak the pi$$ out of it, and let it sit overnight,the soaked rags will keep it bathed in lube, you'll be surprised how easy it comes out when you give it time to work. A little heat from a torch never hurts, either. Also check to see if it has a washer-like plate in there with a small hole in it, they came from the dealer with 3 restrictors in them, one in the exhaust, a ring in the carb to limit slide travel, and a spacer in the clutch to keep it from moving too far, to limit speed. With all restrictors removed, and a little tweak on the clutch, you will be surprised how peppy those LT80s are. I turned my son's 87 LT80 from a belt squealling hill crawler to a tire spinning hill shredder with just a little clutch work, plus I milled out the intake and put TDR reeds in the cage, the stock metal ones were chipped. With some rejetting, it was a real runner, he rode it from age 5 to 9, never got tired of running it,especially after I put a pipe on it, gives it a real "dirt bike" sound, but didn't really see much performance gain from stock.

 

Cool, thanks, gonna jump on it this weekend! I'll let you know how it turns out.