Hey guys,

This weekend while at my cousin's second home in the deep woods of PA, their 94 Suzuki Quadrunner 250 overheated, then the engine seized. I know this was stupidity on our part. We we're trying to pull/tow a broken down 03 Kawasaki Prairie 360 home with the Quadrunner, on a dirt road. They had it in 'Low' and we're going relatively slow. After about 15 minutes the bike overheated, turned off and smoked. We originally though it just overheated, especially since it's air cooled. So we towed it home with the tractor, let it sit in the shade for half the day, and can't get it to run now. It turns on, and you need to hold the gas, but it still turns off very abruptly after 2-3 seconds. After that you get like a whiny, electrical noise when you try starting it, almost like a battery/electrical problem. We also are unable to use the recoil starter as the line/rope is stuck, which we've never seen before.

We're just wondering what type of damage are we looking at? Is the engine totally gone, which my uncle is convinced the case? If so that kinda sucks the bike is/was in very nice shape, and was a pretty solid bike for a 250cc utility bike.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

It may just need a new piston/rings and a cylinder bore. I would have the compression checked. The lower end is probably ok.

 

my 95 kingquad 300 has a very hard power compressions troke for pull starting. i am 6'2" and have to brace myself and use both arms to pull it (i dont use the compression release). one pull with a power compression, and it fires up. you gotta pull it hard, though. maybe its the same on the 250 engine.

 

i just ahd my carb rebuilt bec ause it did the same thing, minus the whining part. then i found out it was loosly adjusted valves.

 

Update,

Although this thread is old, I still figure I'd post. Anyway, my cousins took it to a Suzuki dealership, and apparently what was said was that the camshaft is broken, and needs to be replaced. It was quoted $1,000 to start the job, and could have more additional costs. I looked up a camshaft and it was only $90 online. I'm just wondering how hard of a job this is? The bike is essentially going to be parted out, but I feel compelled to try to replace it. Even though its a 94 it's in excellent condition. So how hard what it be for me to complete a job like this? Should I just let it be, or is this something worth doing it.

Thanks!

 

As usual, the dealer is trying to overcharge you on parts/labor. If the cam had broken while you were running it you would have know it. I find it hard to believe. Overheating is never a good thing, if it lost oil pressure and seized up, your bearings and lower end is probably shot. Since it is just going to be parted anyway, why not pull the top end apart and take a look at what's going on? You may luck out with a set of rings, a hone, and an oil change. That is if it didnt get hot enough to warp the cylinder. As soon as you pull the rocker cover, you'll know if the cam's broken or not.

 

Ya something doesn't seem right. I wasn't there at the dealership, so I'm getting what was said from them. The thing that's weird is the bike was brought to another powersport dealership, where they said it was OK, granted they didn't run it long at all. It did turn on and ran fine to get back on the truck. When it was brought back to their second home it ran for like 20-30 mins turned off and wouldn't start again. It has yet to be started since than.

I'm just wondering how hard is it to remove the top, and replace the items you mentioned? I have a somewhat OK understanding of 4 stroke engines, but I've never worked on them before other than small things such as oil changes. My cousins are even more in the dark with them than me. What exactly are the parts you mentioned?

Thanks so much!

 

I'm going by my 230 here, but the 250 cant be that much different. Remove the plastics and take a look at the top of the engine. That part where the plug screws in is the head. Bolted to the top of that should be the rocker cover. I think it has like 6 or 8 bolts in it. remove those bolts and you can see the cam, valves, and rockers. IF you pull that off and the cam is in two pieces, then its broke and he dealer wasnt full of it. You'll have to remove the whole head and cylinder assembly if youre going to get to the the piston assembly though.

 

I know this is again, extremely late with the update, but I finally got the bike in broken condition. As I said it was at a second home that's 4 hours away. Anyway, I did notice while the bike was in neutral, it doesn't roll, we almost had to pull it. It was defin in neutral since we tried putting it in first and it was clearly in gear, so in neutral it's very hard to move and roll. Just wondering what this means? I hope to start the teardown this week and see what happens. Thanks!