i have a 2002 lt160 quadrunner. it barely idles on choke and second you touch throttle it dies like it has no fuel. I have sonic cleaned the carb, rebuilt with a rebuild kit. carb is clean. ive had it off and opened up 3 times checking but it wont run. it ran exactly the same as I described before I cleaned and rebuilt the carb. fuel runs freely out of petcock. any suggestions on how to fix it and what the cause is? at this time, not sure its fuel but it acts like it. barely idles with choke. starts quickly, flares a little , comes back down but it idles labored.

 

Might be way off base, but I tore apart a carb three times for the same symptoms.
Then I poked the mud dobber nest out of the exhaust and problem solved.
Had the same problem on another bike that I forgot to take a rag out of.

 

Clogged exhaust is rare but happens more than you think. Had that happen to my car years back, a baffle inside the muffler rusted and dropped down blocking the exhaust. Spent lots of hours fixing what wasnt broke before figuring it out!

 

Thanks guys. I took your advice and checked out the exhaust. I disconnected the pipe at the head, started the quad. it ran the same. will idle but moment you go off idle it stumbles. it will hi idle briefly. during that time, if im quick, I can tap the throttle and it will drop out and if I let off soon enough, it will pick back up and idle. to slow letting off and it will die. sure seems like the carb is the issue. any more thoughts?

 

Well the exhaust was an easy test, another easy test would be a compression test to check motor/cylinder health. If you have 100# or more then check spark, another easy test to ground the plug and see if you have a nice blue spark. If yellow the spark is weak, needs to be blue. If all these check ok then another look at the carb. I know you cleaned it but something is not right in there if all the other tests are good.

 

Thanks. Ive checked compression. its 115. I checked spark and replaced the plug. its strong. I checked the exhaust, its clear. im edging on getting a new carb. i'll go through this one one more time. If you have any other suggestions, they are appreciated

 

Agood rebuild with a quality kit is far better than an aftermarket carb. Carb needs to be set to oem specs and most aftermarket carbs are not.