Hi All,

I'm new to the forum. I've owned my Suzuki Ozark 250 since new in 2003. Tonight I was pulling a lawn sweeper over the yard, and all of the sudden about 20 minutes in, the engine sputtered briefly and died. I thought it was probably a fuel related issue or vacuum petcock leak. Upon crouching to examine the petcock, I could very faintly see what looked like smoke rising up off the engine between the fuel tank cap and handlebars. It's hotter than crap today here in Iowa, 95 heat index, so I figured it was just vapor.

I sat for about 2 or 3 minutes and then tried to start it again. I did get it going eventually and drove it back to the shed. Once in the shed, I noticed more light smoke coming off the engine, at which point I realized I must have overheated the engine having driven so slow with the lawn rake and let it set idling for about 5 minutes while I went to the shed and got my dethatcher. Worth noting, oil was at operating levels and clean, cooling fins are clean, and the engine wasn't/didn't make any knocking noises or anything...it sounded normal to me.

So I ask you all, does this sound like the engine just got a bit too hot, or something else? I've never had this quad overheat in the 20 years of ownership, and it's sat idling longer than 5 minutes in this kind of heat before.

Then my next question, is it likely safe for me to go out once it's completely cooled down and try and start/run it again? Or do I risk further damaging the engine?

And finally, was this incident likely to have done severe damage to the engine (ie, do I need to expect the engine will probably fail here soon)?

 

Sounds more like something is dripping onto the engine and vapourising. A small oil leak can do it and may be nothing to do with the engine stalling, which could be heat related, if you are lucky this could be a vapour lock in the carb, if you are unlucky, it could be the start of an electrical component breaking down when hot.