Hey guys I'll try to make this quick. I need some help. I have a 88 Suzuki LT-F250 Quadrinner with a problem. It refuses to start with the electric start. The motor turns fine but won't crank. When we push it off it takes about 15 minutes to get it going. Sometimes when it does crank it is VERY sluggish. After a few minutes it runs fine. I know there is not a fuel problem all the way to the carb. But it acts like it is not getting fuel. I'm not a mechanic and am just trying to figure this out on my own. What would make it so hard to crank like this? I don't get to visit the forum often so if you could email me, that would be appreciated.

Alan
medic42@nlamerica.com

 

maybe the battery is dead?

 

When the motor won't crank with the electric start,chances are it is one of two things. As juggalo suggests, it could be a bad battery (I assume you have already tried to charge it since that is the most obvious answer). To check if it is, unhook it and attach a known good battery. You can't just hook jumper cables to the old battery because, a bad battery will often drain away all power.

The Walmart batteries are tempting with their decent prices but I would suggest staying away from those. The car/truck batteries seem to be fine but the smaller atv/motorcycle/lawnmower etc. batteries are low quality in my experience. I know of five such batteries in recent memory that lasted only about a year. Dealers sell the best batteries but, after their large mark-up, the price is in the $80-$90 range (unless you have an "inside guy&quot.

A second possibility for your problem is the brushes in your starter motor. I recently bought a set of these for around $30 which was dealer cost through my "inside guy". If you have a service manual (as any atv owner should) and some mechanical ability, you can install these yourself.

These two suggestions are the best I can give you with the information you have provided. They could be way off since you haven't explained the problem fully.

 

As I mentioned...It refuses to start with the electric start.
<u>Text</u>The motor turns fine but won't crank.
The battery is fine, in fact I put it on my other atv and it cranks fine.

 

Your engine terminology is wrong which is why we misunderstood your problem. To say that a motor turns but doesn't crank makes no sense. Turning and cranking are the same thing. I assume that what you are trying to say is that the engine cranks over but does not fire (no sputtering).

Now that I think I understand your problem, I can try to help. Crank the motor for 5 seconds and then take out the spark plug. If it appears wet, replace it with a new one and try again. To verify that you don't have an ignition problem, you can check for spark with the plug removed and grounded to the frame.

If the plug is dry then you have a fuel delivery problem. Turn off the fuel petcock on the gas tank and remove the fuel line. Quickly turn on the fuel petcock and verify that fuel comes out. If it doesn't, the screen filters inside are clogged (remove and clean).

If everything checks out fine at this point, your problem is with the carburetor. You apparently have very little mechanical knowledge so I wouldn't recommend cleaning and inspecting it yourself. You should be able to remove it and later reinstall it yourself but have someone else (shop?) go over it. The cost should be small if you only bring them the carb since shop time will be reduced.

If there is any other information you can provide, my answers will be more precise.

 

if the plug is wet, replace it. if is dry i have a fuel problem? sounds as if it should be wet, so why replace it if it is wet? BTW, no i'm not a mechanic at all, that why i'm trying to learn. Thanks for the help...

 

You need to replace the plug because it is fouled, thats why your engine won't start and the plug is coming out wet, so go get a new plug and tell us what it does.

 

When the plug is wet, that means it isn't firing. The &quot;wetness&quot; is gasoline which wouldn't be there if the plug was firing. If the plug is dry but the motor isn't starting then there must not be any fuel entering the cylinder. If fuel was entering the cylinder and the spark plug was firing to burn off the gasoline (keeping the plug dry) then the motor would obviously be running.

 

I would check the spark first. If the jetting is wrong for some reason and the mixture is way rich then you get a flooded plug and therefore no fire. I had that happen a few times on my Zilla where the bike wouldnt fire. I took out the plug, it was wet, so i cleaned it and tried again and it fire straight up. Try the spark with the spark plug on the chassis first before you go and buy spark plugs you dont need. you should never have to give the bike throttle when starting. this can cause the wet plug.

 

If you suspect that the engine is flooded, leave the choke off and hold the throttle wide open. This sounds funny to anyone that doesn't understand carburetors but it is true (I can explain it if anyone is interested). Do not &quot;flutter&quot; the throttle, just old it wide open and leave it there the whole time you are cranking. This will dry out the spark plug and sometimes allow it to fire. Don't worry about it winding out if it starts. You will have plenty of time (especially on that slow reving quad) to let off the throttle.

Buying a spark plug is NEVER a waste. You should always have a spare plug anyway. They are relatively cheap and you don't want a bad plug to ruin a day of riding. This is especially true for anyone that doesn't understand engines very well. Swapping out a spark plug can be done by anyone and will quickly narrow down the potential problem.