A couple of days ago I bought a '97 Warrior. All my friends kept telling me how much better a 4-stroke would be in the woods than my Banshee. I rode it for about an hour and a half and it died on me while I was in 4th gear at half throttle. It hasn't started back up since. It isn't out of gas, and it does have compression. The spark plug is fine, and it is sparking though it seems to be a weak spark. There is nothing nasty in the oil, but there is a hint of a gasoline smell coming from it. Is that normal? Any ideas or comments will be appreciated.

Does a whiff or two of starting fluid (ether) make any difference?

Carburetor clean, fuel uncontaminated?

No fouled plug?

With adequate compression, fuel (clean and dry in the right mixture) and spark (timed correctly, delivered to a clean plug), I agree; oughta start! Good luck.

Tree Farmer

is fuel getting to the carb from the tank, carb to the enigne?

I kow this is a stupid question, and I don't want to insult your intelligence, but did you check to see if maybe the kill switch is turned off so the engine won't run? I know it's simple, but I have done it before.

You said you had a weak spark, so maybe your ignition coil is beginning to deteriorate. I have a '99 Warrior and the stator went out. It died on me one day, so I changed the plug, but it only ran for a few minutes until the stator finally failed. I'd buy a cheap, $15.00 multitester from Radio Shack and go through the electrical diagnostics in the Clymer's manual.

Okay, I got into it a little more. As far as I can tell, the carb is fine. I cleaned it and put fresh gas in it. I know gas is going somewhere, because I can smell it when I crank it. I tried a small touch of ether; no luck. The plug is new, so I doubt it is that. 250Rampage, the kill switch is in the "run" position. That was the first thing I looked at: I too have done that one too many times. I also made sure the gas was turned on. 99WarMachine, where can one get this Clymer's manual you mentioned? I'm an electrical tech, so I have all I need to troubleshoot the machine except a manual. I called the dealer about the weak-looking spark, and they told me to just replace stator. They were not able to tell me what resistance I should read across the stator, and they weren't interested in finding out for me. Thanks for all the comments.

jg47588, I bought my Clymer's Manual at a Yamaha dealership. Their most recent manual, I believe, only goes thru 1995, but the electrical systems have remained relatively unchanged. In my manual it gives these values for testing the stator:

Charging Coil Resistance: 0.70 - 0.86 ohms

Pickup Coil Resistance: 171 - 209 ohms

Source Coil Resistance: 270 - 330 ohms

One thing I found odd with the Warriors, is that the stator is submerged in the crankcase oil by design. I have no idea why the engineers at Yamaha did this, but I have to believe that super hot engine oil enveloping a stator assembly is not good for it. Also, if you find only one of your stator components to be bad, Yamaha will not sell them seperately. You might have better with Ricky Stator, or another aftermarket company. Of course, this is all assuming that the stator is even to blame.

The Clymer's Manual has a good troubleshooting chart of the electrical system, and gives all the specs to test the ignition components.

By the way, you can also order a manual at:

www.clymer.com

It would seem that I have found the problem. The source coil is only reading 113 ohms, according to my Fluke. Guess I'll have to order one. Thanks for the help. I guess I should order a Clymer's while I'm at it.