Hi. I recently bought a 95 Timberwolf as a project and as a learning experience. She sat for a long time and the guy I bought it off of said that it may just need a carb rebuild. It was extremely low priced so I figured it was worth a shot. So I got it home, threw a battery in it with a new spark plug, downloaded a manual so I knew the plug was correctly gapped and was the right one. The air filter was missing and a bolt was broken off the cover plate at top of the timing chain. I retapped the hole and got the plate bolted back on. Drained and replaced the oil, watched an instuctional video on carb cleaning, and disassembled and cleaned the carb thoroughly, I figured starting it without installing an air filter, just to see if it runs would do no harm. I inspected the carb connections, no cracks were present. I tried starting with choke on, fired right up. Seemed to idle fine but would die as soon as throttle was pressed ever so slightly. Let it run for a bit to warm up and same thing would shut off if throttle was pressed. Also seemed that taking the choke off caused instant kill even after it was warm. My next plan of attack is replacing the carb completely because rebuilding it won't save much cash and it may rule out the carb being an issue. I will also put the air filter in it before I try again. Does anyone have advice? Is there something else I should be checking? I verified the fuel flows nice from the tank although when in the off position gas still drips slowly Also I should add that I set carb adjustment screws to factory settings. If I buy a new carb is there one I can buy that will be set up perfectly for this puppy? Also I noticed a small oil leak coming from the bottom of the engine is there an additive I can safely use to slow it down? Any thoughts greatly appreciated!

 

Im reading that running without the filter and airbox not being sealed may have presented these issues.
Is anyone willing to help?

 

The engine will not run right without the air filter etc, but they usually run better than that. Try fitting the air box and filter.

The only new carb you can guarantee will be "plug and play" is a genuine Yamaha one from a Yamaha dealer at Yamaha prices. I never fit new carbs, or rebuild kits. Had a Timberwoolf in a while back with the carb's insides turned bright green, presumably from the stale fuel dissolving brass components, ran fine once it and the tank were cleaned out. The tank had about 1/2 pint of water in it too.

Try the old plug, and do a compression test.

 

Hey i've recently been working on the same quad and ill x2 the needing the airbox and filter, fix those and see what it does. and yeah a lot of the cheaper new carbs that arent Yamaha are known to be shoty occasionally. so get you a rebuild kit and go for it. if you feel it wont work you could take the carb to a small engine shop and see what they will charge. if its a decent shop they will have a cleaning machine and all the tools to put it back together right. i know because i used to work small engine.

ive been loving my timberwolf so far. its fought me some, but its been coming around.

 

Just wanted to post an update. My plan was to try buying a knock off carb, 40$ advertised specifically for the timberwolf with a ton of great reviews. Much to my astonishment I connected the new carb, got all the missing air box, filter, pieces fully intact. She fired up and ran like brand new. The oil leak was as simple as tightning the oil plug and here I was asking about additives...lol. Anyways the original carb I'm having rebuilt by a local Yamaha mechanic, they say the have all the equipment needed to make the old carb like new and its fairly priced. It will be interesting to see how the cheap carb replacement holds up, it won't be seeing ethanol. Thanks for all the advice, amazing how rewarding it is to ride and have fun on something that was setting dead for years.

 

Glad the cheap carb worked for you. It may well last the bike out. I have never been able to understand the assumption that carbs are susceptible to rapid wear. When cars had carbs, they regularly did 100,000 miles plus with no attention to the carbs at all. The main reason Quads are different, is being filled from cans, which may not be all that clean, so dirt/water gets in and blocks jets. Your "Gas" may be different, but Petrol doesn't wear carbs much in the UK.