I picked up a 1990 Kawasaki Bayou 220 for my daughter. It starts and idles great but anything over 1/3 throttle causes a stumble and loss of power. It feels like the choke is stuck but I've had the carb apart a couple of times now and everything appears fine. It seems to clear itself every once in a while but it doesn't last. It also backfires on deceleration. The jets are the right size. The plug has a black carbon coating after a short run. Should I just bite the bullet and buy a rebuild kit or should I be looking at something else?
Needle height, float height and fuel flow all are immediate suspects.
44Dwarf
SuperDork
9/19/12 3:59 p.m.
Pine-sol soak and clean it good theres something pluged or leaking in the carb. Are you sure the choke is shutting off?
Test the float needle flip the carb up side down so the float arm rest on the needle put on a short section of gas line and blow in to it it should take a bit of force to push the needle off the seat. There is a tool for this called a pop off tester its a large syginge with a presure gauge but leaky needle are easy to find with the above.
Have you checked valve lash lattely? how about the coil wire? Cut it back a 1/4 inch at the cap end and replace the cap (screws in to wire) they can corode there and make you loose energy.
Did you check if the tank vent is partially blocked? Does it run OK with the filler cap removed?
BoxheadTim wrote:
Did you check if the tank vent is partially blocked? Does it run OK with the filler cap removed?
Yup. Checked and no difference.
44Dwarf wrote:
Pine-sol soak and clean it good theres something pluged or leaking in the carb. Are you sure the choke is shutting off?
Test the float needle flip the carb up side down so the float arm rest on the needle put on a short section of gas line and blow in to it it should take a bit of force to push the needle off the seat. There is a tool for this called a pop off tester its a large syginge with a presure gauge but leaky needle are easy to find with the above.
Have you checked valve lash lattely? how about the coil wire? Cut it back a 1/4 inch at the cap end and replace the cap (screws in to wire) they can corode there and make you loose energy.
I changed the coil and wire since most carb issues are really ignition issues. No change.
I haven't checked the valve lash yet but I will now. I checked float height and the float needle. The choke is a plunger type. I disconnected the choke cable just to make sure it didn't hang up but no change.
Looks like I'm pulling the carb again. It looks clean but I'm going to soak it overnight then blow out all the passages again.
