Help me out

[dream3wheeler]

Alright im gunna try making this as quick as possible being its late. so yesterday i took a day off school and didnt have to work. my plan was to go out riding all day and do a little bit of hunting too. Well i got everything ready at about noon and took off with the 185 and 200 in the back of the truck. Got there everything was working on the wheelers. rode them all day from about noon till 4, at about 4 we took a break and parked back at the truck for a few minutes. i got a little bit jumpy so i started the 200 up and took off down the road for a quick ride. well i got to as far as i wanted to go and turned around, when it started sputtering like it was running out of gas. well i quickly flipped it to reserve and it shut off. i thought i just wasnt quick enough. so i hop off and try starting it up. it'll run up until i hit the throttle. i got it back to the truck going about 5mph and barely hitting the gas. if i give it anymore gas it just dies. please tell me its not blown up. any answers would be very much appreciated! thanks guys! let me know! sorry for the length!

[Motorious]

Don't panic yet, sounds to me like it got low on gas and sucked some crud into the carb; very likely a clogged jet (which would explain why you couldn't give it much throttle without it stalling). If you were riding for 4 hours without refilling, chances are good you're low on petrol.

If there isn't any obvious signs of major trouble (i.e. huge oil leaks, disturbing metallic grinding sounds, smoke pouring out the exhaust, etc), pull the carb, disassemble, and give it a good thorough cleaning (chances are if it is dirty you'll see it); inspect your gas tank, drain and clean as necessary. Add an inline fuel filter as an extra precaution.

[Chazz of Blades]

Here's a tip if that happens. Pull the line from the carb, and blow through it up into the tank, if you feel any resistance other than the gas, your petcock was clogged up, blow through it good, don't breath in from the gas line, and replace the line back on the carb. I've had to do that in the middle of the woods. If your tank has rust in it, and let's be serious, most of them do to some degree, it can clog up the filter in the petcock and act like a clogged jet or out of fuel. Ever drove something with a BADLY clogged fuel filter?

[dougspcs]

I'm with Motorious!!

If there is rust/dirt in your fuel system I suggest you do the full service..a trail fix is great, but it just clears the dirt causing your immediate symptoms. It will happen again and probably leave you 5 miles from your car!!

Remove the tank, drain, flush, blow out with compressed air..remove the petcock and clean it also.

Pull the carb, strip, clean, and blow out with compressed air..

Put it back together, fill is with fresh clean gas and forget about it again for the next few years.

[dream3wheeler]

alright cool. well, i checked the tank and petcock and there wasnt anything the matter there but ill give the carb a good cleaning saturday after work and see what happens. Heres a what-if.. what if its not the carb? there doesnt seem to be anything majorly wrong with it but are there any other possible solutions? i was thinking maybe the spark plug could be going bad.

[Chazz of Blades]

Pull the handle, without the compression release, and if it still feels like it's fighting back it still has compression. If you hear metallic scraping noises, you're boned. I've never actually fouled a plug on a four stroke Honda, but it's possible if you don't change em, and you've bonkered the mixture.

[FastZ28]

I've had a similar issue once on a 350x, the main needle that goes up and down with the slide had the e-clip come off. The needle will just sit in the main jet when you hit the throttle and it will want to die because its getting more air but no fuel.

[beets442]

After you clean the petcock and carb, add an inline filter. Add gas, turn petcock on before you connect it to the carb for postive flow. Old sparkplug? Air filter/mouse nest?

[bigworm626]

Clogged jets kid kash.

[just ben]

sounds to me that you may have water in the tank.you ran out of fuel in the "on" position and when you switch to the reserve position It will pick up the water at the bottom of the tank.

[dream3wheeler]

alright boys. took the carb off to clean it. the main jet wasnt screwed in. it must have rattled itself out from running all day. but i cleaned it up while i was at it, put it back on and it runs better than before. thanks!

[Motorious]

Awesome! Glad to hear it was an easy fix. I had a similar situation with a '77 Kawasaki KZ650 I once owned: wasn't firing on 1 cylinder and it was leaking gas from the dead cylinder's exhaust port (where the header mounted); took the bowl off the dead cylinder's carb and out dropped the pilot jet into my hand. Gotta make sure those jets are good and tight before zipping up those carbs...