trike troubles

[alshonda]

got an 84 big red atc200es that dies intermittently, starts good, runs good ,then dies, wont start for about five minutes then starts good and runs good for about another five minutes, then blahhhh, dead again, any ideas where to start looking, thanks

Sounds like you may have a worn engine. The cylinder heats up, causing it to expands and loose compression, then the engine just dies. It could be electrical too.

[200x Basket]

keep an old plug on you. when it dies put the old plug in the wire and ground it to the frame to see if it has fire. that will rule out the electrical. if there is a fuel filter that may be it.

I'm guessing it's electrical cause the thing runs great other wise, problem just started the last ride, unfortunately I don't know much about these guys, any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks....the last ride was just a stroll through the forest, the temp was about freezing and it wasn't being rode hard.

see your close by, where u from, where do you ride? don't know much about trikes myself but maybe I can be of some help, haven't run into your trouble yet, good luck

[200x Basket]

where are you, register

is it a running out of gas kind (sputtering) of dieing or a sudden stop??

having trouble with this, keep getting a message back that the username is already taken....I know it's me!.....Barrhead, Alberta,Canada....muskegnmud

[TimSr]

Normally, when its electrical, after it dies, you never know when it will begin firing again. If it consistantly will restart after sitting 5 minutes, its probably a fuel delivery problem. As basket said, when it dies, immediatly pull the plug and check for spark. Also, whne you pull it, if its dry, that is a clue of no fuel. Pull the fuel line at teh carb and see that its flows out freely. Sometimes the petcok will clog, or an inline fuel filter. If its getting through the line okay, problem could be the floats stuck in the up position, or the needle that the floats push up may be stuck in the seat. This is can be checked by opening the float bowl by removing teh plug on the bottom, or the bowl drain screw, and turning on the gas, and seeing if it runs out freely.

[muskegnmud]

sorry alshonda, finally figured out the computer and it was all my fault, say I must be just north of you....your trike, sputtering or flat out dieing???

[alshonda]

doesn't sputter or anything, jsut goes dead....I'll check the fuel tip....guess i thought it might be a short in the electrical, will have to drag it into the garage and have a look one night, thanks

[alshonda]

weather's been less than warm around here, especially to work on a trike in an unheated garage, anyways, opened up the shed and the trike almost started before I pulled the key out of my pocket, got her in the garage, took off the seat and tank, looking for electrical problems, only found a possibly wonky????reverse indicator switch, doesn't go right to ground when wiggled and bike is in forward but resistance of switch does go down to 1 K ohms..... then I drained the tank, pulled out the filter and a ton of crap and debris, cleaned the filter and swished out the tank, put it all together and away it went..................then again it never did cause a problem til there was at least 10 miles between me and the nearest form of civilization......will see next time "we" are in the bush........thanks TimSr for pointing me in the right direction!

[mudfreak99]

sounds to me like you float bowl is not filling up fast enough, check your fuel lines.