Honda 4trax 300 Starting Problem

[LoonASea]

I've got a 99 honda 4trax with a 300 motor which for the last 9 years has always started immediatly no matter the weather conditions ,,,Well about a month ago I put the plow on it and it started fine but last week after we got some plowable snow It will crank over ,,,fire and run breifly for 4 seconds or so then die ,,,choke position doesnt seem to matter ,,,so far I have checked the plug ,,,cleaned the screen in the fuel shut off valve,,, cleaned/checked the air filter,,,charged the battery ,,,,to me it sounds like a fuel issue and Im thinking of checking the float to see if its stuck in the full/up position but lately its just been too dang cold to work on it ,,,does any one have other suggestion/experiences that I might try???

LAS

[Macgyver55]

You can loosen the bowl drain on the bottom of the carb to see if you have good flow through the needle and seat.

If it does, it sounds more like the pilot or main jet may be plugged.

Does this wheeler sit for extended periods with no use?

If it does, its probably from old gas. If you use it frequently and it did this suddenly, it could be something got into the carb and plugged it. Either way it will probably have to come off and be cleaned.

[GSPMark]

Had the same problem a couple of weeks ago. Had to clean the carb. jets pluged up. The new fuel starts to go bad pretty quick. Carb gets plugged with corn dust.

[LoonASea]

Mac

It does sit for like a 2 week period with out use but it gets a work out pulling the yard sweeper during the fall ,,,the gas in it might be 3 months old by now but I plan to drain it and put some fresh gas in it ,,,one other thing not mentioned in my first post ,,,,when I pulled the air cleaner off I ran my fingers in the throat of the carb and couldnt smell any fuel on my hands ,,,I may have to tow it into my heated garage and pull the carb and go thru it

thanks for the help

LAS

[jltimm]

Was there gas coming though when you cleaned the fuel shut-off valve? How about from the valve down to the carb? Is the gas tank vent plugged?

[Macgyver55]

Opening the bowl drain should eliminate any question as to if gas is getting to the carb or not. If there is no gas to the bowl, it could be as simple as a gas line freeze, or frozen water in the carb bowl.

[LoonASea]

Im going to push it in my heated garage tomorrow and pull it apart (I work 10 hour days so its hard to get to work on it during the week and its been too darn cold up here to tear into it with out gloves on) I will have to find my metric screwdrivers and cresent wrench and check for fuel in the carb

I did get a diagram of the carb on the honda atv forum ,,,it sure looks more complicated then the carbs on my harleys which Ive tinkered with before

Thanks for help everyone

LAS

[Fredd]

I had that exact problem with my '87 250 fourtrax. Had been running great and then nothing. After posting my problem, I discovered the fuel was low. I am sure that you have checked already but wanted to throw this out in case.

[LoonASea]

It ended up being a poor plug ,,,I needed to get a new plug for the torpedo kerosene heater so I picked up one for the honda too ,,,gapped it,,,, put it in and she fired up instantly like it normaly did

Let it snow now!!!!

Thanks for the help!!!

LAS

[Macgyver55]

Great! Sometimes we overlook the obvious.....