What's wrong?

[walterc]

Newby here and I need some help with my Honda ATV. It's a 1984 TRX200 with less than 1000 hours on it. I inherited it from my father in law that discovered prostate cancer a couple of years after buying it. Any way, long story short, after a long fight , he lost the battle about 10 years ago and it has just been sitting since. I obtained it from my mum in law about 3 years ago.

Now the problem, after only 3 or 4 accumulated hours it started missing real bad and then just quit and wouldn't start. It acted like it was not getting any spark. So I took it to the local repair shop and they charged me $40 for a new spark plug. It runs like brand new. Then 3 or 4 hours later same thing. Took it back and they charged me another $40 for a new spark plug. And we repeated the whole process. Except instead of taking it back to them, I just put a new spark plug in it. . runs like new for a few hours and then quits (after the sort period of missing first).

I've tried cleaning and regaping the spark plug, no change, put a brand new plug in, runs like a champ.

Any ideas out there?

 

[joe496chevy]

Try a different brand of plug, or buy it from a different store..... maybe they got a bad batch. How black is it after it dies? Could also be running too rich or bad fuel causing it to foul quickly. If the gas is over a month or 2 old I would try different gas.

 

[walterc]

It's pretty black when it quits, but not fouled, just black. It may be runnign alittle rich, so I'll try adjusting that. I tried switching from the Japanese brand (NK I think?) to Champion, but little difference. The fuel thing was my first thought, so it's been changed with no improvement.

The thing that really bugs me is it doesn't make any difference if I clean and regap the plug. Only if I put in a new plug and then it runs like brand new. Every other internal engine I've ever owned would run like new (for a while) if I cleaned and regapped the plugs, as long as there was some electrode left.

Has me baffled.

 

[jlbota]

Usually when they miss and pop like that its bad fuel...Old fuel or water in it etc. You may want to start by replacing the fuel with fresh. Maybe get a little hotter plug and make sure your air cleaner and intake are good and clean and clear of obstructions. If that fails you may want to clean the carb out as it may be full of old gas remnants which really gums up the works. If gas dried up in the bowl it will have left a silty gummy mess in there.

 

[TOMMYHPX4X4]

you have a metal tank on them right?if so i bet your getting bits of rust into the gas and it's fouling out the plugs. take the tank off and put some ball bearing in it with some gas and shake it around for a while and clean it out good.

 

[walterc]

Had the carb completley rebuilt the first time I took it in, so I don't think that's the problem. I'm trying a hotter plug now (had to replace it last night) and it runs like new again. For how long remains to be seen. Just to be sure I leaned out the carb a little bit, and I'll try cleaning out the tank this weekend.

 

[1bush2hog]

You may have some gunk still in the carb too. Drain the float bowl, and run some seafoam thru it with your next tank of gas, after you clean the tank

 

[jlbota]

Yeah those older metal tanks do wreak havoc on your fuel and carb if they are not cleaned out well. That crap comes in and drop right in the bowl and alot of times gets trapped in the needle and seat and won't shut the fuel off when the bowl fills. Good luck with it.

 

[Tul01]

I just got my 1983 ATC200 back from a good dealer nearby. Very similar sounding problem was baffling me too. They rebuilt the carb with all new parts ($80.00) and found that the ignition advance was sticking, they cleaned it up and now she runs like new again. Be sure to check that they actually rebuilt the carb, a cleaning is not good enough, as soon as I told them I had a 1983 Honda, they described the symptoms before I could it is so common. I found when I cleaned my carb it would be good for a short time but then start running rough, etc. Well worth my money to take it to our dealer as I had a small engine guy look at it first with no success.