spock

When ever I'm dealing with a leaking carb issue, I like to bench test it before installing it back on the bike/quad. If you can mount it in a vice, then fill the carb with fuel using a clear fuel line. You can observe the fuel in the line & see if it drops while sitting - quite often it takes a while when the leak is slow. Beats putting it on & off the machine when the leak persists!

Pretty impressive machines, a friend owns one of the new 1000 models - it's more of a street bike that's super comfy than an off roader.

Those are cool bikes, good find! I got to try out one of those when they were new in the mid-80's. The shop I worked at was a Honda dealership in Vancouver, BC that provided bikes for the TV/movie business active around there. I think the show it was used on could have been MacGyver, they beat on those bikes pretty hard, even doing some scary jumps I heard, haha!

You won't find an oil pump chain on the 400 with Hondamatic's, they are gear driven off the clutch I believe. Only the 500 Rubicon had the chain driven pumps. I agree that a 400AT with that kind of mileage is rare!

Curious if the pickup coil was replaced when the stator was done? I've seen more than one Yamaha have a bad one.

I've never ran into a valve "stretching" but if you can't get proper clearance with the adjuster, then something is wrong with the head itself probably. Sounds like it's time to remove the cylinder head and have a pro take a look at it.

Is this the stock carb on this bike? It's possible something is missing...is there a retainer clip under the main spring inside the slide? It is W shaped and keeps the needle from moving when it shouldn't.

Those are almost the exact prices we're paying now for a litre of gas in BC these days. (one US gallon = approx. 4 litres)

Around here, firewood used to go pretty cheap since there was lots of bug killed pine available. Most went for around $100-150 a cord but those days are gone! The load I got was 2.5 cords and was $650 delivered (cut to length & split). The good part is that most was fir, seems to last way longer than that dead pine.

Winters are a lot more tolerable, at least indoors, with a good wood stove like the Blaze King we have. This year I have a good supply of fir & birch which is awesome! The worst part is going out to the wood shed when it's time to reload, haha.

It's brutally cold up here in the frozen north! Got down to minus 40C last night - that's the same as -40F btw. At 10 am it's now up to -32, gawd I can't wait for this to end!!

Is the gear inside the engine cases - the one the shift motor turns - getting jammed? If so, the failure is likely an internal Hondamatic issue.

It's also possible it has a choke cable that's corroded and won't allow the choke valve to close completely. Seen it a few times, something to check out.

Sounds familiar, had a brand new Cat ATV that wouldn't start right out of the crate. Ended up being a loose wire connection at the coil. They just use some cheesy spade connector that wasn't tight enough - great quality control guys!

I worked (briefly) for an Arctic Cat dealership and found their wiring to be less than ideal. Too bad I can't be of more help, I just recall having to diagnose problems that were related to wiring and sometimes a new, complete harness was required. The way the factory did the routing was pretty bush league so I'm sure you can do better on your own!