JakeMoore 1 Posted March 22, 2020 Hello everyone! I'm currently piddling with A 2003 Recon (the Freecon). I can't get it to run for the life of me, I've been thinking its a fuel issue. Fresh gas, new petcock in tank, went through the carb twice. it will run for about 5-10 seconds and die. starts right back up and does the same. it seems like its running the bowl dry, but if you open the drain on the bowl it drains good. its getting spark but it looks weak. is there any chance its a spark issue and not fuel? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shadetree 5,468 Posted March 22, 2020 my question is, what and where did you purchase the new petcock ?, is fuel flowing good to carb ?. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JakeMoore 1 Posted March 22, 2020 Its An eBay special. it has good fuel flow to the carb. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shadetree 5,468 Posted March 22, 2020 Just now, JakeMoore said: Its An eBay special. it has good fuel flow to the carb. then verify fuel is reaching and filling float bowl all the way from a sticking float needle ?. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JakeMoore 1 Posted March 22, 2020 Yes, the bowl is filling and staying full as far as i can tell. i opened the drain on the bowl and filled a water bottle, never stopped flowing. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shadetree 5,468 Posted March 22, 2020 6 minutes ago, JakeMoore said: Yes, the bowl is filling and staying full as far as i can tell. i opened the drain on the bowl and filled a water bottle, never stopped flowing. then now you must check for spark and compression, as well as the timing. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shadetree 5,468 Posted March 22, 2020 please make new member post, tell us a tad about you. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JakeMoore 1 Posted March 22, 2020 (edited) intro post done! sorry, didn't mean to be rude! It has spark, but it looks a little weak in my uneducated opinion. a little backstory, it was running fine but it flooded here. So i went through a bit of high water, about the top of the wheels. No water got in the engine as far as i know(airbox dry etc.) and i also got gas from a station that i don't usually use. Riding along and it just died and wouldn't start back. I originally thought it was bad gas. Do you think the compression or timing would go just like that? Edited March 22, 2020 by JakeMoore Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shadetree 5,468 Posted March 22, 2020 1 minute ago, JakeMoore said: intro post done! sorry, didn't mean to be rude! It has spark, but it looks a little weak in my uneducated opinion. a little backstory, it was running fine but it flooded here. So i went through a bit of high water, about the top of the wheels. No water got in the engine as far as i know(airbox dry etc.) and i also got gas from a station that i don't usually use. Riding along and it just died and wouldn't start back. I originally thought it was bad gas. Do you think the compression or timing would go just like that? i would start with some fresh diff gas, a new spark plug. also check the timing through the timing inspection cap. we should have a service manual for your model listed in the service manual section :-). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shadetree 5,468 Posted March 22, 2020 deff run a compression check !. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JakeMoore 1 Posted March 22, 2020 We rigged up a small tank and used that engineered gas from the parts house and put a fresh plug in with no change. i downloaded the manual but haven't had a chance to dig through it yet Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shadetree 5,468 Posted March 22, 2020 18 minutes ago, JakeMoore said: We rigged up a small tank and used that engineered gas from the parts house and put a fresh plug in with no change. i downloaded the manual but haven't had a chance to dig through it yet please do this small test: take a can of starting fluid, spray a short burst into the back side of the carb, if it '' hits '' for doing this ?, then its a fuel delivery issue into the intake from the carb. if it won't '' hit '' from doing this ?, then its clearly a spark issue ?, or compression/timing issue ?. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JakeMoore 1 Posted March 22, 2020 No change using starting fluid. ill check the compression and timing marks in the morning. Thank you! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shadetree 5,468 Posted March 22, 2020 Just now, JakeMoore said: No change using starting fluid. ill check the compression and timing marks in the morning. Thank you! ok, clearly you have a spark issue, compression issue, or timing. have you tried a new spark plug yet ?. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JakeMoore 1 Posted March 22, 2020 yes, it has a new clean plug. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
retro 3,760 Posted March 22, 2020 If the motor runs for a while each time you start it it may not be an ignition issue. Did you put cheap carb kit parts in it off ebay or amazon? Is the carb original OEM? Reassembled to specs using the service manual? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JakeMoore 1 Posted March 22, 2020 (edited) It was a cheap kit off of eBay. I just used the gaskets from it. Everything else went into the ultrasonic cleaner then was blown with compressed air. It’s an original oem carb. I didn’t use the specs from the manual, I just put everything back exactly like it came out. It runs and sounds good for maybe 10 seconds then just slowly dies. Spraying starting fluid won’t keep it going. Edited March 22, 2020 by JakeMoore Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
retro 3,760 Posted March 22, 2020 Thats good that you only used the gaskets from that china kit. 🙂 It sounds to me like the carb is still clogged up somewhere. Probably needs to be cleaned again and passages blown clear using compressed air & Berrymans. A more aggressive cleaning in other words. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
retro 3,760 Posted March 22, 2020 Does the motor start right back up after letting it sit for a minute? Do you use the choke to keep it running? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JakeMoore 1 Posted March 22, 2020 (edited) I have another carb off of a different machine. I’ll clean that one up and give it a try. Yes, it starts right back up and does the same thing. The choke doesn’t really make a difference Edited March 22, 2020 by JakeMoore Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
retro 3,760 Posted March 22, 2020 Do you have to have the choke on? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
retro 3,760 Posted March 22, 2020 Ok thanks, it sounds like a fuel delivery problem right at the float bowl. Try unplugging the float bowl vent hose and see if that solves the problem. If so the vent hose is plugged up. If not, take the fuel cap off of the tank and see if that helps. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JakeMoore 1 Posted March 22, 2020 I didn’t know there was a float bowl vent hose! I guess I didn’t look too close. Lol. I’ve tried taking the cap off of the tank and it didn’t change anything. I’ll check it out tomorrow. Thank you! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
retro 3,760 Posted March 22, 2020 Cool, let us know what you find out! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
