1998 king quad 300 exhaust manifold glowing red

[goatman]

quad is a new to me freebie, pulled carb and cleaned it. got it running and idling nice but mid throttle it craps out and will go down to almost a stall, i release throttle and it just sits there idling away happy as a pig in poop. i was thinking fuel restriction then i noticed the exhaust glowing red in the sunlight. so its running lean

[goatman]

checked the voltage at idle and under throttle 13.5 at idle and it drops to 13.1v when i hammer the throttle. regulator/rectifier seems fine

[goatman]

 i set the pilot screw at 2-5/8 turn and the needle clip is in the middle of the 5 rings. went looking for diagrams of the carb and i noticed there is supposed to be a spring, washer and o-ring on the pilot screw. I dont remember seeing them when i had the carb apart.

do you think the lack of o-ring on the pilot screw would cause a lean mix?

im going for 10 posts

[goatman]

ordered 2 bottles of Pinesol and will be pulling the carb and putting it in the ultrasonic cleaner using the pinesol and ill see whats missing

[goatman]

are the Nichi rebuild kits any good? i dont think they have spring, washer, o-ring that is missing

[goatman]

right now Iam at 600 foot elevation but the Quad is going to be living at the 3000 foot to 4500 foot elevation.

the needle has 5 grooves and its my understanding that each of those grooves could be used for different elevations but cant find a free service manual to look it up til i get to 10 posts here

[goatman]

took some map sensor cleaner and sprayed all around the carb while it was idling to see if it revved up from a vacuum leak, seems fine

[goatman]

the pet cock seems confusing as in there is no fuel shut-off. Ive been running it on the Prime setting and then plug off the vacuum line at the carb and pet cock, then on should actually be off???

[goatman]

i will be checking the exhaust valves clearance and the intake valve clearance at TDC

[goatman]

the foot gear shifter cable was missing and found one on Amazon.ca suzuki part number 58880-19b11 by some weird company name Dudub??, its 32 inches long. a Youtuber said it was 27.5 inches long but its all i could find and hopefully it works. hopefully now i can downloaded a manual lol. Ill keep you posted how i solve this one, any help is always appreciated

[goatman]

mikuni bst31ss carb for the lt-f4wdx, jet needle clip position is supposed to be in the 4th groove. is that 4th groove from the top of the carb or 4th groove from the bottom? no mention of what each groove means in relation to the operating elevation. hopefully i can find a manual on the mikuni bst31ss carb

[goatman]

found skidoo guys talking about the grooves, its grooves from the top.

the colder the air the thinner the air, groove 1 is lean and groove 5 is rich

im running lean on the the 3rd groove so will try 4th groove to richen up the mixture in the 1/4 throttle to 3/4 throttle range to see how it works.

higher elevations have thinner air like colder temperatures have thinner air

ill keep you posted

Edited July 21, 2025 by goatman
add word

[davefrombc]

There is a service manual for your quad in the downloads section  of the forum.

[goatman]

yes, i had to do 10 posts in order to download it from the forum.

[goatman]

the exhaust valve had no gap so i adjusted that, started it up and it ran like crap. pulled the carb again and recleaned it. moved the jet needle clip from the 3rd groove to the 4th groove from the top. fired it right back up, idles good, throttle works right through range with no issue. had the throttle pegged for about 30 seconds and the exhaust started to glow red again. really should get a new plug before i try to tune the carb anymore.

got a ticking noise at the back near the clutch, hopefully it can be adjusted away, dont remember hearing it before adjusting the valves, might need to go and double check the intake valve clearance

[goatman]

the clutch was out of adjustment, bottomed the adjustment screw and backed it out 1/8 turn. still hear the ticking. went to the pull chord side and could hear it over there also. grabbed the impact and pulled the cage off and fired it back up. Oil was pulsing/spraying out like the crankcase is getting pressurized by the piston on each stroke so i need to check the intake valve gap again

[Mech]

#8 The prime position is for getting fuel through the tap when the carb is empty and you don't want to crank it for ages to get fuel through. It allows fuel to flow to the carb the whole time.. The bike might fill the sump with fuel over night if you leave it there. The other two positions both cut the fuel supply unless there is vacuum applied to the tap.

At higher altitudes the air contains less oxygen and so you need to reduce the fuel, so lean it, which means lower the needle.

To get an exhaust red hot the bike has to be run with throttle and be running very lean, and it takes some time to get red. A lean mixture is seldom the cause of a red exhaust. What does make an exhaust get red real fast, and with minimum throttle often, is if the ignition timing is retarded.. Use a timing light and check the ignition timing. 

And yeah, recheck the valve clearances. They are very particular about being set just right. If the clearances are even slightly wrong they will quickly hammer themselves to a greater clearance. It can happen that they self adjust in minutes of running, not hours.

 

 

 

[goatman]

Timing light?

i went looking and it seems you line up the crank at TDC (compression stroke), like when doing the valve gap, then make sure the cam sprocket marks are level with the head.

the recoil only had 2 bolts holding it, someone else was in there messing around and most likely why the exhaust valve was so far out

i need to pull the cylinder head cover to verify the timing chain has not skipped a tooth and check the cam/timing chain tensioner while im at it?

Edited July 22, 2025 by goatman
add ?

[Mech]

A timing light is a strobe light that's synchronised with the spark. You shine the light in through a small hole in the stator cover while the bike's running and check where in the rotation the spark is occurring The ignition timing is separate from the cam timing. The cam timing can get out if it skips a tooth, but the ignition timing is triggered by a tag on the flywheel.

There's nothing in the recoil start cover that allows the valve timing to get out.

Cam timing being out does not generally cause a red hot exhaust. It's possible it could, but it would only be after a run. Ignition timing being out is the thing that causes red hot exhausts to occur quickly and with minimum revs or throttle. You really need to check the ignition timing before pulling the engine apart. Timing lights are cheap to buy.

[goatman]

ok, i have and know how to use a timing light, didnt know they were used on a quad. ill go back into the manual at the stator section and figure it out. thanks

[Mech]

The manual may say that the ignition timing can't be adjusted. The tune up section is where to check. There may still be a mark on the flywheel where the timing should occur. If there are no marks use a felt tip pen and put a mark at about about ten degrees before top dead center and check it's visible at idle, and that it moves when you rev the engine up.. The cdi unit may be faulty and not giving it the advance it needs at revs. If you can't see your ten degree mark try another mark a little less advanced. It's probably meant to have between about five and ten degrees advance at idle. The timing should advance as you rev it up.

[goatman]

yes, ok. i was looking at the manual and some youtube videos and not seeing anything that could be adjusted. ill look at it tomorrow and hopefully theres some 5 or 10 degree marks on the flywheel that can be marked with paint.

[goatman]

the amazon shifter cable came in. Im missing the E-clips on the front diff cable and the gear shift cable. the linkages are 8mm OD.  cant get my calipers in those spots but was thinking of getting the

6mm id x 0.8mm thick e-clips

[Gwbarm]

I understand not sure of the right size, but it sound plausible, i have a flexible ruler that i use just for such nonsense like this.

[goatman]

the auto parts place didnt have metric e-clips so i got 2-1/4" e-clips (6.35mm) theyre a touch too small so the e-clips are 7mm id e-clips

the 32-1/2" shifter cable for the  foot/gear shifter is about 5-1/2" too long, i think its actually for the front diff but who knows

I found another one that is 26.77" long, hopefully this one works

https://www.amazon.ca/Dudubuy-Transfer-Suzuki-QuadRunner-58690-19B01/dp/B08HT1NXW9/ref=sr_1_4?crid=294WRWPZW1XGP&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.cDCzGlS7Ur4Ze4geSINGRxOXLeRqM6yH-dDCtAvEfx_bBt8Xq_4fDItSRZax4iSArn7VUOaFQEJmJSTIYRZo72ltWGImeW2D0N3AR-NH0xPPcGGXbD4rlGczw17Q4--tApY3WQWiRlE3t89efOqJDrLcB3kJYAmD-NhuVqyN0UonpPJi97KJdWWIIlcS3WD4mDW52FLNBZ9oIowxgnMdcDC4dJPGRCU89MZVdvSrEzEmRupT3WvcejKBZFilv8Qfep3EbcPgXIgrEriyvSKf-hHJvPyfYFu4qPRWKacAZJU.sfPZ5ExAIseOwNcWknbvnx64Gad2XBZ97clOBUtqSbU&dib_tag=se&keywords=suzuki+king+quad+300+shifter+cable&qid=1753292881&sprefix=suzuki+king+quad+300+shifter+cable%2Caps%2C134&sr=8-4

 

Edited July 23, 2025 by goatman
wrong link

[Gwbarm]

I never find any thing usable for ATVs at the autoparts store. Good thing about amazon easy returns. What about the clips that were on there would they not work. Looks like a nice cable did it come with the clips i couldnt tell from the photo.

[goatman]

the shifter cable was missing along with the e-clip and cotter pin for the gear shifter

when i got it the tires were low, there was no battery, couldnt get it in neutral, had no ramps and 2 of us were trying to manhandle it in

i picked it up with an old GMC Safari mini van that has a 2 inch ball hitch on it and when i went to take the hitch off, its rusted/seized into the receiver

i was standing in the back of the minivan lifting up the front of the quad while the other was trying to push

got the front tires onto the bumper and stopped for a breather, the quad rolled back off the bumper and you would not believe what happened

the 2 inch ball got wedged in between the front diff and that little cross bar in front of it, it would not come off the Quad was stuck on the hitch

i unbolted the front diff but when i went to slide the bolt out the front diff shifter cable was in the way so i pulled the e-clip, removed the cable to remove the bolt then was able to raise the diff enough to get the quad off the ball. lost that e-clip

then we got smart and put the quad in as* first.

[Gwbarm]

I suspected it was just missing, but, WOW, what an ordeal, that sounds like something that might have happened to me. Safari Van, i remember those almost bought one once, but got the Plymouth Voyager instead and hauled many junkers home with it, but i didnt have a trailer hitch. Very interested in your project, thats what i do , bring abused machines back to life. Good luck!

[Mech]

#27.. Lol..

Jap stuff uses six mills or eight mills, which are the same a one-quarter and five-sixteenths. The clip will be eight mills I'd be pretty sure.

[Mech]

Like the manual says, the ignition timing can't be adjusted, but things can go wrong that will put it out..