99 kodiak 400 - frozen throttle due to cold

[b1jackson]

I purchased my kodiak earlier this winter. It was a being stored in a heated shop however when I went to pick it up, it was sitting outside in -20 and the throttle was froze shut. The bike seemed very clean with no mud on it so perhaps the PO washed it before storing it and some moisture got in the cable.

My shop is unheated but in an effort to get it going, I made a little tarp tent and stuck a construction heater under it. Throttle cable came free and the bike started up an ran fine. 2 months later the bike is just sitting in my shop not being used. The throttle still freezes shut when the shop is cold but today, it was warm enough that it was free. But I wonder if there is an issue with the choke cable sticking? The bike seems to flood and won't start.

I built my tarp tent again and warmed up the quad with the heater. Not sweltering hot but warm. I could get the bike to fire a couple times but then it seemed to flood again and wouldn't start. So is there something causing the choke not to work related to the cold? The lever seems to flip up no problem but not sure if it is doing something on the carb end causing it to flood and not start. The plug is new, spark good, and a nice mist of gas comes out of to piston when it's flooded.

I don't want to tear into things if I just have to wait for warmer weather but would still like to get some early spring riding in. Any help?

[b1jackson]

Ok. I may have fixed this in the laziest way possible. Since my shop was still cold, I gave it a short blast of starting fluid to get it to fire up. Ran good once warmed up. Then I seafoamed the carb and tank. Dumped some in the tank and also did the seafoam spray and wait into the carb. Things now seem to work better. Bike will start when cold. Likely the starting circuit in the carb gummed up. Had a bit of a smoke show with the seafoam going through it. Not as much as I thought.

[b1jackson]

These are finicky old buggers to start around the zero or + 5 celcius range aren't they? Anything warmer doesn't seem too bad but cold and the old Kodiak seem to disagree.