XWrench3

So, I have a 2000 lt-f250f quad, and my brother gave me a new +0.5 oversized piston that he bought for his King Quad (280cc), and never used. I'm wondering if I can bore my cylinder far enough to use this with my cylinder. or if I need to buy a 280 cylinder? another question I have is if I need to buy a 280 cylinder, would the crankcase hole where the cylinder sits down into, will be large enough to let the 280 cylinder fit, without opening that up?

i think i bought the same petcock from ebay. i took it apart because i figured someone put it together improperly. the one i bought was made improperly. the reserve position CANNOT function because it is not made right. prime and on work fine. but when you are out of gas, your walking. i rebuilt the original. more expensive, but i will not have to walk.

i would warn to be careful with any rubber objects like diaphragms, o rings, needle tips, etc. some brands of carb cleaner will destroy them (i learned the hard way). so i don't soak any of them. i just wash them in the fluid they are supposed to be in contact with. i would add, that if the carb is extremely green and slimy, and needs to be soaked, the Yamaha carb cleaner (comes in a quart bottle) works great.

if it is the clutch PACK slipping, then yes, a set of washers may help for a while. stronger springs would be a better choice. it also could just be improperly adjusted. but if its the centrifugal clutch slipping, you may be out of luck.

absolutely not. that method of cooling is just fine. in the past, i have sprayed cold water across the radiator of a v-8 engine (with it idling) because it was overheating. no damage in the couple of times i have done that. but that was in the OLD days, when engines were made heavy. i would not recommend doing so now unless it was an emergency.

could also be a u joint in the propeller (that is what they call the drive shaft) shaft going between the engine and front differential.

i have never seen one of those. what i do know, is that it may get your quad to run, but it will NEVER run like it should, because every engine has its own ignition advance curve. and a generic CDI will have a generic curve, IF ANY. i KNOW CDI boxes are expensive, but it actually controls the way that the engine makes power. accurate timing is a must have just like accurate fuel mixture.

the 3 most common things i have seen cause erratic running on these is 1) a plugged fuel tank vent (either improper routing or our friendly mud dauber hornets). 2) is a tiny hole in the fuel pump diaphram (at idle there isn't enough fuel draw, and at WOT there is so much of a pulse it can overcome the leak), and 3) is a delaminating intake manifold. they can delaminate internally as well as externally, so its not always easy to see. the test for the manifold leak is to have the machine idling (engine just warm enough to run without choke), and spray the manifold with water while grabbing the carb moving it in every direction. / its really difficult when you have 2 systems that can be at fault (in this case both electrical and fuel). the fuel system is easier to diagnose than the electrical, so go there first. i will add that most (but definitely not all) of the electrical problems i saw in the 40 years of doing this was related to a bad ground. a quick way to eliminate that is to run a single wire from a GOOD CLEAN (meaning sanding, filing,etc. all of the paint off) chassis ground, to a CLEAN bolt on the engine case, to the battery - terminal, and then make certain the voltage regulator and CDI box and ignition coil all have CLEAN & TIGHT contacts as well. oh, something else just popped into my head, i have seen a few cases where the ignition coil connector was worked oversize from vibration causing intermittent ignition at specific rpms. tightening the contacts up by either replacing or bending them to increase the tension fixes that. its a lot of things, but i hope it helps.

well, with shop rates upward of $60.00 per hour, it does not take long at all to eat up $200.00. but,IF removing the fuel tank REQUIRED removing the engine, they certainly should have notified you. most states have regulations on what a MOTOR VEHICLE REPAIR center can, and can not do. if i were you, i would check into them. at least in my state, a motorcycle/atv/snowmobile/ etc. repair center MUST be licensed, AND they have to follow the guidelines. if they do not, they can only charge you a certain set amount ($20.00 here), and they HAVE to give you the machine back in the condition it was in when it was brought in. obviously without being privy to all the specifics, and the laws in your state, i really can not say for certain if they are trying to pull a fast one on you or not. but, it certainly sounds to me like they are NOT playing by the rules. a quick phone call to your automotive licensing bureau would spread some light on the subject.

i was a Suzuki Mechanic from 1983 to 2009. in all that time, i only saw 2 Suzuki atv's with transmission problems. so they are rare. have you tried adjusting the "automatic" clutch? there are actually 3 clutches in all of these units. a centrifugal clutch, which is strictly rpm operated, and truly is automatic. a manually actuated clutch, which "automatically" is engaged and disengaged every time you shift. and a deceleration clutch. which keeps the engine engaged on deceleration, or long downhill grades. that is completely automatic also. the manual clutch is activated by the shift lever. every time you change gears, whether changing up or down, it is actuated. also, the shift pedal could be incorrectly adjusted, keeping it from working correctly. i would seriously check both of these items, before digging into a transmission. to do so is a HUGE undertaking. requiring a total tear down of the entire engine. not to mention removing the engine from the chassis.

have you tried eBay? you can usually buy used parts there for much less than a dealer will sell them to you. but i have to tell you, a LT230 Shaft was not a real popular seller. so you may be looking for a while. if you want new, your local Suzuki dealer should be able to do a "dealer inventory search" or at least create a post for parts wanted that will go out to all the Suzuki dealers in the states. it is part of their parts ordering system.

most likely it is either the coil, or spark plug cap. i have seen many spark plug caps go bad in the 35 years of repairing small vehicles like this. a quick way to check that (in your case) is to run the engine until it dies, then just remove the cap, and push the wire onto the end of the spark plug. if the machine runs fine, there is the problem. funny thing is, a bad cap will eventually take out a coil. as far as how the machine makes spark, as the engine turns, it rotates a flywheel. inside of the flywheel there are magnets. on the side of the engine under the flywheel, there are a series of coils called a stator. as the flywheel magnets go past the coils, it creates a magnetic field. that creates electricity. that current (the part for the ignition) is sent to a capacitor inside the cdi box. when the trigger coil (more magnet/coil stuff) sends voltage to a different section of the cdi box which sends the voltage created by the stator to the ignition coil at the exact time it needs to be there. there is also a "kill" section in the cdi box which either grounds out the spark, or interrupts (keeps) it from reaching the ignition coil. trigger coil voltage is usually in the 1-2 volt range (ac), the ignition voltage from the cdi box (same as from the stator) is normally in the 100 volts range (ac). the ignition coil is simply a step up transformer, bumping the 100 or so volts to around 15,000 volts. the spark plug cap has a resistor in it, so it minimizes the amount of radio frequency emitted by the ignition. that for most of us means nothing. but if you happen by a work site using high explosives, means life or death! that radio frequency emission can set off a blasting cap, and thus as much explosive as the crew is using.

those old Dodge Power Wagons are the coolest 4x4s ever made. they were made even before me, but retain their looks much better. lol.

yes, easy to rebuild. but there will be a lot more than just a piston. if it has such bad compression that it will not run, it will need to have the cylinder bored oversize to get the cylinder walls straight. one of the problems, is as the cylinder wears (along with the piston) is the walls become egg shaped (top to bottom). in part because of all the ports (holes in which the fuel/air/oil mix moves thru the engine). and as the piston wears, and gets quite loose, it actually rocks enough to have actual metal to metal contact with the cylinder wall. much more then when it is new, and tight. this allows for even more, accelerated wear. now, the big deal, is, the cylinder can only be bored so far oversize. after it gets so large, it either has to be replaced, or bored very over sized, and a new sleeve installed, which will in turn need to be bored to a new stock sized piston. you will also need to replace the top end connecting rod bearing and piston pin. those are very important, and wear about as fast as the piston does. and all of the top end gaskets. finally, the bottom connecting rod bearing, will only last so long. if it is loose enough that you can feel ANY up and down play in the rod on the crankshaft, then a new connecting rod, pin and bearing will need to be fitted as well. that is called rebuilding the crankshaft. all of this together, is an expensive proposition. but when you are done, you will have an engine that will last a long time. at least as long as you do not forget to mix oil in with the fuel. 1/2 of a tank of straight fuel will ruin the engine! to replace the connecting rod, the entire engine will need to be torn down. and at that point, EVERYTHING needs to be looked at. every gear in the transmission, water pump, etc. etc. etc.. hopefully, you will be able to simply rebuild the top end, and be done with it, for now. but all of this is coming eventually. i am not trying to scare you off. but you should be forewarned as to what will come along down the pike. or, it may need it when you buy it. there is no way of knowing, until the engine is opened up. id did this kind of work for roughly 35 years, until i screwed my back up so bad i can no longer work. so i have a darn good idea what i am talking about. oh, just as an added side kick, there ARE valves in this engine. they are REED valves, in the bottom of the intake port, that help feed extra fuel/air mix to the engine, for added performance. they will need to be looked at as well. if there is the TINIEST of cracks in them, they will need to be replaced.