XWrench3

this is just a heads up for everyone out there with possible battery problems. when i went to Suzuki tech school (electrical) one of the things they told us was if there was no other way to test the battery, it should still hold over 10 volts when the starter was running (rolling the engine over). if there was not 10 volts, there was either a battery or starter motor problem. in the 35+ years that i repaired motorcycles, quads, snowmobiles, etc. i probably only replaced 4 or 5 starter motors. and THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of batteries!

if you want to flush out the front differential that way, i think that would be fine. but DO NOT do this to the engine if you swamp it! the most likely part to be damaged, believe it or not, would be the cylinder head. the camshaft, which is fairly hard, rides directly on the aluminum that the cylinder head is made from. and Suzuki quads do not run much oil pressure. to be honest, i think the only reason there is any is to be able to push it around thru the engine. mine runs about 5 pounds while driving it down the trail. so basically, it is a glorified splash lubrication system. if there was actual pressure there, so the cam would float in the oil, like with an automobile system, kerosene in the engine would be ok, providing it was less than 20%. and providing you only ran the engine at low rpm's and under no load. but with the way these are made, i would not do it.

you really have no choice but to start the engine to mix the water into the oil, to get it all out. i have wondered at times if a guy could not add a pint of 91% isopropyl alcohol to the oil, and let the machine idle for a few minutes to try to absorb much of the water. but i have never tried it. i have not gotten my quad sunk far enough to get water into the oil yet. hopefully, i wont. but if i do, i just might try it on the first flush out. my buddies lt 250 (i think it was 1986 vintage) that did get swamped, took 8 oil changes before we stopped getting milky oil out of it. he swamped it BAD. and continued to run it until the engine quit. he then swam to shore to get a rope to tie onto his quad. it sat floating for close to 20 minutes. atv's do float, but not always right side up. he wanted to ride it back home, which was about 7 or 8 miles. but i convinced him that he would destroy the engine if he did that.

Just remember, EVERY TIME you go thru enough water to go over the front differential, to check BOTH sight glass windows for signs of water intrusion. the one on the front differential, and the one in the engine (engine oil level). if either appear milky or over full, drain it immediately. you will also need to pull the drain plugs on the brakes so they can dry out. playing in the water and mud is a lot of fun. but it makes for a lot of work also. if you decide to do a bunch of water crossings, it would be a great idea to take along 3 or 4 GALLONS of oil with you, to flush the engine with in the event you do get water in it. i have seen this done several times, and you would be amazed how many times you will need to change the engine oil in order to get ALL of the water out.

check the intake manifold between the carb and engine. i have seen several of these crack, some times radially (which makes it very hard to diagnose without removing it). a cracked intake manifold will allow extra air into the air/fuel stream, and the engine will run erratic. an easy way to check is to spray water over the manifold while the engine is running. if the engine rpm increase or decrease rapidly (the engine may very well stall), you have an intake leak someplace. i used to use a flammable substance, which would tell me much faster, and with a lot less mess. but i would not recommend it to a novice. i repaired bikes and quads for more than 35 years. so i knew where, and not to spray things. you could very easily set your machine and or garage on fire by doing that.

most of these do not have to have a battery to have spark. the key things to look at are, the ignition switch and wiring, the kill switch and wiring, and of course the ignition components and wiring. it is a very simple system. there is a signal generator (which takes the place of points), a charge coil (to build electricity to make the spark), and the cdi box (which stores the energy and controls the spark timing), and an ignition coil. the source coil will generate around 60-110 volts, the pulse generating coil will generate about 1-1.7 volts, the rest is up to the box and ignition coil. the quick way is to check the ignition coil wires and see if you are getting voltage there when the engine is cranked. if you get upwards of 80 volts (ac), the rest of the system is working. the kill switches USUALLY ground out the current, but once in a while, you will find one that needs to be closed to complete the circuit. i can not remember any of the older Suzuki's using this style.

a few things to check. 1) check the intake manifold between the carb and engine. these can crack and leak air, and cause an extreme air leak when the throttle is opened. they sometimes crack radially, and it will not be apparent without a close inspection. 2) check the fuel pump, AND the pulse line going to the fuel pump. the pulse line can split and leak air, which will result in no fuel pump or very weak fuel pumping. it can also get pinched due to improper routing. or, you may have inadvertently switched vacuum lines when rebuilding the carb. all of these can happen when the carb is removed. please also check for mice nests both in the air box, and at the air intake which is under the shift counsel as mentioned earlier. the last thing i can think of off the top of my head is to replace the spark plug cap. it has a resistor in it, and can go bad over time, which will allow the engine to idle, but will cause weak spark as the throttle opens ( the further the throttle opens, the more compression the engine builds, which increases the resistance to the spark jumping the gap).