86 250? 4 wheeler

[jbambis]

I just bought what I was told is a 1986 Honda 4 wheeler. The previous owner said it was a 250 but not sure of the exact model. He traded it from someone who traded it from someone and so on...

Anyways, when I bought the thing it started up after a couple tries and idled for a while. I jumped on it, put it in first gear and it went about 10ft and died. After that we couldn't get it to fire and idle. I got a hell of a deal on it because of this but now I am trying to get it running.

I checked the sprak from the plug and it is getting spark. It previously had an inline fuel filter that I removed because I didn't think it was getting enough gas to the carb. It was making a clicking noise when firing it over so I bought a battery charger. After charging it for an hour and a half I tried starting it and it fired right up. But it was very tempormental, it would die if not giving enough gas and didn't want to idle... I am asuming it is an issue with the carberator? All the lights and electrical work great. The choke is on full choke and when I move it at all the engine dies.

[rubbersdown]

disassemble the carb and clean it all.

[jbambis]

Alright, I will give that a try... Any recomendations on what to use to clean it? Just normal carb cleaner I assume? Also do you have any idea on how I could determine the year and model of this thing? Thanks.

[rubbersdown]

post some pics and I can probably give you a pretty good idea of what it is. and if I cant someone else on here can.

[jbambis]

Ok, here are the pics... I have a new problem. I went out to start it this morning after running it last night, and no dice. Wouldnt start. I don't want to buy a new battery because the guy I bought it from said he just replaced it and it looks reletively new. Any ideas on what may cause the battery to drain? There is enough power for the headlight and neutral/reverse indicator light to work, but it wont fire over like it did last night after charging the battery.

[jbambis]

Another pic

[CJM]

hook some jump cables to it and see if you can get it to run. I agree the carb probably needs to be cleaned or rebuilt tho.

spray soem carb cleaner directly into it-see if it kicks over.

[jbambis]

Ok thanks! Jump start it with my truck? What happens if it starts up? Bad battery?

[wilkin250r]

Originally posted by jbambis
Ok thanks! Jump start it with my truck? What happens if it starts up? Bad battery?

There is a slight possibility that it's a 6V system, but it's very slight. Most likely it's a 12V system, same as a car. The only reason a car battery is bigger is because the MOTOR is bigger, so it requires a much larger battery to crank it over.

If you jumpstart it and it fires right up, then yes, it means you have a bad battery.

[jbambis]

How do I tell if it's a 6v or 12v? Should it say on the battery?

[CJM]

Take a volt meter and measure it, but since its drained it might not read properly.

I highly doubt its a 6v system.

Do you think its a 250x?

[jbambis]

You don't think there is something in the electrical that could be causing the battery to drain, or a bad starter etc?

[wilkin250r]

It's possible, and we can test that. But let's get the big problems out of the way, let's get it running first.

If the starter is bad, we'll find that out in the jump-start test. If it fires right up, then your starter is fine. If it turns over and cranks real nice, but doesn'ts start, then it means the starter is good, but you have a problem somewhere else. If it doesn't turn over at all, it means the starter or the solenoid are bad.

[wilkin250r]

Put a multimeter on the battery. If it has enough juice to run the lights, then you can easily tell the voltage. A normal 12V battery will actually run 13.5V or so at full charge, but even if it's down at 11 (which is really low), you can easily tell it's not a 6V system.

[jbambis]

Ok, it is definetly 12v. So I jumped it with my truck and it started right up. Quickly dies however if not given a large amount of gas. Going to take apart and clean the carberator now. As far as the battery draining problem, does this mean the battery is bad since it started with the jump start? I think I will put it on the charger and give it a nice slow charge.

[wilkin250r]

There is a slight possibility you have a drain somewhere. Does your multimeter have the capability to measure DC amps? Do you know how to do that?

[jbambis]

Yes it can and I do know how. But what do I look for?

[rubbersdown]

Im pretty sure thats a trx200. As for the year I think it may be a 1984 thats missing the racks that were on it stock but im not 100% positive on that.

[wilkin250r]

Originally posted by jbambis
Yes it can and I do know how. But what do I look for?

Disconnect the positive battery cable, and turn everything off, including the key (if you have one). This is your dead state.

Connect the multimeter between the battery and the cable, and see if you get any current draw. You should have basically zero, maybe a few milliamps at most.

Anything over 20millamps could be a problem, and anything over 100 milliamps represents a significant draw. 100 millamps will drain a perfectly good battery in just a few days.

[jbambis]

So I left it on the charger for a couple hours, my charger said it was fully charged so I took it off the charger. In the mean time I was getting the carberator all cleaned up and put back togeather, I also drained the old gas from the tank then went to the gas station to get new gas. When I got back I filled it up with gas and it wouldn't start. It sounded like it was trying to turn over but after about 5 attempts it was making a clicking noise like a dead battery in your car makes. I jumped it again with the truck and it started right up. Not sure what's going on here, the battery wasn't off the charger for 30 minutes after the charger said it was fully charged.

Good news is that after I got it started it ran great, a little on the high side on the idle but it didn't turn off at all. In taking the carbeerator apart I found a crap ton of build up in the carberator and the overflow hoses were clogged so bad nothing could get out.

After unhooking it from the truck I shut it off and restarted it about 5 times and it started up just fine. Now I need to tune the carb up so it doesn't idle so high and hope the battery isn't draining as I type this.

I will follow up if it wont start on it's own again.

[wilkin250r]

It really sounds like a bad battery, but if you've got the meter and the know-how, check it to make sure the quad isn't draining it somewhere (the procedure I described above. You should have essentially zero drain when everything is off).

But this isn't uncommon for a bad battery. You can actually charge them up to full voltage so it LOOKS like a charged battery, but as soon as you try to draw power off it, it can't supply the full power. The charge doesn't truly penetrate the plates inside the battery, it just sits on the surface.

[jbambis]

Alright, I will do that if it gets to a point to where it wont start again, but I haven't had any problems with that yet.

As far as the idle adjustment goes for the carb. can anyone give me some help as to how I would go about adjusting it? I have been looking for a screw for a while and can't seem to find anything. Thanks for all your guys help!

[Tyler01]

It looks more like a Honda 250 Four Trax but thats my 2 cents

[jbambis]

Originally posted by wilkin250r
Disconnect the positive battery cable, and turn everything off, including the key (if you have one). This is your dead state.

Connect the multimeter between the battery and the cable, and see if you get any current draw. You should have basically zero, maybe a few milliamps at most.

Anything over 20millamps could be a problem, and anything over 100 milliamps represents a significant draw. 100 millamps will drain a perfectly good battery in just a few days.


When you say to connect the multimeter between the battery and cable do you mean to connect the negative (black) wire from the multimeter to the negative post on the battery and the positive (red) wire from the multimeter to the disconnected positive wire from the ATV?

[wilkin250r]

Originally posted by jbambis
When you say to connect the multimeter between the battery and cable do you mean to connect the negative (black) wire from the multimeter to the negative post on the battery and the positive (red) wire from the multimeter to the disconnected positive wire from the ATV?

Not quite.

The negative battery cable should stay connected, and you won't use it at all in the measurement.

Disconnect the positive battery cable. Connect the black lead from the meter to the cable, and the red lead from the meter to the positive battery terminal. In a nutshell, black lead to cable, red lead to battery.

In order to test current (amperage), the meter has to actually be part of the circuit. The electricity will be flowing from the battery, THROUGH the meter, to the positive battery cable. Basically, the multimeter will become a jumper wire between the battery and the cable.

Do NOT try to start your quad when it's connected like this, you'll fry your meter.

[jbambis]

Alright, I finally found my multimeter and tested it the way you suggested. Didn't show any current draw while the ignition and run switch were both in the off position. So that means I have a bad battery right?

[wilkin250r]

Yep. If your battery is dying, but you don't have a drain on it, then it means your battery isn't holding a charge.

As you have seen, you can PUT a charge on it, and if you measure it right away, it will look like it's fully charged. However, it won't hold that charge for very long. All typical signs of a bad battery.