Took me 3 hours to fix an ATV carb because I skipped the obvious step

Sat there for an hour pulling the carb off my 2004 Honda 400EX, cleaning every jet, putting it back on, and it still ran like garbage. Finally noticed the fuel line had a kink right where it goes into the tank. Straightened it out and it fired up first pull. Three hours wasted because I didn't look at the simple stuff first. Who else has done something this dumb with their quad?

2 comments

2 Comments

avery_walker301mo ago

Nah man, cleaning those jets first is just good habit, the kink was just bad luck not dumb thinking.

craig.reese1mo ago

Ah man, I feel your pain... I've been there more times than I wanna admit. Last summer I spent a whole afternoon chasing a bog on my buddy's 300EX, pulled the carb off three times and kept checking the pilot jet. Turned out the air filter was just caked with dust from sitting in his shed. Sometimes you get so focused on the hard stuff you forget to check the dumb stuff first. Fuel lines and air filters are always the first thing I look at now before I start pulling wrenches.