no not really, well with 2 cycle engines it could eventually do this, being that if the fuel and oil mixture was too rich it would then deposit oil in the exhaust and eventually clog the muffler.

but you don't see this happening to 4 cycle engines with the fuel/air mixture too rich.

the main causes for this are as follows.

1) Overfilling the engine oil.

2) A broken cylinder skirt (causes the oil from the crankcase to be sucked into the cylinder)

3) Rolling the atv over and oil draining into the head.
(normally you have to leave it rolled over for a bit. normally it doesn't do this if you flip it back over right after you get up.)  

Well I totally removed the exhaust and ran motor without it for 30 seconds or so. Pipe was clean, realativly speaking, no oily moisture of any kind. Muffler was clear and clean. No smoke blew out of head to speak of when I ran it without pipe. I'm really starting to think the overfill of oil isn't the problem. It still does not rev full RPM's and even starts to bog a little more when I open the throttle all the way. What do you think? Could the fuel pump be working but not to full capacity? I'm absolutely stumped. Why would it run like crap for a few days, then start to show signs of improvement and then go back to running like crap again? A fuel pump costs almost a $100 and I'd hate to get one and find out that's not the problem. My manual does'nt tell me how to test it either. On another note, ATV Rider can thank you for getting me to subscribe today Wolf. I've stared at that subscription link long enough while we've posted back and forth that I joined. I never knew about this site or the magazine until I "googled" my original question and it brought me here. They should give you a free subscription or something as I bet alot of people have bought their magazine that way!  

The petcock has RES, PRIME, and ON. If I turn it to PRIME gas free flows from the petcock. Would running it on PRIME bypass the pump and thus rule out the bad pump theory?  

you know on some models it free flows to the carb. try it see if it runs better.

although the fuel pump going bad wont make the exhaust heat up and glow.
if you have a packed muffler then you most likely wont get anything to drip out of the muffler. it would be absorbed by the packing.


i'd give anything to get my hands on it for an hour.

The simplest way i know of to test the fuel pump would be to hook up a glass inline fuel filter between the fuel pump and carburetor, and check to see if it slows down pumping at any point.
of course after you start it it will initially pump and then settle a bit. but watch it to see if the glass fuel filter ever goes dry or close to dry.
after filling up.
if it pumping fine one minute and then not the next you should be able to see it happen in the glass fuel filter.

i don't work for atvrideronline, basically I just come here to post and try to help.

I have been meaning to subscribe for a while now, but had issues with the link to subscribe, but iam going to subscribe via phone here soon.
I have bought the magazine off the rack a bit, and a subscription makes more sense.
plus this is an awesome site! with some awesome posters'  and i like the mag as well.

A free subscription would be awesome but iam not on the site to get anything free,(although i was informed that i won the ride of the month for January!!! yaaay me!!)

Iam here to try to help, and being a cycle repair shop owner, and after over 20 years as a cycle technician, I can honestly say that i still love my job.
and it wont hurt my wallet to pay for a subscription.
it's really at a good price for all you get out of it.


not to mention I keep it on the counter for my customers to read through after iam done with it.  

Hey Wolf! I've been working so I have'nt had a chance to work on the quad until today. Previously, I had never removed the top cover of the carburator because the screws were very tight and I was beginning to strip them. I bought an impact screw driver and finally broke them loose today. BINGO...I found a tear in the rubber diaphram. Now I need to order a new diaphram and I think I'll be back in business. In the mean time I have another question for you...I bought/financed a brand new Arctic Cat 400. It just now has 10 hours on it and I noticed it has started to make a ticking noise in the head area. I called the dealer and he says the fuel pump makes a tick and that it's normal, but the noise does not seem to be coming from the pump. Also, it does'nt start ticking right at first, only after it begins to warm up. The warmer it gets, the louder the ticking appears to be. Also, it did'nt start making this noise until recently. I think if it was the fuel pump it would have been making the noise all along. What are you thoughts as they are much appreciated?  

check your oil level, it sounds to me like you have a loose rocker arm.

the oil is thicker when the engine is cold, as the engine warms up the oil thins out.

i'd definately take it back to them and make them fix it.

yeah i would have sworn in the begginning that it was a carb issue. but thinking you had gone through the carb i ruled it out later.
glad you found the problem!!!!  

Success! Unfortunately, you cannot buy just a diaphragm to replace the diaphragm on the slide/diaphragm assembly. I searched EVERYWHERE! I had to buy the whole assembly at a cost of $125. If anyone knows where I could find just a diaphragm, let me know. Thanks again for all you help Wolf!  

you are most welcome.

try ebay

can you get a rebuild kit for the carb?  

Yeah, rebuild kits are easy to come by. In fact, I got mine off ebay. They just don't include the rubber diaphragm. I searched everywhere. There was a place in Indianapolis (crc2onlinecatalog.com) that had just diaphragms and I bought one. It was for a street bike but it used the same Mikuni carb thats on the quad so I gave it a shot. It was $20 and when I got it, the outside diameter was the same but the inside diameter (hole) was too big. They accept returns so I'll be sending it back. I've been watching eBay and sooner or later one will probably show up and I'll get it for stock. I just could'nt wait any longer as it was driving me nuts not having my quad working properly. I'm going to start looking for a good used sport quad in a few months. I've heard a lot of good things about the Blaster and I know you have one. Which year, size, etc. is the best?  

any of them, they made them from 88-2006
they added disk brakes and changed the nose plastic in2003, but the engines and frames are all the same.

I have ridden just about every machine out there, and the blaster 200cc engine is not only the fastest 200cc 2 cycle engine i've been on, but it's my all time favorite.

Iam a major speed junkie when it comes to atv's and dirtbikes, if the blaster didn't turn out some serious torque  i definately wouldn't be riding one.

you'll hear some people say that the blaster is a kids atv, well i weigh 160 pounds and it drags me around like iam a flea.
My 12 year old son rides a blaster but the throttle has been turned waaay down on his. and he has been schooled in riding since he was 8 years old, so it's just a matter of giving him more throttle as he grows.
(geeze he already scares the crap outta me just watching him sometimes)

while my blaster has been modified a good deal, my sons blaster is completely stock except for tires, and it still drags me around like iam a flea.
it has no problems snatching the front tires up if you want it to, and even completely stock it will bring them up in 3rd gear.
 

Realistically a stock blaster wont outrun say a raptor 660 or yfz450,  but with a few inexpensive modifications you can run with the banshee 350,
with some of the more expensive modifications such as adding a stroker crank and a 240cc big bore kit you can run with even larger machines.  the modifications are seemingly endless for the blaster.

I have ridden larger machines and while they have tons of raw horsepower, this abundance of horsepower sometimes causes you to lose traction on the trails.

The blaster has no problem breaking the tires loose when you want it to, but it is very controllable on the trails and at higher speeds; which helps you keep up when riding with friends on larger machines.

I took my son out riding a few weeks back and there was a guy there who had a Polaris sportsman 500
he and my son raced on a strip of blacktop and my son blew him away not once but 3 times in a row.
now i know the sportsman is a utility atv, but it's a 500cc engine, it should have more torque than it does.
and my 12 year old absolutely smoked him off the line and on top end.

so the blaster can hang with the utility atv's.
I take mine riding with some of my friends who only own utility atv's and i never have a problem keeping up.
while you don't want to drown a 2 cycle engine, it definately can handle the trails and rough terrain.
and with it being a sport atv it has a really responsive suspension. and the frame is strong enough to handle the punishment.

the blaster only weighs 324 pounds so it is awesome for getting serious air. and with a 2 cycle 200cc engine it's all too easy to keep the front tires up during a jump.

the banshee is an awesome machine too, a 2 cylinder 350cc 2 cycle engine, man it has some serious horsepower, but for me it was hard to keep the front tires down. and even in 3rd and 4th gear the front tires came up easily, so the possibility of spinning on trails when you give it throttle is there.

by far the blaster is the best trail bike i have ever found.

if you get a blaster or a banshee let me know and i tell you about some of the easy inexpensive mods you can do to it to really make it fly!

mine is bored .40 over with a 1 up front sprocket, and a set of boyeson pro series dual stage reeds, and a custom modified exhaust.
the front tires have been flipped so i have a wider stance in the front. and i run holeshots on the rear.

check out the pics of mine and my sons' rides in the "readers rides" section of this site.  

Yeah, that King Quad I have is a small ATV and it's kinda uncomfortable. Thats why I like the Arctic Cat I bought becuase it is very tall, though I sacrafice stabilty. I'm 5'11" 200 lbs so I'd like something that keeps my knees out of my face. Can you lift the Blaster or Banshee? I do know that the little 1996 Suzuki King Quad 300 is WAY more torquey than my new Cat 400. I would recommend a mid '90's King Quad to anyone looking for a good used UTE. I just want a sport quad becuase there is a huge sand mountain (called Sand Mountain) here in Nevada that people come from miles around to play on. It's not just a few dunes, it is an actual mountain! If you Googled it you will see what I'm talking about. If you ever by some means make it out this way Wolf, you and your family are welcome at my house! Many people in this state own sport ATV's because there is so much open desert and mountains to ride on. Thousands of square miles are public lands. In fact, most of the state is public land and there is NEVER a lack of new places to ride. Shhh, just don't tell anybody!  

absolutely and you are welcome at my house if you come out here.
My son and I are planning on touring a bit and riding some trails out of town this summer.


you can lift a blaster, but you'd want to widen it's stance a bit if you raise it. the banshee is a little bigger in stature, and would probably fit you better.
i am 5'7" so the blaster fits me just right. and at your height you'd be able to hold the banshee down a little better than i can.
the banshee just has waay too much low end torque for what i like. it's absolutely a powerhouse.

the blaster is just right,don't get me wrong my blaster will absolutely scream, but the lighter frame makes it easy to manipulate in trails and control.
so i can run trails a good deal faster than most of my friends on the larger machines.
and i like the big air i get on the lighter blaster.

a friend of mine is 6' tall at 200 pounds and he rides a stock blaster with no problems.

but it all comes down to what you like.
try out a blaster see if you like it.
but make sure it doesn't have the factory rear tires on it.
those are really tippy and like to roll over easy.

but they do make 9 and 10 inch wheels that fit the blaster.
you have to order them for the banshee i think.

although i have a set of factory 8 inch blaster wheels with a set of kenda dirt dog 22-11-8's and they are fairly tall for the rear.

on mine i like it a little low for better traction and stability, so i have "Badlands" holeshot tires on mine 20-10-8  

hey check with John at rjatv.com see if he can help you out.
He may may be able to get what you need at a significantly cheaper price.  

Hey I was reading this thread and noticed how helpful you have been with this guy's problem.  I also just bought a 1996 300 king quad 4x4  for my wife with 235 miles on it!!!  I couldn't believe I found a bike this old in this condition.  It is in great shape.  A 75 year old man traded it in at a dealership in my hometown so I snatched it up when i saw it.  The only issue it has is with the idle.  It will crank right up and run 95% of the time but sometimes it will stall out in neutral idling or in first gear after slowing down to idle if you don't pump the throttle.  I'm sure this is a minor problem with a simple fix but I wanted an opinion from an expert.  Any suggestions?  

well let me change that...i said first gear...it is actually just idle in general, gear doesn't matter, when i slow down to idle it dies sometimes...if i keep it slightly choked it won't do it so i know it's not getting enough fuel, but how do i correct it.  I'm a do it yourselfer or at least a "try it yourselfer".  I just don't want to have to spend money at the shop.