01 Kawasaki Lakota. Currently it will start. Run for alittle. Die. Then not restart.

About a month ago I noticed a leak coming from the crankcase sprocket. I thought the seal behind sprocket must have went bad. When I looked at the fluid it was gasoline. GAS in the case of the engine.... When I pulled the airbox off that to had gasoline in it. I believe what happened was the float was stuck up. Filled up the carb. Filled up airbox. Spilled over into top of cylinder. Leaked through cylinder into the bottom end. I pulled carb off and clean it as best I could. Maybe not good enough.

Now there is a small drip (leak) coming from the carb bowl drain hose. There is a small hose that comes off the bottom of the bowl. Next to it is a screw that when I loosen would drain the carb bowl. That screw is tight, but gas is still dripping from it. Makes me believe the carb is still overflowing when the gas is on.

Currently after the carb cleaning and oil changed. It will start. Idles great. Then Dies. And will not restart for awhile. My plan is to hank the carb off and clean it again. I may also blow out the gas lines coming from tank in case dirt is getting into the float causing it to stick open..

Any other suggestions?

 

for sure a great place to start on cleaning the carb. Might invest on a rebuild kit as well since your going to have it out and apart. Cant remember if the drain screw on the bowl has a small o-ring or not. Might look into that also since its still dripping.

 

Also take the fuel tank off and drain it down till it almost has a quart of fuel in it and swish it around good and dump it upsidedown, to make sure there is no dirt in the tank.

When you have the carb apart see if the float is adjustable, and if it is try to find the adjustment specs online somewhere. Definatly sounds as if the carb is still overflowing.

A fresh spark plug always helps. Yours is probly fine but its worth the 4 bucks to change it. Also if its a champion plug replace with ngk. I had a honda three wheeler that would only run an hour or two on a champion plug then just quit unless i took it out, sandblasted it and put it back in, I finaly replaced it with an NGK and never had to change it again.

 

Right, carb problem. For one, the seat or float pilot is bad or dirty. Probably dirty. Carbs get gummed up fairly quickly from old gas or residual gas going bad in the float bowl. Gas ages quickly in the float bowl since the carb isn't air tight like the tank. Tanks usually have a petc0ck and a pressure release type cap. Carbs on the other hand, connect to an air box that's oxygen intrusive. Carbs varnish, then gum up.

When/if you clean it, be careful not to blow out the float seat and loose it (its easy to do) and use tip cleaners. Home Depot sells tip cleaners in the welding supply isle.

You might need a rebuild kit for the carb as well. I believe that was mentioned already.

NGK -only way to go.

 

After it dies does it have spark? You could be working with 2 different issues here. If no spark I would suspect the coil.

Also there should be a fuel strainer at the tank shutoff (that little bowl at the bottom). If it is restricting the fuel flow you could be simply starving it for fuel. At that point it won't restart until enough fuel can "leak" down to the carb.

One more thing, when you re-do the carb remove the main jet to make sure it is clear, wouldn't hurt to check the pilot jet also.

Good luck.

 

I would start with a carb rebuild first. Sounds to me like you have bad seals. I had a dirtbike that did the same exact thing, after a quick rebuild problem solved. Being a 2001 it is probably over due if it was never done before. Its cheap and easy enough to do. Carb issues can be a pain. How often do you clean your air filter? and what type of filter do you run? please dont tell me k&n. Like jgger said if you have even the smallest of dirt particals in your main jet or pilot jet it will cause issues like this. But, still sounds like bad seals.