03' RX1 Hard starts when hot and dies when jumping.

[SledWrecker]

Hey guys, I recently bought an 03 RX1 mountain with almost exactly 1500 miles. After riding for 18 years I finally made the 2 stroke switch and honesly I will say I am very very happy and intend to step up to an apex or nytro for my next sled. Anyway down to brass tacks..

When cold the sled fires right up everytime just have to barely even flick the key to start. When warm it pretty much wont start unless I feather the throttle or hold it about 1/2 way then feather it as it gurggles a little then clears out to a crisp rev. I read a bunch and it seems like it could possibly be an issue related to the liquid cooled carbs?? It's not a huge issue just annoying and sometimes I have to crank it quite a bit before it fires up..

Last weekend we were doing a lot of tail stands and jumping and everytime the front came down hard it would die unless I feathered the throttle just like I was starting it warm. If it did die it would start right back up again but I would have to hold the throttle in just like above (warm start) It really started to piss me off because I wanted to go bigger and bigger but I was affraid it could die and not run at all.

Any thoughts would be great!

Lastly and not related to the topic but I rode today and noticed my oil light came on.. checked it and it was below the E... I just did a full oil and filter change about 300 miles ago and it used up a quart almost exactly. Been reading and I see this is an issue with 03's and bad rings.. was gonna try some seafoam or yammy ring-free if anyone else has any thoughts that would be great.. I run Royal Purple 5w30 and it's spendy if I'm gonna be putting a quart in every 300 miles it's dang near like buying 2 stroke oil all over again (not really polaris gold was $50 a bottle) but it's annoying and I dont like thinking I could have the oil light come on 50 miles from the truck.

Ok that's it. Thanks and happy riding! Think SNOW! (we need it here in washington... BAD!!)

 

[SledWrecker]

A pic from last weekend

and yes it did die (or tried to) when the front came down :-(((

 

[RED]

There was kinda an update to put a coolant valve on from yamaha. Image its expired now, but no reason why you shouldnt put it on. 99% of the time my is turned off on my TRX1, but only ride it in BC were temp are nice. Not sure about the ring issue, I have a 03, but it got boost after 500kms. No it shouldnt really use that much oil. There was alot of talk about 03 having bad rings. You might want to see if the float bowls were updated? Im starting to sound like the 03 were a bad yr, haha. I did the update on mine yrs ago, new bowls, longer tubes inside, etc.

 

[Honk]

It wasn;t a bad year, just the first year. 2nd year had huge changes, and addressed many issues. I run a little heavier old and it slowed the oil consumtion down. I will never buy a first year anything! again

 

[SledWrecker]

From most of what I've read so far 1 quart for 300-500 miles seems to be pretty common for 03's with oil consumption issues.. I always let the sled warm up before I ride it and it does blow quite a bit of smoke on the initial cold start but it goes away when it's warm. Today I held my hand over one of th pipes and there was a light spattering of what felt like oil during the warmup. It left my hand greasy but it came out clear I grabbed a paper towl and held it there to make sure it wasn't black or??? IDK for now I suppose I'll just check/add oil regularly and ride it til I upgrade.

 

[Ratpack]

You need to shut the coolant off to the carbs. When you do that it will start good when it's warm. Unless it is Below 0 you don't need the carbs warmed by the coolant.Just buy a inline valve at a parts store and it will fix the starting. As far as the dieing goes,good luck. I have the updated bowls and mine still dies on a landing. I think it's a bad wire but I can't find it.

 

[DV8]

Install the shut off valve for coolant to the carbs. A small engine fuel shut off valve works good.
Run a few tanks of gas with sea foam in it. This may help the rings/oil consumption.
I would clean your carbs and update the fuel bowls if you havent already, I would look for a rub thru on wires for it dieing when jumping,
Check the harness up by the hood.

 

[stomper]

"Last weekend we were doing a lot of tail stands and jumping and everytime the front came down hard it would die unless I feathered the throttle just like I was starting it warm. If it did die it would start right back up again but I would have to hold the throttle in just like above (warm start) It really started to piss me off because I wanted to go bigger and bigger but I was affraid it could die and not run at all."

I kinda had the same problem. I came back from a ride and was letting the engine idle for a bit to melt off the snow in the tunnel. I picked up the back of the sled and dropped it on the ground to knock off the snow and it would stall. It happened three times. I thought it was kind of strange. I have no idea what was going on. Anyone else have an idea. Could be a real pain in the a$$ for someone jumping like sledwrecker was.

 

[RX PAT]

these same problem's are driving me crazy right now! mine only started this since the supercharger install

 

[DAGE]

you definately have to update the float bowls, I did it and I don't have the problem with the machine cutting out anymore, you'll have to find a set of used carbs tho because Yamaha no longer stocks them, you could also look into a set of jumbo jets they might work aswell but I forget who makes them

when I first did an oil change on my rx1 I used amsoil and I had a little excessive oil consumption so I switched back to Yamalube and I noticed a big difference, the oil consumption was almost gone

 

[maim]

brother just helped a kid fix his. it was doing the same thing and turned out that the tors in the handle bar mount was the problem.