05 RX1 starting problems again

[timebomb]

Float levels?

 

[VT_BluYamaha54]

I tend to set mine lower (use the higher mm number) as it seems to run better.

Here is a page from the Service Manual: Float level setting

 

[kuvasz]

take the gas out of the sled. buy a can of seaform carb and injector cleaner and shell gold(91 octane). shell gold doesn't have any ethanol in it. well, here in canada it doesn't. my old rx1 acted the same way as yours did. i cleaned the carbs and changed the plugs a couple of times. when i tt the yamaha dealer he said he was having the same problem with all the carb model 4 stroke but not the injection machines. that was 5 yrs ago now. the new gas sucks and is really hard on your small engines. if you can get marine fuel buy it. none of it runs ethanol.

you may have to start putting new gas lines on your sled from the ethanol too. take a close look at all of them. good luck and happy sleddin'.

 

[timebomb]

Finally got her running! I picked up new needle and float valves for it a couple of weeks ago. My brother in law came over tonight and he put them in for me. 2 were stuck open and 2 stuck closed for the old ones. New ones are in and she runs great. Finally

 

[VT_BluYamaha54]

Thanks for the update. It is always good to hear what it was.

 

[timebomb]

We lost count how many times the carbs have been off and cleaned. Especially the needles, they were cleaned many times. Weird thing is it ran fine for awhile last year. Then nothing but problems again.

 

[timebomb]

Next question is, what do I do to prevent this from happening again? I was thinking of draining the bowls when I put it away in the spring.

 

[VT_BluYamaha54]

Some drain, some don't. MAny have added shut-off valves on the gas feed lines to the carbs to make it easier to 'run dry'.
I always start adding stabilizer toward the end of the season as a preventative measure.
Do a search; there are many opinions about which stabilizer is best and whether to drain or not.

 

[timebomb]

Well it was running fine out for a ride right now and I noticed about 10 miles into my ride that its making a " popping" sound. What does that mean? Is it safe to ride and get back to my house?

 

[maim]

Might be donuts.

 

[low flying missile]

Hard starting

Just a couple of things to consider. I have had similar problems with my 03 RX-1. The first year or 2 I had it, it started great. I started having problems when I started to use ethanol containing fuel. After letting it sit for 3weeks, the needles were actually stuck in the closed position and took significant effort to pull them out of the seats. I recommend that when cleaning the carbs and pilots that you remove the seat from the carb body. There is a small screen above the seat that should be removed and thrown away. This screen causes many problems and could be restricting fuel even though the needles and seats are clean. I make it a point to add some green Stabil for ethanol containing fuel to my tank if I'm not riding for more than a week. I open the drains and empty the bowls over the summer.
One last thing. I gutted my airbox to the same specs that are shown in the mod section. I changed the 17.5 pilots to 20's. This is not cheap but I have found that my sled has never started so well. It starts instantly even at -20C and idles nicely until it warms up. In other years, I had to crank and crank it and had to work the throttle to keep it running until it warmed up. The idle when warm is noticeably smoother. Those 17.5 pilots are so small and have given RX owners fits for years.

 

[low flying missile]

I forgot to mention that the popping you are hearing could very well becaused by stuck needles or clogged pilots.

 

[timebomb]

Yeah pretty sure it's a plugged pilot jet. I ordered 4 new ones and we'll just start there.

I fixed the problem, bought a used 2011 Nytro today. That'll fix it. Lol