Dies when idling, running rich I think. Help?!

brad1232902

New Member
Apr 27, 2014
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Hi there, just recently picked up a 2001 yamaha blaster, here is what's happening. It starts first kick, checked compression @125, it idles but will die after 1 min or less, will start again and do the same. Then I check the plug and it is wet and smells like gas, does that mean it's running too rich and causing it to die? Also the air filter smells a bit like gas as well. It will drive but doesn't seem to have much power, almost like it's not revving to its max. Sometimes revs will not go high enough to reach powerband. Doesn't seem to bog or sputter just seems like it has a rev limiter and not revving to is max. When it's idling it sounds like it's knocking but apparently these are just noisy at idle, will be doing a leak down test but that wouldn't be causing me to run rich would it?

Checked reeds, they are good.
 
Air screw at 1.5 turns out, air box is on. Mods are tors delete, and new reeds, everything is stock. Running 230 main jet.
 
Has a new carb, which was recently rebuilt by previous owner, I noticed oil coming from stator cover gasket which is odd because that's to keep dust out not fluid in, gonna open that up today and see what I find.
 
If you see oil from the flywheel area, it is time to leak test for a problem crankshaft oil seal.

Do it before starting the engine again.
 
If you have oil there, you might want to go ahead and order a stator side main seal and a flywheel puller (the little nut thing). Be specific when looking/ordering;stator side and clutch side are 2 different sizes IIRC.

If it's really bad, it might give you the symptoms by itself. At low RPM, the crank pressure ATDC and before BDC won't build up enough to keep all of the gasses moving and the gas will fall out of the air. After a few minutes, the bottom end can become saturated, giving you a lean condition initially (before it becomes saturated) and a rich condition afterward.

On top end, the gas can clean out, but you'll have a lean condition because you're sucking air. If it's really bad, you'll rev fine but it'll seem like it hits a wall well before it should.

The other possibility is that the previous owner was either sloppy or new to carburetors and screwed the floats up. Take the inlet tract off of the back of the carb and turn the gas on. If you have gas leaking out of the overflow, your floats are set wrong or you have trash in the gas. Keep in mind, a piece of hard trash that's so small that you can barely see it will cause the valve to malfunction. Obsessive cleaning will do more than visually checking for any trash. Now if the owner blocked the overflow off or if it's clogged, you'll pour gas out of the needle seat.

You may also want to check the stator and CDI resistance if it's a "rev-limit-ish" cutout.

Also, go ahead and get some dawn dish washing liquid. Take your tank off, drain the gas, remove the petcock and place it in the tank, and add a touch of water. Add detergent, shake profusely, add water, shake profusely, drain water, rinse, repeat until you're sick of it. Then, take the petcock out of the tank and clean it repeatedly. Stick your vacuum cleaner hose down in the tank and leave it for a few minutes. Take the tube out and spray WD-40 in the tank. Spray carb cleaner (2 bottles should be more than adequate) in the tank until you're convinced that it's dry. Re-install the tank and add gas. If you have an inline filter, replace it. If you don't, get a motorcycle inline fuel filter and install it. Don't be tempted to get a Briggs and Stratton fuel filter. They clog easily.
 
Okay, so I'm gonna go ahead and replace the seal behind the stator, can't seem to find it online or find a part number, could somebody help me out and send me a link to the seal to buy.

Thanks.
 
UPDATE:
So I did a leak test, left it for about 20 min and lost maybe .5 psi if that. So it sounds like my crank seal may be good, is it normal to drop .5 psi over 20 min?

I cleaned my carb again and readjusted my float which appeared to be off, got everything back together, started and was idling good but noticed exhaust seal at engine was leaky pretty bad so I shut her down. How would you guys recommend fixing it, new gasket or use some sort of rtv sealant on existing gasket.existing gasket is pretty squished, is it a somewhat universal part or will I have to special order it?

Thanks, and what are the side affects of a leak there, it may have been leaking earlier and hadn't noticed, just wondering if it was a factor in my original issues.
 
exhaust leaks can cause a lean condition
the exhaust crush washers are one time use only
new gasket and hi-temp copper rtv works best IMO
no more than 1psi per 5 minutes is ok, your leakdown test passes in my book.
 
To someone not familiar with 2.strokes is is hard to believe that some of the replacement fuel charge is forced out of the exhaust port into the header pipe.

Kinetic energy then rams that charge back in to the cylinder.

If you have a leaky flange gasket some of that charge will escape leaving you with a lean mixture.
 
Okay, so gasket is on order will be a couple days. If that doesn't fix my lack of power issue, is there a chance that it may be the piston. Here's a summary of what's happening.
-Compression is at 125 psi
-Leakdown test passed only .5 psi drop over 20 min.
Previous owner had work done to top end, replaced rings.
When I first got it, sounded like knocking at idle, thought it was common for blasters. Could a scratched piston etc, cause lack of power? Even with good compression?

Thanks.
 
how do you know it is lacking power? is this screw turned all the way out as pictured?

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not likely, if that compression is indeed at 125, it should rip
 
That's good compression and that leakdown is good. Why do you think the piston is scratched? And no, a scratched piston won't cause you to lose power, but the causes of a scratched piston will. Have you done a plug chop? Is there any bad wiring anywhere?

If I had the problem you're listing, I'd look at the carb.
 
Yeah I cleaned the carb and adjusted the float height, started it and starts first kick. But that's when I noticed the exhaust leaking badly at gasket so I didn't run it to see if she is all good, I'm hoping she is good to go but trying to plan for the worst. Have not done plug chop, but quad is stock, has 230 main jet and 32.5 pilot. Tors has been deleted already. The only reason I suspect the piston is cause when I checked the reeds and looked into the cylinder at the piston, it all looked alright except the two "windows" on the piston seemed to not have clean edges all around almost seemed like someone filed down the sharp edges, not like what I've seen in pics.

Is that that throttle in the pic, is the screw some sort of governer cause I've checked to make sure the carb butterfly was fully opening with the thumb throttle.
 
Just looked up yamaha pistons and my ports are the same, so much for my theory. If it were something electrical what might it be, I've tested stator with multimeter and it was within spec, spark plug is new, maybe coil?