When i bought my 350 a little over a month ago it would fire up when it was cold in just a few cycles of the starter. I pulled the carb off to rejet it and ever since it is a bear to start the very first time after it has set over night or for any length of time. Once it fires the first time, it will always just fire right back up with just a touch of the button. It acts like it is not getting any gas, & maybe the carb is dry and I need to keep cranking it to pump gas into the fuel bowl. On one occasion I just pulled the plug and poured a tiny amount of premix down the plug hole and it fired right up.

I have noticed that after it sets a while it seems to leave a little puddle of fuel on the floor. At first I thought it was coming from the tank drain plug but it's not and must be coming from one of the vent hoses.

Once it is running it flat screams, but can someone tell me what the heck I did to this thing when I pulled the carb off to have caused this problem?

Thanks in advance,
Nick

You might have messed with the float adjustment, thus the fuel on the floor?//

I would say Turbo is right. Check the float adjustment. It doesn't take much to change the float level. It could also be a sticking fuel shut off valve (it's attached to the float).

What is your compression level. Hard starting is one sign of low compression. The wife's Ody has the same hard starting when it's been sitting for a while. Compression is low (115). Once its warm it fires right up but still a bear to start when cold. The wife's Ody rebuild is next on the list.

Rand

Thanks guys, I will pull it back off and look at the float. Is there any thing else I should be looking for that would cause the fuel leak from the vent tubes?

Thanks again for your help.

It sounds like the gas coming out the vent tubes is sucking the fuel out of your fuel lines then you loose your prime and its hard starting.

If the needle is not seating or out of adjustment it will cause this problem, usually when its not seating its just dirt or lint between the valve and the seat it does not take much.

Thanks Hoser, I will pull it back apart and check for dirt.

Thanks again,
Nick

Ok, new problem. When I started it up today to go check the top end with the GPS it didnt really want to idle very well. I went ahead and ran it anyway thinking it was just loaded up. Well even after my 67.8 mph run when I got home it still didnt want to idle, and I got worried thinking I hurt it. I checked the compression and it is still the same as it was when I bought it so I tried to fire it back up and it only wanted to idle with the chock on. I pulled the chock cable loose from the carb and every thing looked ok so i decided to just pull the carb and clean everything like Hoser suggested.

When I pulled the carb off I noticed this hose loose and hooked to anything..



Does anyone know what that is & what it should be hooked too?


I also pulled the carb apart and sprayed everything with some carb cleaner, does the float look like it is in the right position before I put everything back together?

That tube is the crankcase breather, it it not hooked up to anything.

Bob

Thanks Bob.

Have you got the manual? The links to the free downloadables should be a Sticky Hint Hint HOSER!!!
The manual will show you how to set the float... you also want to check the condition of the hose that feeds the fuel pump!

Thanks Turbo I will look for it.

Ok new problem... Just came in from reinstalling the carb and and I had to turn in the idle screw a bit to get it to idle right. I had it in neutral and was revving it a bit and it acted like the throttle was stuck wide open but it wasn't. I turned the kill switch off and it kept running wide open, I turned the key off, same thing wide open. I finally had to just pull the spark plug wire off to get it to shut down. Once it did, I put it back on, and it started right up and idles normal.

I am lost here guys, what the hell did I do to this thing????

The carbs needs a good soaking. Theres gum deposites all over the carb that with cause you problems. The carb will need completly taken apart and cleaned. Please no more speed runs untill you get it cleaned up and jetted. What plug number you running. Remove all the jets, tubes and screws and clean all the passages. The float levle is too high. You can look for the casting seam of the flost and levle it with bowl sealing surface as a standard setting. You can adjust by bending the meatl flang that the seat hangs on.

Its an air leak or idol circuit way lean.The only way to kill a run away if you turn off the key and pull the plug wire and if its still going is to add fuel, Fuel cools. Pull up as fast as you can on the choke and then with KEY OFF wide open throtle. This will cool down the plug tip. What this does is by going WOT (Wide Open Throttle) it fuel a larger amount of fuel in to the Engine to mix with the large amount of air ( lean condition) that heated you plug tip to a point that it self ignited the mixture.You just simulated pre ignition. It's know time to count your blessing that you did not blow up your Engine doing the speed runs. Any time a stock ody run 70 theres a problem. Seals, o-rings anad plugs are cheap.

Note: If you experence a boggin off the bottom ( off idol) that was not there before In most cases the side case seal is leaking air. This leads one to faten up the pilot jet to mix more fuel with the increas in air. If the pilot jet is clean that's a sign that an iar leak down is in order not a fatter jet. Alos use your static compression reading
to help. If the static reading is the same look at seal. If the reding is down it ( hesitation) may be related to loss of compresion, ring wear ect.

I should add after installing a new / rebuilt or cleaned carb one should remove the spark plug and crank to fill up the bowl before starting. Caution here too, not to crank to long as not to lose lube propertys of the oil in the fuel on a piston moving up and down creating excessive heat leading piston scuffing. A squirt of foggin oil here helps when excessive cranking time is required. Agian caution, not to crank to long and heat up the starter motor (( Internal Combustion Engine ? )). If you did not do this there may have benn fuel residue in enough volume to start the Engine than no fuel was present and it went lean heating up the tip. After you shut it down there was fuel in the carb and the plug tip is now cool. I should also mention in one of your previous statments you said you where doing a speed run and ran out of gas and then turned to reserve. This will also cause a lean condition. I and lot others run the fuel pet MUTT in reserve position and add fuel as the light comes on so this lean condition does not take place as a precaution. If you have a weed eater you have noticed this before. As the weed eater runs out of fuel it runs its best just before it dies. That a lean condition. Do that enough times in our machines and it will lead to Engine damage. One thing that happens is it get real hot and too much heat will destory parts. An example would be excisive heat on an Engine running at top speed, lets say 70. At that Engine speed ther is a loss of fuel that cools the piston could melt or parts of the dome could burn away or lack of fuel which alos has oil in it to lubracate the the piston skirt it could put part of the piston to the cylinder wall and then as the rings try to clean it of due to the cylinder pressure it will get stuck in the groves of the piston wher the rings set and the rings stick or get snaged ion the ports. Now you have cylinder cumbustion gases passing past the rings and leading to piston siezure or a ring snaged breaking the piston and doing major damage.

In short the carb must be clean metering properly and full of fuel.

edited: added text

Untill you download or get manual hers some pics. Need any thing else just ask away. Were all her to help any way we can.

Yeah buddy great reply.

All well said Rich.Can I just add what I do.
I always pre-fill my carb bowl in situ by syringeing(making sure not to use my heroine syringes as that would be dangerous mixup! ) some fuel mix slowly directly into/thru the carb inlet nipple (he said nipple ) until it takes no more and flows out.This way it is already primed to supply the mix to the internals.

Thank you very much for all the great info. I will pull the carb back off and soak it this time. I must have cleaned what ever was causing the hard starts with last nights cleaning because there was no fuel under it on the floor this morning and it fired right up when I tried it this morning.

Last night when the Engine acted like it was stuck at full throttle, it was when I pulled the spark plug wire off that finally killed the motor (( Internal Combustion Engine ? )). The bad thing is it probably screamed a good 30 seconds before I was able to kill it. I just knew any second it was going to blow up, but thank God it didn't. I bought the Odyssey in the Phoenix area (1300') and it was jetted with a 142 jet and the needle was set on the first notch. it ran very sluggish here at our altitude (5300') so I went to the local Honda shop and they suggested a 140 jet and I moved the clip to the second notch position. It runs worlds better here and the plug looks pretty good compared to the way it did with the other jet. I have also tried moving the clip around, but it seems to run the best where I have it in the second notch.

I must have something clogged in the idle circuit, because I had to turn the air screw quite a bit to get it to idle right and just a couple of days ago there were no idle issues at all.

Thanks again all for your great help on this thing.

if you play with the e-clip much, replace it with a new one, I have had mine break...

Will do, Thanks Turbo

Bugeye 59, Never thought of the nipple trick. When I bench test them I have a gravity feed set up. I should have put two and two together UHHHH. I give it a try. I know stixs had put a primer on his to help pump the bowl for cold starts after it set a while and it also allowed to get the old fuel out of the system after setting a month and prime the bowl with fresh. Man I love new ( to me anyway)ideas, more please.

Rarerat, After you get her clened and jeted let us know the effect on your speed run. Back in the day I had a run away like yours and it scared the living _ _ _ _ out of me. It's a helpless feeling Your lucky just pulling the plug wire did it. Post up a pic of the plug you removed for viewing if you do not mind. We all love pics.

oops