Bayou 300 carb problems

[86klf300guy]

well dirt is the main problem in these carbs it picks it up easy and makes a mess of the works a good cleaning and a new float needle mostly take care of the problem unless the seat it self is pitted but remove that carb and dissasemble the hole thing but you do not have to remove the butterfly just the rubber dioprah on the top of the carb and all the jets and air flow screw just pay close attention on how it comes apart make a order of how they came a apart or take pics and the air fuel screw will have a spring-washer-and a tiny oring on it make sure they al come out of the hole and then soak the carb over night in a good cleaner and use compressed air to blow out the passages in the carb and blow the float needel seat off good to remove tarnish and crud then reassemble the carb and take the air flow screw in till it stops and then back it back out 11/2 turns to start out let us know if we can be more help -corey-

[bluebayou]

Ok Corey...thanks...can the needle be purchased without buying the entire carb kit? My nearest Kawi dealer is 70 miles away unless a replacement can be found at a motorcycle shop that sells Yamaha or Polaris.

[mr351clevland]

hello guys this may sound silly but do anny off you run them little inline fuel filters if not thats half ya trouble even if you think your tank is clean small bits off **** gets in there and they flood ther bums off

[fb0226]

I have been playing aroud with the carb on my klf 300. Its a keihin,cvk series. I have been working on carbs. for a long time, mainly auto and small eng.... kinda new to motorcycle and atv carbs. I got it running the other day , but had to take it back down I thought I had the float to low. While I was blowing it out I noticed that at the top of the primary jet tube, the air was coming out of what looked to be, where a plug used to be. So what I am getting at is the primary jet is open to the bowl. Is this how it should be or did a plug blow out? I really did not notice before, allthough this opening is cleaner than the rest of the carb...and now it will only idle any touch of gas and it dies . Does any one have any thoughts, or know how this should be? Thanks for any help anyone can give.

[86klf300guy]

do you have pics of this you can post so we can inspect with you ?-corey-

[fb0226]

I will wor on that tonite.

[fb0226]

note the little brass plug in the bottom left corner of pic. and the hole at the top of the jet tube.

[bluebayou]

does anyone know, if there is a schematic online some of this carburator? It would help to be able to print it out to refer back to while taking apart and putting back together.

[86klf300guy]

hey blue,when u take the carb apart lay out the pieces on your bench in a order that they were taking out this carb is real easy to dissasemble and put back together there are only 4 componets in side the carb 1 float 2 float needle 3 main jet and tube 4 secondary jet and they all only fit in one spot then you have 1 screw the air flow mix screw on the out side of the carb that will have 1 spring 1 thin washer and a rubber oring, then on the top of the carb you have a cap cover and then 1 diophram 1 main jet needle and it can only go bak in one direction due to the offset legs on the diophram , if push come to shov take pics of how it came apart with a digital cam so you can ref back to them if in dought but the kiehin carb is one of the easyist carbs to rebuild/clean but they are touchy on adjustments and they like to stay clean any dirt in the carb will give you fits, one thing i do to help prevent dirt from gettin in the carb is double filter the fuel before dumping it in the bike when i fill my can i use a filter on my can while pumpin the fuel .then when i go to fill my bike i use another filter on my fill hole in my tank when i fill it up then i have a in line filter on my fuel line so far so good i have not had no problems this year with the carb spillin gas out of the breather hose yet good luck on the repairs just take your time its preety straight forward repairs -corey-

[bluebayou]

Thanks Corey,

I have a camera but it doesn't take close up's very well and the flash quit working on it. It still works though. You need to be a few feet back for the clarity. It's not good for closeups of small items though.

Is Seafoam an ok bath for the carb? How about the kind that comes in a spray can and just spraying through the ports rather than bathing in it? I remember someone said the gasoline or paint thinner wasn't a good solvent for cleaning carbs but I can't remember why?

[fb0226]

One of the best things I have used to soak a carb body in is Distilled White Vinegar, but just like anything else you would use, make sure you remove ALL RUBBER and ALL PLASTIC......ONLY soak the metal.....with the vinegar soak about 4-8 hours, carefully blow it out with compressed air, and reassembe. Like Corey said this is a fairly simple carb to work on just make sure your work area is CLEAN and you have enough room to lay out the parts.

[86klf300guy]

yes sea foam will do the trick and so will laquer thinner but as fbo said you have to have all the plasics out and rubber componets due to it will melt them or distorte them to where you will have to replace them only soak the metal parts and its good to soak the carb on the first rebuild/clean that way you know it is totally clean for later cleaning and if it is plugged up itll make blowin the passages out a breeze but only use 15psi to 25 of air so you do dont blow any thing out thats not suppose to come out good luck with the repairs -corey-

[ianzzr11]

Hi all
Ive just tried the trx300 carb and it works perfect. Can even use original throttle cable and lever. Whats makes it so good is that there is a company doing a pattern trx carb on ebay for 80 dollars,cheap enough for me to have one shipped to the uk where I live

[antiqucycle]

bluebayou
I believe the whole problem is the *poorly* design of the Keihin carbs. If they had just made the seat for the float needle replaceable. I started this thread and I am still having the same headaches 4 years after getting this bayou. No I refuse to buy a $360 carb from Kawasaki. price is ludicrous. so are the individual parts like the $95 diaphram and slide. Mine sits buried in the garage for 6 months then I get courage and try again to solve the overflowing and NOT flowing. the quad starts instantly even after sitting 6 months. but it will run till the bowl empties and dies. wait two minutes, its starts and runs about 4 minutes. It has to be the float needle and I have tried 6 different needles and they all do the same thing. After the quad has been run for 10 minutes, guess what, it runs perfect for the next couple of hours. I have a brand new float ($34) and that did nothing to correct the problem. It just seems when the carb is assembled, something is interfering with the float going up and down. yes, I replaced the hinge pin too. Every once in a while the float will stick in the open position when the quad is off and I get gallons of gasoline on the garage floor.

I refuse to take it to a dealer as we mostly have mega dealers with idiots for mechanics. I am sure they would charge $300 for labor to put in a new $350 carb.
I did try to install a 32mm Honda XL350 Keihin carb since it does not have a a diaphram. Its too tall and hits the gas tank. I then tried a 34mm Keihin off a Mohave. well its a tight fit, requires a slightly different manifold despite having the same part number as the 300B??????. The engine will run but theres no power to speak of. but no problems with the float need. I did change all the jetting to the bayou specs to no avail.
I better start looking for the TRX carb.
I will never ever purchase an ATV or motorcycle with a Keihin Carb. Kawasaki should have recalled every 300 bayou and replaced the keihin carbs free of charge with a mikuni.

I also hate the bowl oring that expands so it will not fit back in when you reassmble the bowl. yes, I tried refrigerating the o ring to no avail. another crappy design, a paper gasket is far superior. something I think the expanded bowl o ring is what interfering with the float.

[86klf300guy]

hey antiq long time no hear from well there was a guy on here some where that bought a 34mm for his mojave and it was a mikui paid 160 for the hole assy i checked it out (the web site )its a mojave 250 race specailist equipment so if i can find what thread it was under again ill poat it for you to try this also he said it gave him more power than ever it woke his mojave up so think of what itll do for are bayous -corey-

[86klf300guy]

the web site is cycleworksraceing.net and the carb comes with cable boot and adapter so for 165 plus shipin thats a steal

[antiqucycle]

All I need this bayou for is hauling deer out of the woods. its perfect for that if it would ever turn dependable. As I said initially, I have a whole bunch of very old bikes, bultacos, hodakas, a few small hondas and a slew of Yam enduros that I bought in utter junk condition and got them running so I must know something about carbs. In the mean time I acquired a yam warrior that had been beat to death on a farm for years. The key was lost and the starter button spring was broken so the whole thing was rewired mickey mouse to just make it run. Well I redid everything electrical.
not to mention replacing nuts and bolts galore lost over the years.
so I got the Bayou back out and tried other carbs with no luck.

somebody somewhere has to know why these Keihin carbs screw up with the float needles. I just feel its something going on when the carb is completely assemble that you cannot see when you take it apart. like something hitting the float.

[86klf300guy]

well that site i gave you can call em up and they build to suit and plus did i mention its a mikui lol and hey if you dont mind maybe send me that carb and let me take a wack at it i have my bayou here that i can test it out on and if i get er fixed up ya but if not no harm no foul and ill send it back to u fixed or as was like i said before i havent had any problems this year with the carb and its been rode alot you know they say different people have different eyes pm me if your interested and i wont charge you nothin to repair or attempt to repair -corey-

[bluebayou]

antiqucycle, no I haven't made the attempt on this yet following the instructions (which I have printed out) that Corey gave. My dad and I had the same problem with our 2x4 Bayou 300 and we did haul it to the dealer. They did fix it and it hasn't had a problem since and I don't think the repair wasn't too expensive around $60 (I know that's still a lot of money but compared to $300 it doesn't sound too awful). This was 5 years ago and I'm sure prices have gone up. At that time though, the dealer mentioned that the problem was that one of the parts in the carb was made of rubber and the carb didn't have this problem prior to this. I'm sure you guys must know what he was talking about, is it the needle? Can those be made from rubber? If you have a good trustworthy dealer it might be worthwhile to describe the problem and get an estimate on the repair. My dealer is 70 some miles distant and I sure would like to save the money if I could be done on my own. Wish you luck with your machine.

[antiqucycle]

The main rubber part in the carb is the diaphram and it is molded to the slide so it, by vacuum, it lowers and raises the slide which varies the speed of the engine. That part is in the $96 range. If the diaphram tears, has a crack, your slide will not work. your engine might idle but no full speed response.

On the Honda Trx carb, the idle adjustment is on the right side so beware of burning your hand reaching over the exhaust to change the idle.