Why Does My Kawasaki Prairie Only Run on Choke?
If you have a Kawasaki ATV that sat inactive for many years and now it only runs on choke even after rebuilding the carburetor, you may simply have to buy a new carb for your machine.
Partzilla’s Kawasaki ATV expert John Talley hosts live Q&A sessions on our YouTube channel every Friday at 3pm Eastern. In this session, John was asked why a 2005 Kawasaki Prairie that sat for 10 years now only runs on choke, even after a carb rebuild, and after some fuel and air parts were replaced.
Kawasaki ATV Only Runs on Choke Q&A
My 2005 Kawasaki Prairie sat for 10 years. I replaced the fuel tank, the tank valve, the battery and the air filter, and rebuilt the carburetor. Also, I soaked the carb for two days. It’ll crank and idle but only on choke. It will not take throttle at idle, only when the choke is on. Any suggestions?
John Talley: Well after 10 years, even soaking the carb for two days, chances are that pilot or that low jet is probably still stopped up inside of the carburetor. So it’s not a jet that you can remove, but the passageways on the inside on that particular jet pathway are gunked up and it’s not wanting to let go. You can try soaking it again, definitely use compressed air to try to blow it out. If that still doesn’t get it, maybe find somebody that has an ultrasonic, especially a heated one where they actually heat up if you leave it on long enough, just from the friction of the water. Isn’t that crazy? And if after all that it still isn’t complying, then it may be time for a new carb. Sometimes that’s cheaper. I know in certain instances, like with the old Honda CRF80s, that instead of spending an hour or two cleaning the carburetor, it was more advantageous price-wise to the customer to just replace the thing. Because I think a new carb was like 40 or 50 bucks. And the average mechanic at a dealership would charge 85 to 125 dollars, sometimes even higher. So yeah, it was a no-brainer to just take the old carb, throw it away and put on a new one. But one for a Prairie might be a little bit on the high side, depending on the displacement, especially if it’s a bigger machine, which of course means the carburetor is going to cost more.
Watch the video below to learn about reasons why an engine only runs on choke.
Watch the video below to learn about whether you should clean, rebuild or replace a carburetor.
Watch the video below to learn how to clean and rebuild a Kawasaki mule carburetor.
Want to see more live repair questions answered? See more motorcycle and ATV repair questions answered here.
