Yamaha ATV Repair Q&A

Yamaha is known for making some of the best and most valued ATVs on the market, and our own ace powersports mechanic John Talley knows more than a little something about how to fix and rebuild them.

John Talley does live Q&A every Friday at 3pm Eastern, and Yamaha ATV repair was a much discussed topic during this session. From the YFZ450R to the Raptor and the Grizzly 700, here are John's answers to some of our live session viewers' repair questions about Yamaha ATVs. 

Yamaha YFZ450 Repair

I have a 2017 YFZ450R with an intake and full Yoshimura exhaust. Do I need a programmer? 

John Talley: That’s going to be borderline. The 450R is already a high-performance machine. You’re asking a little bit more out of it. In the ECU with all its sensors, it has the ability to change the fuel trim to adjust whatever conditions you’re in. By doing the intake and the exhaust, you’re probably at the limit as far as what it can compensate for, so you may want to go with a piggyback on there to … adjust the air/fuel ratio just a little bit more.

Watch the video above to see how to do a top end rebuild on a Yamaha YFZ450R.

I have a 2005 Yamaha YFZ450 with a brand new battery, starter solenoid, kill switch and key ignition that won’t start. When I click the starter button nothing happens. Any suggestions? 

John Talley: Well at this point, you probably need to get some test equipment here, and at the very minimum you need to pick up a test light… If you know your battery is good and it’s over 12 ½ volts, as long as that’s a known factor then I would check the fuses, use your test light to go to the solenoid, make sure you’ve got power on one side, and then it should be transferring it over to the other. If you’re sure you’ve got power, then you can start working backwards. Start looking at the switch to see if it’s making any type of continuity test on it. Make sure it’s making a contact in there. Yours sounds like honestly it’s going to be the fuse. 

Watch the video above to see how to troubleshoot Yamaha YFZ450R starting problems.

Yamaha Grizzly Repair

Are all the mechanics on a 2009 Grizzly 700 all the same? I notice different model numbers and I assume they are color codes. Is that correct?

John Talley: For the most part, yes. It’ll be different color codes and/or different levels of trim. As far as the mechanical part of it, they should all be the same.

Watch the video above to see how to troubleshoot Yamaha Grizzly 700 starting problems.

Yamaha Raptor Repair

I have a 2008 Yamaha Raptor 700, and sometimes when I change it to gear 2 and I accelerate, it changes into gear 1 without me doing anything. Any advice?

John Talley: So you’re telling me it’s actually dropping from 2nd gear down to 1st? Sounds like one of your shift forks is potentially bent, and by doing that you’ve also probably damaged your synchros, so the forks are trying to hold that gear in there, and you’re getting all the power and it’s letting it pop back. So unfortunately you’re probably going to have to crack that one open and take a look at your transmission with the synchros and the shift forks themselves. 

Watch the video above to see how to rebuild a Yamaha Raptor engine.

Want to see more live repair questions answered? See more motorcycle and ATV repair questions answered here.