Won't run with air cleaner on

[yesneyr]

I have a 73. It won't run with the air cleaner on. It just bogs down and smokes black. It runs fine with the air cleaner off. It doesn't matter if there is a filter in the air cleaner or not.

Your assistance is greatly appreciated

[Todd13]

Sounds like the air cleaner is restricting the intake flow. On the Suzuki motors it's called a silencer and should in no way be a restriction. I'm not familiar with the Kawasaki motors though. Is there any chance that the cleaner is knocking the choke closed or preventing it from being upened up all the way?

[MachJeff]

It could also just be a poorly set up carb. If it is dying out with the silencer in place then the engine must be running too rich (with the silencer off, more air gets in and leans it out). I had that happen on a mini-bike once and it was caused by a missing gasket at the base of the main jet. You are going to have to open up the carb and look for dammaged or missing gaskets (there's only a few of them in there), poorly seating or adjusted float valve, and give it a general cleaning (use cab cleaner and a tooth brush). The parts diagram for the carb should give you enough info to dis/reassemble everything properly. There is not much else to setting them up, from memory I think there's only one air screw, and you should be able to start it at about 1 1/2-2 turns out, then adjust it from there untill it seems to be running the best.

[Todd13]

I agree MachJeff: it's definitely running rich for some reason! I'm just confused as to how an empty air filter housing could make such a difference! One idea might be to get it running without the housing and slowly align the housing to the carb and see what you see. Does it push the choke closed or block part of the throat? This is wierd!....

[yesneyr]

I found this other post below listed in the Carburetor section. Must be I'm not the only one. I'll take a look at the seals and go through the carb and see what I get. It is not a matter of adjusting the mixture screw/single jet, as that was the obvious choice. I sprayed starting fluid all around the carb and crank seal to see if I could find it that way, but that didn't alter the machine at all. I like the idea about the seal on the mixture screw. Thanks a lot for all of your suggestions.

We have no snow in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. This may be the first green Christmas in the U.P. in decades......RJY


skheger



Joined: 16 Nov 2006
Posts: 1

Posted: Thu Nov 16, 2006 4:15 pm Post subject: Lack of air

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My Kitty Cat seems like it runs out of air with you open the throttle. The machine bogs down and dies. If you take the air filter body of it runs fine and the minute you put it back on it acts up again. It doesn't matter if the fillter is in the housing or not. Also when you spray starting fluid by the crank seal the motor will die. I'm pretty sure it's not the filter and the carb is clean.