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I have an '04 220 with very little riding time and no mods. It has ran like a champ from the day I bought it, but yesterday I was riding and noticed that it wanted to die everytime I pulled in the clutch. I had to constantly feed it a little throttle to keep it running.

I also noticed that when the engine was braking, it seemed to build up more compression then release a little harder than usual (sorry for the poor explanation of this part). It finally started missing badly then died. I changed the plug, which looked pretty fouled, but it wouldn't even think about starting. I finally pushed to a downhill area and it bump started, then ran a little rough for a bit, then was great the rest of the day.

I thought I was going to have to get towed by a quad. This was an unsettling thought. I want to avoid it happening again. I was lugging around trails a lot, but I would also open it up when I could and air it out. Any clues what happened here?

Was your plug wet or dry?

you said it was stock ? the oem jetting tends to run on the rich side.

Plug was not wet, but was pretty well covered with carbon and junk. Would the stock jetting being a little rich result in too much fuel, too little air and ultimately result in the problem that I had?

Has the sound of excess fuel delivery. Loading up 'n such.
Jetting doesn't self-correct that I can think of...elevation/temp may change, but usually not that drastically

Something to consider:
Stuck float?...evidenced by gas dripping from carb or a tube attached to the carb.....maybe cleared itself....perhaps stuck momentarily by foreign material, which moved on? If it's intermittent, can be tougher to diagnose, unless you see the pretty rapid drip of a *stuck* float.

Nothing else comes to mind right at the moment.

This may sound really obvious and dumb but, how does your air filter look? I fouled 2 plugs in a row once and didn't know why. The bike started pinging and stalled about 2 minutes later. Sure enough, that filter looked as bad as the one on my lawn mower Got a new one and off she went.

OldRedd, I just cleaned the filter prior to that ride, so I know it was good.

GS-I think you may be on to something. I did notice gas leaking from the carb. drain tube when I was off the bike about 30 minutes prior to it croaking. It was a pretty steady drip, so I turned off the gas from the tank and it stopped right away. I guess that could have been the early signs of the float sticking. I guess there could have been a little junk in it that worked its way on through.

I've never heard the term loading up before. What is that exactly and what can be done to avoid it?

Also, the bike idled pretty well when I first bought it, but not so well now. Will a little adjustment of the idle screw fix this? (Probably an obvious answer here).

Well...."loading up"......bit of homemade "slango" for the oddly "dull" sound that comes from an engine that is getting WAY too much fuel. As in when you fire it up warm and mistakenly have the choke on. Know that sound??.....kinda dull and hollow....help me out here guys!

Anyway, if that drip was pretty quick, you have a strong clue.

I wouldn't count on whatever caused this problem to resolve the issue all by itself. A GOOD cleaning would be worth the peace of mind, to me anyway. If not, perhaps the LONG push back to the truck, or being dragged by that ATV would put it all in perspective.

Usually when I do a carb cleaning I find *something* that turns out to have made it all worthwhile and quite necessary....so, if you do clean the carb thoroughly, watch closely for your little "reward"


PS: It's amazing how these engines will run even when getting vastly more fuel than they need or could ever burn properly.

Thanks GS. I agree that a little preventive cleaning will beat a towing. I will take a look in the carb..

It sounds like your carburetor float level is too high which is what is causing the "peeing" out the overflow tubes and is probably causing the loading up and fouled spark plug. Try a search on setting the float level. Also identify what jet sizes are in your carb while you are setting the float level. What altitude do you ride at? You may also want to modify the airbox lid or completely remove it. You may also try a search on jetting or plug chop. Good luck you have a great bike! Oh one more thing you will want to research replaceing your piston due to potential cracking.