Tinkeringreg

Well after driving it around a bit and having to replace a stuck thermostat it seems to be running well and has good power I have noticed gear oil coming from the front diff pinion seal area so I guess I'll be exploring that issue sooner than later.

New belt installed and also did a 25 year overdue service on the primary drive, it was really nasty and corroded. It's working good now. Took it out of the shop yesterday and did some riding around the yard and it seems to be running well. I did track down another electrical issue that I'll take care of this evening. It would lose power to the main switch intermittently and I finally traced that to a terminal in the connector that plugs into the starter solenoid. I'm also going to flush the cooling system and install some antifreeze

Well finally some good news. Pulled the stator roter off and sure enough it had a sheared key, replaced the key and it started up. That brought to light another issue. It would start easy the just die for no reason, I suspected it may be the carburetor even though it's been replaced I did have to evict a mud dobber nest that had made a home in the fuel inlet because the fuel line was disconnected when I got it. Well I've been searching for other reasons why it would die suddenly, just about ready to dive into the carburetor when I decided to look into why the aftermarket led flood lights were dim. I found a bad or non existant ground between the engine and frame. I ran a new ground wire from battery negative to the frame the started it up and it sat and idled for a good 15 minutes and did not die. Now when the new drive belt comes in maybe I can actually test drive it. Still a few other things to look at but it's coming along.

No start update, I found the cdi box was faulty causing no spark. I installed a new cdi box and we now have spark but still no start. I pulled the cam gear cover and timing plug and now I believe I have found the problem. With the flywheel set at the T mark for top dead center the cam gear mark is about 80 degrees off of the mark. Timing chain is snug so I'm pretty sure it hasn't jumped timing plus good compression points to that conclusion as well. I belive the flywheel key has sheared. I should have a puller coming tomorrow so I'm going to pull the flywheel and see what the key looks like

You are correct on the fuel issue. Ethanol is a hydroscopic fluid and will attract moisture out of the air. The big issue with Ethanol is that it will mix with gasoline but it will not combine with gasoline, what this means is that the gasoline and Ethanol will separate if left still. The sloshing around keeps them mixed when driving. When a vehicle sits for a month or so the Ethanol and moisture it's collected goes to the bottom of the tank and that's where the fuel pickup is. The bottom line is now you have water in your carb. Always use a fuel additive/stabilizer to your fuel

Compression is good but it has no spark so I'm pretty sure that's going to be the direction to look. I'm a former auto mechanic and current industrial machine repairer so I'm pretty good at mechanical problems. I have narrowed it down to most likely the ignition pickup / stator which has a replacement on order

Hi my name is Greg and I just acquired a free 2000 yamaha kodiac 400 4x4 with the ultramatic transmission that does not run. I plan to get it going and use it around my property