I love my Big Red.. however.

[bigredhead]

Damit.

Used the beast all day yesterday to haul gravel on a trailer, i'm putting up a wood fence and needed gravel to pack the posts.

Up my street is a construction company and they have leftover piles they said i could use up. so i'm hauling a few hundred pounds of gravel on the trailer all day,, Big Red fired up nice all day long.

However.

Later on last night, we were having a corn boil and i took it around the house and hit the kill switch in 2nd gear, left it there a few hours, and instead of pushing it into the garage ( 5 feet or so.. heheh.. i'm always looking for a reason to ride.. damn i'm pathetic ) i hit the starter.. it turned putted a few times and that was it.

I tried and tried, but no go.. she would not fire up. i have gas ( yes i triple checked. even put in reserve ) and the starter turns,, but no fire?

It was late so i finally gave in and pushed it into the garage.. but any ideas ?

[BCMAGNA]

I had a similar situation last week. My 84 200es started but was really running rough and the just quit. I cranked on this thing until the battery was almost dead .Went in to this board and did a search on spark issues,allot of information here.I had spark but it wasn't bright and hot . I threw a charger on it went and got a new plug ,put that in and it didn't turn over but maybe twice and is running better that ever.For $2.06 give it a try.BC

[bigredhead]

cool.. i have a spare plug, i'll pop it on tonight.

( here i am at work.. all worried about my trike.. )

i should have called in sick and told the boss " My baby is not feeling good.. i'll have to stay home and look after her all day.. i'll be in tomorrow !! ".

LOL.

thanks.

[MTS]

yea it could be alot of carbon build up on the plug becuse you where hauling so much all day and at lower rpm so that could be the problem :)

[bigredhead]

low rpm ?. LOL.... you don't know me very well do you !??....

You know.. i don't know why they bothered to put a High Low on this bease ( 84 big red 200 ES ) i had it on low for a while, and it simply pulled away without even droping a fart.. switched to high to keep the rev's down and drove it normally without any problems that i could tell...

It was rather very COLD and humid late last night..hmmmm

can't wait to get home.

[rob0781]

hey that wasn't you that blasted by me in the trails last night around 6pm on a bigred without a helmet??who ever it was i waved but they just kept going..

[bigredhead]

not at 6pm, if it was me, you would have seen a trailer behind the trike !!

my little brother had it out around 3 or 4pm, but only in the MOdern Construction yard, you'd notice the crazy carpet fenders and no front rack if it was me !!

[rob0781]

lol is the modern construction yard the pit behind toys???i was there most the day but only seen quads..

[trikerider2oo7]

did the plug idea work?

[bigredhead]

not entirely.. something else has to be wrong..

I removed the plug.. and yes it was black as could be, i put in a used one, wich was clean and was able to start it , but it won't keep going,, it sputters and stalls.

You can smell the gas. .. ... if the timimg was off would it still run, and can i screw something up by trying to make it start that way ? i don't hear any unusual noise from the head...

i'm also thinking about removing the carb and cleaning it out.. even tho it was running fine until yesterday....

One important detail i think.. is some oil on the head were the decomp lever is, nothing major as most trikes i've seen have this going on.. but it was not there last week that i can remember....

any suggestions?

[rob0781]

my 185S has that oil leaking on the head by the decommpression lever to and so does every other trike i usually see ,it's the o-ring in the decompression lever and i hear it's easy to fix,the o-ring is $5 or a little more at toys,i also have a whole case of metric and sae o-rings so i'm gonna match one up on the 185Sif ya want an o-ring your welcome to have one,also if that doesn't fix the problem it might be the plate on the top of the head there is no gasket in there they never came with one,so if thats not sealing you could always use liquid gasket which i have to if ya need some,i changed my oil exactly 1 week agao and i've driven my trike 6 outta 7 days and the leak is so small my oil hasn't even went down on the dip stick,i'm not even gonna bother with mine unless it gets work untill then it'll be as it is till i need engine work,if you want yours fixed and need a hand let me know i don't think it interferes with the timing but if it does i have an idea how to do the timing and if i can't figure it out my cousin can do it for sure...

[bigredhead]

Cool !

I just bought a new plug this morning, so i'll know tonight if that's the problem or not.

and i also ordered new rubbers for the gas tank.. i'm missing one and my tank is wobbling all over the place !!..LOL. 3.50 $ each.

[bigredhead]

http://www.3wheelerworldforums.com/showthread.php?t=24008&highlight=spark+arrestor

I found this thread that sounds really like my problem... ugh.

[bigredhead]

UPDATE :

i put in a brand new plug and BAM.. purrs like a kitten. welll more like a cancer ridden alley cat.. but that's normal for her age !!..LOL.

how frequently do you guys replace you plugs on average ?

[rob0781]

what are ya running for a plug/ ngk dr8es???

[bigredhead]

ngk .

not 100 % sure the model number off hand. but sounds about right. got it from toys this morn'n

[rob0781]

i was at toys in the morning too what time were you in at?i was there around 10:30 or 11 the stock plug is a dr8es and i wanted a warmer plug to help my rich running trike so i got a dr7es which is helping,i'll be going back to 8 after i get a stock exhaust..

[hondawilly]

i never did once for like 4 yuears on my 125m

[BCMAGNA]

Glad to hear it wasn't any of the 20 things you thought it might be.and just a plug.bc

[trikerider2oo7]

i run a plug until it gives...whenever it wont start and i check it and it needs a new one, i replace it

[bigredhead]

Paranoia is a Bit$h huh !

I'm kinda obsesive about everything, but these trikes can only have so many things wrong with them !

thank god.