Good afternoon - I'm restoring my childhood 1984 Yamaha 200EL Shaft drive 3-wheeler. I was 7 when my parents bought it for my two brothers and myself. It was used and abused for 15 years or so before the usage slowly dwindled, and eventually it quit starting, and nobody took the time to get it going again. I successfully was able to get it started after cleaning all the gunk out of the carb. I bought a new needle valve, and a new carb gasket. The rest if original. Saturday, I took it for a very brief spin, and when I got back to my house, I parked it. I turned it off and it began to leak fuel from the carb overflow. Does this needle valve have any adjustments? I read that the floats rarely, if ever go bad, but could this be the issue? If not the float, all I can think of would be trash from the fuel tank that broke loose and is stopping the needle from closing all the way. Anyone ever add a fuel filter to the fuel line? Thanks!
I kept having problems with my carb, took it off three times, cleaned it and cleaned it again...even leaked out the overflow exactly as how you described with yours...when that happens, it means the floats are stuck down and allowing the gas to continue flowing into the bowl. I finally had enough and just bought another new carb for it. Slapped it on there and it runs better than new. Easy. Should have just bought one in the first place and saved myself a couple of days, and that's what I would recommend you do. Too many little passageways get gunked up and parts simply wear out over time. Yes, I have an inline fuel filter between the fuel petcock and the carb inlet. Works great. Also bought a new fuel petcock that comes with filtering screens in the tank.
Thanks Doc, Where can I buy a new one? Any idea on the price? The dealer quoted me $35 on the float. I am tempted to buy it, but I fear after my $35, it won't work, then I'll drop $20 on something else, and before long I'm up to real money.
Here's the thing...Mikuni made the carb for Yamaha...so it would bolt up perfectly to the the intake flange on the engine. Normal Mikuni carb flanges are just slightly smaller. I ordered my carb here: Mikuni 26mm carb It was actually pretty easy to install. It WILL mount up to the original flange, but the bolt holes don't perfectly match. Still, there IS enough room to use a skinnier bolt through them and bolt it on. The only other thing I had to do was shorten the intake hose from the airbox to the carb, because the new carb is bigger and will 'push' back the hose just a bit too much. Not a big deal, I cut it in the middle and put a thin piece of pvc inside to reconnect them. My YTM225DX runs great now, starts right up first time and is very strong.
before you go out and buy a new carb and stuff like that. there is two thing you can do to possibly fix it. first thing you should check is the fuel valve under the tank, if the valve in on reserve and you got over half a tank it will allow to much gas in to the carb. and if that isnt the problem try to take the carb back off and bend the floats down (deeper into the bowl) and this will allow the float needle to shut off sooner. it worked for my 200E but make shure not to bend it too much or you will not get enough gas.
gassman, Thanks for the recommendation. I tried that yesterday, as well as adding the inline fuel filter, and a new fuel line. I went to bed thinking it was all fixed, but woke up to a very small puddle. I either need to bend it more, or the float got waterlogged and lost it's buoyancy. I see two choices now: 1) buy a new float for $35 from the dealer, or 2) buy a new carb for $88, plus shipping (I assume). I'm leaning heavily towards the carb (thanks Doc).
Men, I just spoke with my brothers, who also have ownership of the 3-wheeler, and they say to just replace the carb. Doc, how can I figure out if your carb is the same model that I would need for my 1984 yamaha 200EL? Thanks, !
I did just look up the part on the yamaha website. It shows my part number as 24W-14101-02-00. The 225DX is 29U-14101-03-00. Not the same number, but I have no idea if they are compatible. I also have no idea how to find the appropriate model.
