Is it just an enigma? Gremlin?

[Canyon Man]

So this started last year. My 185s was running very poorly. So I was led to believe probably carb problems. Bought a new carb from ebay for $25 instead of a $30 rebuild kit. Installed it last year and ran fine for a day or so then got crappy again. Difficult to start, poor performance. So it was the end of the season and sat till last week. Put in fresh gas and nothin. No start at all. Even sprayed ether in it and nothin. Ripped carb apart for the hell of it and still looked clean but I hit it anyway with carb cleaner. Still nothin. Nearly pulled my arm off. Still nothin. Oh well. I finally got my brother to pull me and pop the clutch to start it. He pulled me for 5 min and all of a sudden it started to pop. Very rough but then it got better. Now when I start it, I barely give it 1/2 pull and it purs like a kitten, and runs beautiful. Since then I put on at least 200 miles and its is still running wonderful. Even the starting is outstanding
Of coarse my question is what the hell was it? What caused me all the grief? The only thing different was popping the clutch instead of pull start. Thats all that was different. Any thoughts to this guys?

[dougspcs]

Hard to pin down now that its running again..

I'm guessing you didn't check for spark during it 'no run' phase.

Judging from your description I'd say that was suspect #1.

Just as a suggestion, pull apart all the electrical contacts and check them for corrosion. Clean them and apply dielectric grease to seal them. Especially the grounds on the frame.

Other than that you'll likely have to wait for it to happen again. Best to change the oil since you likely had it flooded pretty badly..diluted oil will lead to ring wear really fast!

Hard to pinpoint a problem not there..

[Larry T Moore]

I bought a 200 years ago that the guy parked cuz it wouldnt run...took it to work and pulled it behind the forklift and it tried to start...changed the gas and new plug and pull roped it till my arm went numb...got it back behind the forklift and finally got it pull started...ran the crap out of it for about 2 hours...next day it pulled easy and fired right up...rode it for 2 years with no probs and traded it off for a 250r and that dude is still riding on that same plug.....never did know what its problems was

[El Camexican]

I'm guessing that your issues were likely wet dirty plugs combined with un-burnable crud in the combustion chambers and some loose junk in the pilot jets. Towing starting them spun the engines fast enough to suck it in and blow it out along with clean fresh fuel which has kept them running since.

An old emergency cold weather start snowmobile trick was to pull the plug out, pull the cord a few times to clear the bad air out of the cases and then heat the spark plug with a lighter until your fingertips got hot. Screw it back in and start the sled. You can try that in the future, or if you are in the shop, a shot of WD-40 into the cylinder will start anything with a spark. In really cold weather Coleman camp stove fuel works even better, but like ether it is VERY dry.

[Canyon Man]

Thanks a lot guys. I appreciate it