# Yamaha cold starting



## plugger (Aug 8, 2001)

Has anyone had any sucess eliminating the cold start problem on the kodiak or grizzly? My buddy has a 660 and has problems with his and has towed in a couple of other nearly new yamy's. He loves his quad when its warm but temps of 10 or below and it wont start.


----------



## krt (Nov 5, 2001)

My '04 450 Kodiak starts fine and it's never not started, but I have noticed that if I mess with the throttle while it's cold during warm up v.s. just slowly turning off the choke , it doesn't like to idle at first. I've had it over a year, but with the miles being in the low one-hundreds, I'm still learning. 
As for fixing their (his) problem, they could try a slightly warmer plug during the winter. I've heard of this fix from others. I've also heard that "big bore" single cylinders can be cold blooded. If you goto atvconnection & do a search, you should find lots of advice.


----------



## kulsh (Feb 13, 2005)

if you ice fishermen are going to use your four wheelers at very low temps you are going to have to rejet the carb.. cold air is alot more dence then warmer air basicly you are over chocking the engine.. and running really rich and you might stat fouling plugs.


----------



## lakergrad (Aug 2, 2002)

I had a similar problem on my Yamaha. You may find that you have a dirty pilot jet. There is no way to verify this without cleaning the carb. It's an easy task though. Remove the carb and the jets. You will have to do more than simply spray the jets with cleaner. I used one bristle cut from a wire brush. Push it through the jet to ensure that it is fully open. When I reassembled, my quad ran great, including starting!

Good luck!


----------



## Dasher (Jan 12, 2004)

I have a honda and used a 1 level lower "hotter plug". In addition to the hotter plug I switched to using synthetic oil. It starts alot better so far with the lowest temp. being 5 below. Hope this helps


----------



## neversunk (Jan 21, 2004)

Supposedly most of the yamahas come with the wrong float setting for the carb from the factory....they have to be set that way to pass their California emissions test, and its not the right settings for our temps and altitude.....


----------



## grizzlyadams73 (Jul 13, 2003)

the choke cables are usually not adjusted properly the yamahas ive got have needed adj.


----------



## 7iron (Feb 28, 2005)

I have a 660 and it starts hard if it sit for 2 or 3 weeks. This winter it was real cold ,as you well know, if I ran it every couple of days it was fine, but if it sits too long then I'd have trouble. If you find a sure cure let us know.


----------



## plugger (Aug 8, 2001)

We have been through most of the basics and interneted with a couple of minnesota guys and they all say check the valve adj esp the intake valves. A coulple of other yamahas I ran into and other quads I have been able to start by pulling the air cleaner and choking with my hand. Dosent work on this grizzly though. A couple of alaska guys said its simple, just take your propane torch and warm the jug up. My buddy is not too interested in torches though.


----------



## neversunk (Jan 21, 2004)

I had that same problem with my trike.....so what I did was leave the ignition off, give it full choke and pull the rope once or twice. That would get a little extra raw fuel in the cylinder. Then turn the ignition on and use either the electric or rope starter....it would usually start right up then. Now that I think of it I have to do that with one of my lawnmowers every time in the colder weather ....


----------

