KLX300 trouble...Black spooge on new plug. Help!

[MEbiker]

I have a '98 KLX 300 and it would not start the other day. 2 days before, I cleaned and re-oiled the airfilter. Now it won't start...but I have changed the spark plug, changed the oil and filter (no problems there) and it started for 3 minutes, would only run with the choke pulled or the throttle held open. I let it sit for 3 hours. Now it won't start again and is not sparking. I pulled the plug and it has black spooge all over it -- and it only has 3 minutes running time on it.

What's wrong and how much will it cost? Is it the valves? and what does that mean? Is it the jetting?

 

[penguin]

Sounds like you might have overoiled the filter and sucked some oil into the cylinder or carburetor. Or you have crud in your carburetor blocking the pilot jet. Dou you grease the filter rim? you might hav e sucked some grease into the engine.

 

[MEbiker]

Thanks for the suggestion, but if so, how do I clean it out?

 

[penguin]

the grease in the engine is gone by now. To clean the carburetor take it off the bike remove the float bowl and clean the jets. to remove excess oil from the filter take it out of the bike wrap it in paper towels and blot the excess oil until you have a fine uniform coating all over the filte. since it is several days since you oiled it, the filter oil has probably become very tacky and the filter will need to be recleaned and re oiled. it is not a good idea to place a freshly oiled filter into the bike and then try and start it, if there is any excess oil it will be sucked into the carb and clog everything up. If you dont have a service manual you need one. the illustrations will tell you way more than I can by writing it out. Have you washed the bike recently? you could have water in the carb which can get stuck in the jets and cause problems as well.

 

[MEbiker]

Thanks for the responses. I ended uptaking off the gas tank to access the carburator and discovered that the petcock was not functioning correctly...thus the engine was not starting for lack of fuel. I fixed it and the engine purred right to life!

Needless to say, I promptly ordered a service manual....thanks again.