kdx made me take a long walk this weekend

[chadr]

I was out riding at a place called croom in florida (near tampa) this weekend with a few friends. My bike started acting as if it was getting low on fuel so I switched to reserve and rode for a few more min. One friend stopped to get a drink (the other two kept going), so I told him I was going back to fill up my tank. Started the kdx and took off back toward the car and the engine began to cut out... then nothing. No bad noises and there is still the same amount of compression. Checked the tank and it was almost half full and fuel dripped out the carb when I leaned over to the left.

Luckily i had my water pack and compass so I started pushing the bike back. Soon I quit pushing and parked the bike and walked for about an hour and a half before finding someone. This is a park with marked trails and rangers, etc. Too bad all of the trails are nearly as bad as walking on soft beach sand. No way can you get far pushing a bike through that crap. I had called my buddies on their cell, but I guess they weren't wondering why I was gone for 15, 30, 60, 90 minutes. If someone I was riding with was gone for 30 minutes I'd make a call to them since we all have our phones on with coverage in the park.

About 2 min after I finally come across two other riders the park ranger comes up in his 4x4, then one of my friends finally calls me back to see where I am. All of this in a span of just a few minutes. I hop in the 4x4 and we drive back to put the bike in the truck. If I didn't have 2L of water I would have been in trouble. It was about 90 something degrees at 2p that day. I suppose I could have called the park ranger on my cell and saved the walk altogether, but I didn't want to make it so easy on myself.

I unloaded the bike from the trailer today and tried to start it up again. No luck, so I'll have to pull the plug to see if I get spark. Maybe the plug just quit on me - wishful thinking. I didn't have any tools, plugs, etc. with me on the trail. Guess it is time to get a small kit together for the next time I need it.

[SS109]

You are really going to hate yourself if all it was is a spark plug you could have swapped on the trail! I always carry some basic tools and a fresh plug. Keep us updated on what you find out.

[Mr. Wibbens]

You are really going to hate yourself if all it was is a spark plug you could have swapped on the trail! I always carry some basic tools and a fresh plug. Keep us updated on what you find out.

Sure what it sounds like

[kawie]

that will be funny but ive been there too.when i was new to al this i bought a honda 300ex to play around on.me an the boy were messing around in the creek behind the house.he got off the wheeler an when i got on it wouldnt start.figured he got something wet,waited a few an it still wouldnt start.decided to push it about a half mile home.tore plastic off checking wires an anything else still wouldnt start.went to work the next day an was talking to my buddie an he ask if it was the kill switch turned off.sure enough thats what it was,i used the key to turn it on an off but my boy used the kill switch.i ate alot of **** over that at work. it happens.
Kawie

[chadr]

I checked for spark and didn't see anything, so I put a new plug in there. Spark was visible with the new plug so I suppose the lack of spark is what caused the bike to completely die on me last week.

Decided to also pull the carb and check the jets while I had some spare time. There was a 158/45 installed so I put in nice clean 155/45 jets someone from the kdxrider forum was nice enough to mail me a few months ago. When I removed the pilot to check the size I found it was entirely plugged up from what I could tell. Couldn't see any light through it, so I put in the nice clean 45. Started the bike right up and noticed the power was a bit better than before. I still have at least one non functioning kips valve so I'm sure when I get that fixed the bike will have a good deal more power down low. I messed with the air screw but it didn't seem to make a big difference in throttle response just off idle anywhere from 1/2 turn out - 1 1/2 turns out. Even with one of the 3 kips not working I expected more of a change with the air screw adjustment. Fastest idle was less than two turns out so I guess the 45 is the right size pilot if I'm understanding the jetting guide correctly.