Carb help for 1988 Honda Fourtrax

Blaze

Blaze

The Jeeper Reaper
Joined
Aug 9, 2005
Location
Wake Forest, NC
So I can't get my son's ATV to run right. The carb has always been stupid on it ever since I got it. The guy before me said it needed work on the carb, and I screwed with it last year and got it running ok, not great but ok, and now this year it stopped running all together. I could get it to idle sometimes, but would choke out when I gave it gas. Now it won't start at all. I took it off last night and I'd rather just replace it rather than eff with it any more. I also had to drill out a stripped screw for the plastic plate.

The problem is that every single one I find isn't the same design as this one. This is an 88 Foreman/Fourtrax 250. The only ones I am finding have the single bolt plate for the throttle linkage, but this one has two bolts. Anyone know where I can get a new carb? I am a little worried about even ordering a new rebuild kit to try AGAIN because I don't know if I'll let the right one.

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From a quick search, it looks like they didnt make a 250 in 1988. All the 250 carbs are 87 and back. Maybe that's the reason you cant find one? Is yours a 300?
 
Wall to Wall cycle in Pinnacle has always been very helpful when I had a problem. The lady that I always spoke with really knows her bikes.
 
I usually use vise grips to crack the Phillips screws loose, so they don't strip.. but you should be able to find a cheap China carb for it from Amazon or eBay.
 
a_kelley said:
I usually use vise grips to crack the Phillips screws loose, so they don't strip.. but you should be able to find a cheap China carb for it from Amazon or eBay.
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My thought too, but every carb I find on eBay or Amazon are the other style and not this style.
 
I'll throw my 2 cents in. The exploded views y'all are referring to is for a TRX250x and doesn't share any similarities to a fourtrax250. First one is a sport bike and other is a utility. Hope this helps.
 
Junkyard Dog said:
I'll throw my 2 cents in. The exploded views y'all are referring to is for a TRX250x and doesn't share any similarities to a fourtrax250. First one is a sport bike and other is a utility. Hope this helps.
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That exploded view of the TRX250X looks identical to the carb on this ATV though.
 
a_kelley said:
I usually use vise grips to crack the Phillips screws loose, so they don't strip.. but you should be able to find a cheap China carb for it from Amazon or eBay.
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Blaze said:
My thought too, but every carb I find on eBay or Amazon are the other style and not this style.
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I would highly recommend against a China carb. My dad put one on his mid 90s TRX300 and it never ran right. I scavenged a few parts off the china one, and put the original Keihin one back on, and now it runs great.

Could yours have possibly been swapped for a China cheapie many years ago?
 
jeepinmatt said:
I would highly recommend against a China carb. My dad put one on his mid 90s TRX300 and it never ran right. I scavenged a few parts off the china one, and put the original Keihin one back on, and now it runs great.

Could yours have possibly been swapped for a China cheapie many years ago?
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I don't think so, it look realllly old and not cheapie.
 
Blaze said:
That exploded view of the TRX250X looks identical to the carb on this ATV though.
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I understand. They maybe similar in looks but jetting and such would be alot different. I'm fairly certain that the last year for the 250 was 87. 88 brought the 300 fourtrax I believe. Have a photo of said 4 wheeler?
 
We had one of those as a kid with the solid front axle it was a 300 or 350 I can remember


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This is the picture I found of the carb that should be on the atv......

41bN0TKISGL.jpg


My guess is that the one on the atv is for an earlier 250.....
 
Blaze said:
That exploded view of the TRX250X looks identical to the carb on this ATV though.
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I wonder if thats your problem.
Somewhere in its history someone replaced it with te wrong piece and now you have improper fueling.
 
Ron said:
I wonder if thats your problem.
Somewhere in its history someone replaced it with the wrong piece and now you have improper fueling.
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Not sure, I got it from someone on here that took really good care of it and raced dirtbikes. I can't remember who I got it from though. He told me the carb was being stupid but he never got around to rebuilding it. It has just gotten to the point of being stupid and broken. :lol:

I just remembered he gave me a big box of parts, maybe there is a rebuild kit in there. I'll have to look tonight.

Also, if the "correct" carb is not the one on it, then the choke cable and throttle cable have been replaced as well because they don't fit that "correct" carb.
 
Blaze said:
Not sure, I got it from someone on here that took really good care of it and raced dirtbikes. I can't remember who I got it from though. He told me the carb was being stupid but he never got around to rebuilding it. It has just gotten to the point of being stupid and broken. :lol:

I just remembered he gave me a big box of parts, maybe there is a rebuild kit in there. I'll have to look tonight.

Also, if the "correct" carb is not the one on it, then the choke cable and throttle cable have been replaced as well because they don't fit that "correct" carb.
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You got that thing from me. Its an 88 TRX350D. There should be a stamp or tag on the frame somewhere up front that calls it out on those old Hondas and I think that machine still had it at one point. Good to see its still around. So from what I remember, I had the bowl off and cleaned jets and stuff after I got it. But since the cables and whatnot all lined up, it never crossed my mind that it could be the wrong carb on the machine causing the problems. It got better after I cleaned the jets and the fuel tank. IIRC there might be a rebuild kit in that box of parts.
 
StretchASU said:
You got that thing from me. Its an 88 TRX350D. There should be a stamp or tag on the frame somewhere up front that calls it out on those old Hondas and I think that machine still had it at one point. Good to see its still around. So from what I remember, I had the bowl off and cleaned jets and stuff after I got it. But since the cables and whatnot all lined up, it never crossed my mind that it could be the wrong carb on the machine causing the problems. It got better after I cleaned the jets and the fuel tank. IIRC there might be a rebuild kit in that box of parts.
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Awesome, glad you found this thread! I'll check the box of parts, I have it up in the attic. I took it apart and cleaned it out really good last night. It looks like it is actually the carb for the quad.
1988 Honda FourTrax Foreman 350 4X4 TRX350D CARBURETOR Parts - Best OEM CARBURETOR Parts Diagram for 1988 FourTrax Foreman 350 4X4 TRX350D Motorcycles
 
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