2strokecoldsmoke

I thought those little flakes meant it was running mint! LOL

Good post for sure! My plug colour has been kinda making me paranoid because they are a medium grey kinda inbetween pic #19 & 20 and I felt maybe it was running lean, but even the Clymer manual says light tan to grey is acceptable. I have never seen a grey plug before, all of my 2 strokes run light to dark tan which I was told to understand as ideal. At least I can breathe a bit easy now knowing grey is ok.

i have been spending more time working on the bike. 3 times this week i decided to start the bike and run it on the stand to try and duplicate the problem I was having but each time the bike started with 2 kicks and would idle perfect for 10+ minutes without coughing or cutting out? ( i'm certainly not complaining)... Because my plugs were a grey color last ride I decided to try and riching up the jetting a bit by raising the needle and setting the pilot screw @ 1.5 turns. The bike seemed to run fine today other than the typical low rpm on/off throttle hesitation. I also richened up my oil/fuel to 32:1. I pulled the plugs and they are still grey? The bike is running 91 octane with amsoil on 200 mains with a K&N airbox filter. I am not sure what the pilots are, I will check. I am also still getting slight fuel dripping out of the drains at the bottom of the float bowl, what could cause this, a sticky needle & seat? The Clymer manual says grey-tan color for the plugs is normal, but I am a bit paranoid. Any baseline jetting tips? I am riding between sea level and 1000', temps from 50F-85F.

Get yourself a Clymer manual, they are packed with good info. I just replaced my bearings and seals this past weekend, had to take the entire carrier off an press the sons a bitches out, they were pretty rusty. Use anti-seize when putting it back together. While your axle is out, if you have the tools check it for straightness and damage. I did alot of dicking around and I managed to get it done in about 2 hours. If I had to do it again it would take 45 minutes.

Thanks for the replies guys. I tried using the choke while it was having trouble running and it made it want to stall so it seems like its getting more tha enough fuel otherwise it would pick up and run better. The carbs are sync'd perfect, I triple checked this. I spent the weekend working on the bike replacing odds and ends and decided to run it on the stand to try and diagnose this problem. Well on saturday it fired right up and idled perfect for over 10minutes and ran fine. I tried again on Sunday and it ran fine again?? I still notice that the overflow lines get moist with fuel bt do not drip after it runs for a while? I hope this problem has fixed itself. I managed to fix the kick starter rattle by replacing the o-ring and wrapping the shaft with teflon tape, not its snug and doesn't make a peep. I also ordered the balljoint tool so that question is answered. Are these cylinders Nicasil plated?

I was kinda scared when the plugs came out with a grey look to them, but according to the Clymer manual Grey/Tan is normal. I know light tan is just about a perfect mixture with the colour getting darker as you move away from the electrode tip. Anyways this isn't my main problem....So 40:1 seems too lean, ok I will mix the next tank around 35-36:1 and see how that works out. Any insight on the starting problem? The link to the pic did not work? I was already interested in a temp gauge for this thing as I have heard they naturally run hot and heat soak badly. What is normal temps for this bike?

I'm a newbie to this website ( which i think is awsome ) and I just recently purchased an 03 Banshee which is stock and in good shape. Most of my mechanical knowledge comes from 10+ yrs of wrenching on sleds but there are a few things I have questions about I'm sure some guys on here can help me.... The bike starts fine when cold, 2-3 kicks and it fires up and idles great for 20-30 seconds, then the clutch side cyl. stops firing. The bike will run like crap for the first minute until it seems to get nice and warm and then it starts to run on both cylinders fine again? Occasionally until its good and warm the bike will cough and backfire out of the pipe as well. I can ride for as long as I want afterwards and the bike runs great and will idle great too, this condition only happens when its been sitting for long periods. I have searched for a post regarding this and didn't come up with much. Here is what I have checked: Compression - 115psi per cyl ( i figured it would be a bit higher ? ) Carbs were cleaned, sync'd, no loose lines, both are getting good fuel Fresh 91 octane gas with Amsoil mixed @ 40:1 , I know 24:1 is suggested but that seems awfully rich?? I did a plug chop and both jugs are running clean, plugs are a light grey/tan, NOT WHITE I didn't check the pilot but its got a 200 main and the needle clip is set in the middle Air screws were at 2 turns out but I found @ 1.5 turns it ran much smoother The carb boots are still like new, no cracks I am thinking there is something up with the carbs or initial fuel delivery because once it gets nice and warm the bikes runs great, idles great etc... I can't think of why it would be such a bugger on start up? Bad reed petal maybe? I have nice clean healthy looking spark on both plugs. I am stumped on this one??? Also some general things I noticed while riding the bike: The carbs have a line coming off the bottom of each float bowl routed under the swingarm, after some long riding fuel occasionally drips out of them, not a big leak, but maybe 1 drip every minute or so? Is this typical? I thought maybe from hitting jumps and the floats moving around? The kickstarter rattles like a son of a bitch, anyone figure out a trick to keep it from rattling? The spring & bearing and o-ring are present and this thing still rattles like crazy at idle and sometimes while riding. I also noticed 1-2 times that while driving around 1/2 throttle in 6th gear if i let off and hit it again there was a small flat spot or slow response by the engine, this engine doesn't seem to take a liking to low rpms?? I need to replace the Left front spindle as it is bent. Any tricks to getting the balljoints out of their sockets without buggering up them up? I could notice when the bike was running hot after a long haul, are the upgraded radiators and cylinder heads worth the cash? Thats all I can think of for now, I'm sure I'll have more questions later. I will do my best to search them out first. Any help/opinions would be great. I love this thing and am hooked for sure.