New Grizzly

I hope others will chime in, but my initial guess is the carb isn't set right or is dirty. It could be a float problem. Mine will pop and sputter when cold and has done so for over a year... but once it's warm, it's fine.

If you're comfortable working on carbs, I can tell you how to get the machine apart to get to the carb. Having to wait a couple of weeks to get your brand new machine working right is a load of crap. Are there any other Yamaha dealers near you?

Rob

My '04 Grizzly is very cold blooded, I have to baby sit it for a little while until it warms up. It sputters, rough idle, after that it is fine. I'm not sure if the fixes yamaha made to keep it from overheating have made it this way or not, because I've gone over the machine and everthing seems to be within spec. Not sure if that is what you are describing or not. If it still behaves that way after its warm, I'd say something is wrong. and being brand new I'd make the dealer aware on a daily basis until it gets fixed.

Man that sounds like a tough one to deal with. Not really sure I would want to be taking my new Griz apart though.

But then again I did the same thing I bought mine through a dealer that is about 2 hours away also. Just hope I have nothing go wrong with mine like that.

I agree with DukeBoy and just bug the **** out of the dealer untill he gets you in, but don't be mean about it because it could backfire on you when they do look at it.Never can tell what they would or could do to your new machine while in there.

Thanks for all the info. I finally got someone to actually talk with me about the problem. The service manager told me that it was the spark plug. I guess I will buy a new plug and see if it corrects the problem. I'm not quite sure that I beleive its a plug though, I raced dirtbikes for 10 years and when a plug fowled the bikes didn't run fine at high rpms. I'm not too familiar with 4 strokes, but thats my experience with 2 strokes

Well I have to agree with you on the plug, but its a cheep try to who knows maybe solving the problem. Keep us up dated.

Does it run good if you have the choke on slightly?

extremegrizz, it does run better with the choke on. I havent made it to buy a new plug yet, but I will keep everyone posted on what happens.

Just sounds a little more than just a plug, but then again don't think it would be as big as the carb on a new machine but who knows, never can tell.

I bet it is something simple that we are all overlooking though....like the plug...lol Just have to wait and see. Hope it works for you though!

Finally had enoughd time to buy a new spark plug. I put it in and rode it for about ten minutes, eventhough it is raining really hard outside and it runs fine. I couldn't get it to act up at all thank god.


I have a question. I am planning on riding this weekend to break in my grizzly. my owners manual says that the break in time is 20 hours, But i have read some old threads and alot of you said that you thought 300 miles was really the break in time. So should I go somewhere in between?

John that is a good question. Hope someone will help us out. Getting ready to break mine in this weekend also.

I don't know about you extremegriz, but if it is 300 miles it will take me along time to break it in

Well first off I'm glad to hear that so far the plug solved your problem.

On the break in thing I was just going to go buy the 20 hour break in period. The trails I will be visting this week end will probly put a avarage of 100 miles or so on it. It is all mostly old rail road and smooth going. I will probly put the miles on it before the hours. So wich one do I go by, miles or hours then?

Hey John!
I am getting in here late on the problem you said you were having.But don`t
feel like the lonesome stranger because it happened to me with a 87 bigbear
that I still have.
It all of a sudden began spitting and sputtering at 1/4 throttle and would smooth out at half throttle and higher.But it would not idle it would just die.
Thought it might be trash in the bowl of the carb and flushed it a few times
and it did not solve the problem.I had a friend of mine that had a similar problem and I took out the extra plug that I carry with me and put it in and the Bear run like it was suppose to.
Everybody should have a extra spark plug in a good sealed bag in the storage
compartment in case of problem like this out in the sticks,or if you are alone it could result in a long walk home.

I prefer a 20 hour break-in. Although for the record, mine went 27 hours before I changed the oil the first time.

Rob

Swampy joe is right on the money. Carry one or two spares with you. This has happened to me also with my grizz. The bike runs rich right out of the box, and does not like a lot of cold idle time. If and when it starts acting a little hinky again, always change the plug first, before you do any further troubleshooting. It will save you a lot of time and grief.

Break In? Forget about it! No such thing as a break in. All you have to do is make sure that you do not keep the RPM constant. The only component that needs to seat are the piston rings. The way to seat them properly is to have cylinder pressure pushing out on them towards the cylinder walls. How do you do that? Well you put the engine under load. RIDE IT LIKE IT'S GONNA BE RODE! Cylinder pressure actually goes in behind the rings to push them out to produce a good seal. Varying RPM at different speeds is the ticket at first, but don't be afraid to rip on it. I have had a lot of different engines from 2 strokes to 1/4 milers(including every machine I have ever owned) and have done this everytime. Your engine will actually produce more power from a tighter piston ring to cylinder wall seal. By saying this I have never kept the throttle pinned for long periods of time right at new, but it doesn't take long before your engine "loosens" up. No BS.

20 hour is what I did before I took it in for it's initial tune up. I did change the oil and filter after 10 hours. I had planned to do a postmortem autopsy on the filter, but never got around to it. I did an autopsy on my ex-99 Corvette, and was amazed at the amount of metal shavings in the filter. If you've never done this on a filter from a new engine, do it and be surprised. Really emphasizes the point of doing an early oil and filter change.

During your first 20, just varied the throttle a lot, giving it max throttle only on occasion. Never letting it idle to long (to avoid over heating) and enjoy it.