The Walden Effect: Farming, simple living, permaculture, and invention.

ATV fuel switch protocol

close up of ATV fuel switchI think it's possible I may have caused some carburetor damage by not shutting off the fuel switch when we stable her.

Someone once told me you only needed to do that when transporting, but several comments on an ATV forum says shutting it off can avoid needle damage.



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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.



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Usually a fuel switch is there to prevent the tank from draining. E.g. if you're maintaining the carburetor, or if there is a leak somewhere downstrem from the tank.

AFAIK, needles and jets are more often damaged by incorrect maintenance that by normal use. I don't see how leaving the fuel on could damage the needle? Mind you, if there is a malfunction in the float (which stops the fuel flow when the carburetor bowl if full), storing the quad with the fuel valve open could possibly cause the engine to fill up with fuel.

Comment by Roland_Smith Thu Jul 25 17:53:28 2013
Whenever I have equipment with a fuel shutoff, I close the valve and allow the engine to run a few seconds to pull some fuel out of the float bowl. This seems to prevent leaky needle seats, possible from additives in the gas gumming up the sealing surfaces. If the engine is to be stored for a long time, I let it run until the engine begins to starve, then cut it off. Of course, I use ethanol-free fuel and Stabil and rotate my gasoline monthly, so I have very few problems with small engines. The other day, my generator only took 1/2 pull to start.
Comment by David from Alabama Thu Jul 25 20:51:06 2013





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