Hello everyone – I am new to this forum and would appreciate some help! I have a 2003 Yamaha XT225 which I purchased in Arizona about a year ago with 1,200 miles on the odometer. It now has 3,722 miles on it. The bike has been running well and I have enjoyed riding it on and off road a lot. I came to Asheville in October 2019 and parked it for about 2 months during the worst of the cold weather. I had a battery tender on it, but omitted to drain the float bowl or use an additive like Stabil. I tried starting it a few months ago, but it wouldn't fire up. I noticed that some gas was seeping out of the fuel petcock and so I bought a new after market petcock. Upon taking off the old one, I saw that the two small tubes allowing gas to drain from the tank into the petcock, were totally perished. The new petcock solved the problem of the leaking gas and the bike fired right up! I mention this just in case this occurrence has anything to do with my current problem!
Yesterday, March 26, 2020 was a lovely day in Asheville and I decided to take the bike out for its first ride of the 2020 spring season. I went for a ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway and after about 15 minutes of riding, I felt the bike starting to splutter and it started losing power. It hesitated back and forth, lost speed and then simply cut out on the Parkway. After about 15 minutes, I was able to start it up again and I continued on my ride. Then, about half an hour later, it did the same thing again – it cut out and stalled on the road. At that time I smelt a burning smell, but not the smell of burnt rubber. After a few minutes I was able to start it up again. At that time my confidence level in the bike running properly for the rest of my ride, took a serious nosedive, and I decided to turn around and head home. While riding, I could hear a lot a lot of backfiring coming from the rear muffler – more pronounced or noticeable than I’ve ever heard before?? The idling also seemed to be unusually low and the bike stalled a few times when I stopped at a light and I had to keep it revved up to prevent it from cutting out. While I was riding back home at about 40-45 mph, it seemed to be going OK, but certainly not as well as it has ridden before.

Needless to say, I will not venture out again until I can fix the problem. I wonder what is causing this and where I need to look to locate the source of the problem? I came across a recent thread on this forum titled “engine loss at power” describing a similar situation to mine and wonder if the advice given there is relevant to my situation? Does anyone know of a YouTube video which explains how to fix this? Thank you very much in advance for your help with this! I look forward to fixing this and riding again very soon, especially now that the weather has turned and it’s good to get out in the fresh air and be away from Coronavirus home confinement!

Welcome

Since it was running well when you put it away, where it sat in the cold for quite some time, if it were mine the first thing I'd suspect would be the old gas as the problem.

Make sure the carburetor is clean with jets and floats freely working. Empty and refuel with fresh gasoline. Then see if the bike's back to normal with those things attended to. I'm thinking it will be..

Welcome.

Yes, bad gas and/or gunk in the carb are the first places I'd look. 100% gas... ethanol causes a several problems.

Backfiring is usually an indication of fuel starvation. I'd say you have crap in the fuel feed system. Need to inspect starting at the tank right on through the carb's fuel systems. A quality inline fuel filter below the tank is a good idea. Berryman B-12 is good carb cleaner and will dissolve any deposits, except rust. The coaster enrichment cover (black plastic on side of carb) is always suspect. It can crack causing all kinds of problems. Clean and inspect the carb completely. Good luck!

Thank you very much to those members who replied with their advice. It is much appreciated! So, here is what I propose to do. First, even though I did put in fresh gas a few days ago, I'm going to drain that gas from the tank and carb and put in fresh gas. Then, I'm going to add a few ounces of Berryman B-12 into the tank in the hope that this will dissolve any gunk in the carb. I will then attempt to ride it around near my house for a bit and see if this will have solved the problem. I'd like to avoid having to remove the carb if at all possible.

Would these steps be a good way to start resolving the problem, especially adding Berryman carb cleaner to a fresh tank of gas?

Also, I have another question please. Is there a way that I can effectively clean out the carb bowl and jets without having to remove the carb? Can I do so while the carb is still mounted on the bike, or is this not advisable?

Thank you again - I look forward to further responses on this.

Someone posted a video of a fellow running straight B-12 into the carb. Sort of extreme but I don't see any issues with doing this. You can add through the fuel line to fill the bowl. I think the engine will run on this too. That will ingest the cleaner into all the internal passages. Let sit overnight. Connect your clean fuel source and let the fuel displace the B-12. I've not done this except on my lawnmower carb. So proceed at your own risk! Perhaps someone here can jump in with more experience. This is a band aid and not a substitute for removing the carb, disassembling it for a proper inspection and cleaning. Ride safely.

Just to cover bases and because its easy, check oil level and spark plug gap. Possibly, some of your 'totally perished' fuel lines or other internal carb. gasket/washer particles (from running ethanol fuel) are compromising fuel flow.

Thinking outloud - Sounds, like others suspect, a classic case of progressive fuel flow restriction. Everything Muniac previously mentions is valid (including inspecting black plastic coaster enrichner for cracks). Only I would use K-100(.com) fuel treatment, in hope of avoiding the carb removal.

So, if it was my bike, I'd pull the tank, petcock, and flush while looking for clues- like hard particle debris or other. Then I'd pull the carb drain screw, drain, and re-insert screw. Fill with K100 via fuel tube - a tiny funnel helps. Then the wait....one hour to overnight. I may try to assist things at this point, by pressing start button once or twice briefly while rolling on throttle a little - ideally working the K100 into nooks/crannies/jets in carb. (It will not fire up on K100.) Then when ready, next morning (techs say at least an hour later) drain K100, replace drain scew. Re-connect fuel line(w/ new fuel filter), petcock, tank(with fresh 91 octane). Then I'd fire it up.

If restriction in the fuel flow is due to hard particulate non-dissolvable matter - such as sand/plastic/etc. - it might still be there(carb removal time). If it is due to: a hardened clear or wax/grease-like substance(as found in phase separation with ethanol fuel), or lacquer, or mild rust it is most likely fixed/cleared. If the coaster enrichner(black piece molded plastic on side of carb) is cracked/etc. you'll still get random backfire/missing like a fouling spark plug. (I found one on Ebay not long ago for $44, They're getting hard to find). Good Luck!

Gentlemen, I have another question please. I have been following the advice on this thread and so far have done the following:

I took off the carburetor and removed the float bowl - it really wasn't so bad after all! It was very clean - there was no gunk in it. (I took some photos). I removed the main jet - it's a 120 jet - and it was clean as well, but I did blast everything with Berryman B12 carb cleaner - couldn't find K100 locally. I also removed the idle jet - it's a 40 I believe (it was very small for these old eyes to see, but I used my magnifier on my iPhone)! I cleaned that too with a very thin strand of copper wire. I also turned out the other screw that has the spring below it and blasted that too. (Is that called the fuel mixture screw)? I put it all back together and re-installed the carb. I suppose I should have gone a little deeper into the carb and checked more things, but I didn't feel too comfortable doing that. Then I drained most of the fuel from the tank. I removed the fuel petcock and swooshed the last bit of gas that did not drain, and let it out thru the petcock mounting holes on the tank. I didn't see any gunk coming out. When I tried to replace the petcock, I noticed that the little black gasket that attaches the petcock to the tank, was not seated properly in the petcock housing - it seemed to have stretched a bit and wouldn't seat nicely, but I did put it on. I then put a gallon of fresh Shell 87 octane gas into the tank, started it and it cranked right up. Yay! I let it run for a few minutes, but then noticed that gas was slowly dripping from the petcock. I tried re-tightening all the petcock screws (4) but it still continued to leak, seemingly coming from the gasket area. I had to drain most of the gas again and take off the tank.

So, now my question about the petcock. Some months ago, my OEM petcock was leaking as well. When I took it off, I noticed that the two tubes that go into the tank, had completely deteriorated. It seemed that the tubes had plastic filters around it, or the tubes were basically plastic filters, and the gasoline must have caused the deterioration. I ordered a new petcock on eBay, and this is the one that has now failed a month later. The new petcock also has two tubes made out of plastic and some thin screen material. This caused me to research petcocks online tonight and it seems that some petcocks have a copper tube to allow gas to flow thru it, with a screen type filter around it. The other tube, presumably for when the bike goes onto reserve, is not copper.

I am wondering how smart it is for me to use an el-cheapo eBay petcock that cost all of 9 bucks, and that may deteriorate in a short time? I tried to look for better options for a fuel petcock, but there aren't any - there are many petcocks priced from $7 to $12, but all of them look the same. It seems that the OEM petcock is similar as well, or am I wrong about this? I did not keep the OEM petcock after I took it off, as the on -off knob had come off with the previous owner, and he made a makeshift device to turn the fuel on and off - I thought a new petcock would be in order.

I would appreciate hearing from members as to what is the best petcock for my 2003 XT225? Also, I currently have a straight inline filter from the petcock to the carb, but following trailhand's advice, I removed this and am getting ready to replace it with a new 90 degree Visi-filter. Should I get a metal inline fuel filter instead of the Visi-filter?

Thank you very much again! I look forward to some input soon! And sorry for giving so much information...

I think OEM parts are always the best fit and longest lasting. In line filter is good and one that's clear would be my choice. Don't use a cheap one as gas can cause cracks in cheap plastic. As for cheap parts, you always find out (later) how expensive they really are. Good luck and ride safely.