2007 YFZ450R Won't Start

[jarreau2001]

I just bought this quad, of course it started and rode just fine at purchase. Well almost fine.... I did notice that it ran really well with the choke knob pulled out, but not with it pushed in. The place I bought it from had it sitting a while. All 4 tires were flat and had to be inflated.

I'm having a hard time getting it started. If I let it sit, I can choke it, (choke knob pulled out) then start it right up. It will idle fine for about 5 or 6 minutes then die. After that I can't get it started. At most it will roll over and give me a few lub lub lubs then die again.

I wondered if there's bad gas in the tank or carb.
Then I did some more research and read how they supposedly come from the factory lean & they bog out in low RPM requiring some zip tie trick or rejetting the carb.

Could it be the plugs?

I didn't see a fuel petcock. It would make sense if it were set to off or reserve. Can anybody point me in the general direction here?

This being my first quad, I don't know where to begin. I'm tempted to take it to the local Yamaha stealership and have them clean the carb and do a tune up. They'll probably hit me with the dummy tax but at least I'd have piece of mind.

[jarreau2001]

The Yamaha shop wanted $100 for a tune up and another $85 for carb cleaning.
I decided to get all the stuff myself and do the tune up on my own. Figured I'd save the carb work for last if needed.

I called the dealership were I bought it & they claimed they did a tune up on it a month ago when they got it but it just sat there since, never even started.

I didn't change the oil and oil filter but I swapped out the air filter and spark plug. I threw half a bottle of Lucas carb cleaner in with a full tank of gas. I think the battery is too weak to turn it over. A result of all those failed start attempts. It did push start just fine though. Ran like crap a few times around the neighborhood but I could gradually hear and feel improvement. Like the Lucas cleaner was busting up the gunk clearing things out. After about 15 minutes of sputtering and jerking, the performance kicked in and I was able to brap brap brap to my hearts desire.

Now I just gotta get a new battery so i don't have to push start it all the time.

Thanks for reading! I hope this helps somebody who may go through this in the future.

It's funny because I'm on Y! Answers alot and I always recommend anybody buying a used bike to perform a tune up and system flush right away. I didn't take my own advice and it caused a headache.