I have an 89 phazer. I bought it from a guy who had it sitting never rode it. I cleaned the carbs and put new gas in it. Seemed to run good but was slugish and then would just take off. Cleaned the carbs again, same thing. Then I took it out on a ride on New Years eve and it was backfiring and spitting really bad and died. Started it back up, ran for a new more minutes the same way and died again. Towed it home. What is going on? Do I need to clean the carbs again? Help please!

Phazers are very sensitive to dirty carbs, and they need the black rubber plugs in the correct spot to run. I would suggest cleaning the carbs again, and ensuring the entire fuel system is clean. If it was stored with fuel in it, you may have junk from the tank plugging the filter. It wouldn't hurt to throw some isoprpoyl in the tank to eliminate water in the fuel system as a possibility.

When you say you cleaned the carbs, did you just spray them? Soak them? Take them apart, clean, put back together? Did you rebuild them? I agree with TimberPig, make sure the whole fuel system is clean and replace the filter.

i would say it sounds like the clutch. I had an old phazer and had alot of trouble simular to that and it turned out to be the clutch. Check the belt to see if it is junk.

Brian Jones

Sounds like carbs for sure, but in the unlikely event, maybe TORS is kicking in or something. Ususally if this happens it acts real sluggish, then dies, but there are different ways for different sleds.

Just take em all apart and clean like mad, then do the same for the tank. This way will make sure everything is good, and if it still acts up, then do the TORS thing, or vice versa.

make sure your exhaust and your air box do not have mice nests in them also. If not, I would go with carbs,,,

You should test your CDI box too.

your cdi should be a black or white issue,,, if you have spark, its ok,

your cdi should be a black or white issue,,, if you have spark, its ok, [/b]

My cousins sled was acting up, start, no start, spark, no spark. A lot of people said it was the CDI, so we bought a used one and put it in. It ran, but not really strong. Then, we noticed smoke coming out of the ignition. I unplugged it and the sled immediately ran like it was brand new.

I doubt it is his CDI, but if it is, it seems to run fine, then crap out when warm. A simple test of running it until it craps out, then opening the hood, checking spark and letting the sled cool down completely and then trying it will tell if the ignition is dying when hot, although there could be other issues that show up when hot, but don't cold as well.

It could be the CDI, but Im leaning towards it being a TORS issue. Ive heard of similar issues with the TORS on Yamahas in the past and they acted similar to how Troutlakecat describes.

If it is your cdi, you should get no spark at all. Your cdi basically tells your coils when to fire,,, so it either works or it doesnt work, there is no inbetween with the cdi. If you are working some of the time, skip the cdi, its not your problem. I did have a tors problem on a 94 vmax that I used to have,,,, what I remember of the problem,,, you would nail it from time to time (could be warm or cold, didnt matter) and it would spit and sputter,,, you would hit the kill switch then turn it back on agian quickly so it never really died, but that would take care of the problem. I believe I finally got some info on how to bypass the tors system (really easy if I remember correctly),,, I bypassed it and never had another problem with it. Good luck with getting her running right though.

If it is your cdi, you should get no spark at all. Your cdi basically tells your coils when to fire,,, so it either works or it doesnt work, there is no inbetween with the cdi. If you are working some of the time, skip the cdi, its not your problem. I did have a tors problem on a 94 vmax that I used to have,,,, what I remember of the problem,,, you would nail it from time to time (could be warm or cold, didnt matter) and it would spit and sputter,,, you would hit the kill switch then turn it back on agian quickly so it never really died, but that would take care of the problem. I believe I finally got some info on how to bypass the tors system (really easy if I remember correctly),,, I bypassed it and never had another problem with it. Good luck with getting her running right though.
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Thats not entirely true, I've seen CDI's that are beginning to break down, that will cause you to lose spark when hot, but they work fine when cold. Replacement solved the problems.

The CDI is more than just a switch to fire the coils, it determines the advance and retard of the spark, to control the ignition advance for the motor. Spark timing is a pretty important function. Without advancing the timing in the midrange, you don't get quite as strong of a midrange punch, but if it fails to retard the timing at high RPM, too mcuh heat is built in the motor, leading to melted pistons, normally holed right through the center of the piston.

Particularly given the length of time the sled was stored, I strongly suspect carb/fuel system issues. The TORS system has been known to give some problems, but unplugging them and then plugging the ends into each other solves that issue.

Every one I ride with has TORS disconnected, we have helped people on the trails with there Yamahas, there sled would run then stall etc..etc.. I disconnected the TORS and it ran fine...There are 2 wires going to your carbs disconnect them and plug them together..Just remember that it is disconnected a few times now my Phazer throttle froze on me but I always check it before I pull the sled.....

I will try to dis connect them and see if that helps. It has great spark btw! I cleaned the crap out of the carbs again this weekend even though they where spotless. By cleaning I mean takes them out remove everything clean and put back together again. It seems to run ok but not great until it is warm and then I have to give it a little bit of choke just to get it to go anywhere. I will let you all know what comes from this. I will try to get at it tonight!

Thanks for the imput so far

The sled seems to run great now. I am still going to take it out on a ride, if I can handle riding it with all of this snow we are getting, and make sure that it is ok. This is my wifes sled and she told me that she wants to get a newer sled so this one will be up for sale....

thanks for all of your help guys and gals

Jeremy SWRules SWRules