All,

First and foremost, thanks for sticking with this short novella.
2 years ago, I took my trike up into the dunes for 15 minutes. When I shifted into second gear 15 minutes later the trike bogged down and shut off. I looked at the engine and it was smoking (like it was going to start a fire-the smoke seemed to be coming for the head of the engine). Took it back down and loaded it up. The three wheeler at this point was almost impossible to start and would only start on choke while holding the throttle or feathering it.

I tore the carb down thinking that was the problem and cleaned it. I put it back together and tried to start the trike but the carb started leaking gas out of the float bowl and I got pissed and parked the trike under the lean-to and left it.

Two years later....today my friend and I put new gaskets in the carb and cleaned it out really well...we took out the exhaust and blew air through the two pieces (thinking a mouse may have built a nest)...each part of the exhaust had good air flow. We put the machine back together and fired it up. It would only fire and start with my friend feathering the throttle and the carb on full choke. Eventually, after like 5-10 minutes of feathering the throttle, we were able to get it to idle with the choke off.

However at this point it was shooting out thick white smoke from the exhaust. I was pissed so I took it for a ride. It would run and drive and would stall out if I would come to a stop. At this point, it would only start if I put it on full choke again and feathered the throttle. While running there was a tick that grew louder when the trike was accelerated. I attributed this to a possible valve problem (?)

Now I know you are probably going to say the carb is possibly dirty, but I don't think that is the issue. I cleaned the crap out of it and added new/fresh fuel to the tank and ran new line and inline filter. Is is possible the air/fuel screw is not adjusted correctly causing me to have to feather the throttle and choke it to start it.

Also, what is the white smoke from? I have read that it might be possibly water in the system, which would make sense because the trike was stored under a lean-to for two years, but again, I cleaned the carb and the tank and added fresh gas, so I wouldn't think this to be the case. Is it possible the valves or seals are bad which is why I am hearing a tick and the white smoke? In your opinion what would it be?

Also, the timing seems to be on, the cdi marks line up when the fire mark is lined up on the flywheel.

Thank you for sticking around and reading through. I hope you can help.

Thanks,

Caleb