How to tell if they are bad?What happens to my quad if they are bad?

I Done a bit of research and I know where they are now!What affect on an engine would it have if they are in bad shape?I think I have a gasket for it in the kit I got!Mine is a 1987

Sounds alot like my bike!Alot of flooding hard to start and after my first good run she died while i was riding! I think new reeds and a carb clean is in order!Any one on here like to sell me some reeds?I live in ireland if that makes it any eaiser/difficult.

 Hey why dont you try to turn the gas on to fill the carb.For a few seconds.Then shut if off and try to start it with the choke on.If it starts and runs turn the gas back on.See if it floods out.But if it starts dont run it very long with out the gas on.Do this and let me know whats happens.I dont want you to do to many things at one time or we wont figure it out.Let me know asap after you do this and if its runs.

That will be no problem!
Cant wait to show It off! where I live is just miles and miles of hill ground!

When you're checking reeds, you want to note how much tension they have against the cage as well as physical damage.
Clean all of the oil off, then check tension...the oil can make the petals "stick" to the cage and act like they're being held down by tension.
Once it's clean, see if you can see daylight through any of the contact points or if they're at all loose.
If either is true, buy a new set of petals/reeds, they need to hold tight against the cage to provide a good seal and work properly.
You can lift the petals up with your fingernail and they should snap back in place.
If you notice that some make a dull snap or hardly anything at all, time to replace.

You can also take the plate that holds the petals on and look for deformities like you'd see in an old gasket that was over-tightened.
That's generally where the reeds lose their tension, right at the edge of the plate they'll form a groove.
If you see this on your reeds, it's probably time to buy a new set of petals (you don't actually have to buy the entire cage, you can simply replace the petals).

A good replacement reed cage to run would be the Vforce 2 or 3 (definitely the 2, some debate over the 3's), boyesons are a better reed than OEM, and I personally had excellent results with Boyeson's RAD valve.
I might catch some flak over the rad valve, but I used it on an 88+ cylinder along with a Q (at that time) 250 pipe and nothing else done to the engine to hit top speeds that some zillas never see.
They maintained their tension for probably 200hrs of my personal ride time, and they were used when I got them.
One of the best things about them was that they came with a nice aluminum intake boot with a thick rubber hose to mount the carb.
It smoothed out the intake tract considerably compared to a stock rubber boot.

Did you try that start it the way i said with any luck.

I did not read everything but if you have a running engine w a carb that probly needs a 10 minute clean and float adjust. You can only blame yourself for being hard on stuff and replaceing things that don't need attention. You could really use some friendly maintenance and tune-up advice w is best given by the Haynes manual. $25

I did not read everything but if you have a running engine w a carb that probly needs a 10 minute clean and float adjust. You can only blame yourself for being hard on stuff and replaceing things that don't need attention. You could really use some friendly maintenance and tune-up advice w is best given by the Haynes manual. $25

You know he's not from the U.S. and it's really hard for him to get parts and info on these quads. So I say that why he asked us for help!!