Darn carbs

I just want to vent.....I ran all the gas out of my 86 maximX and strored it in the basement. I just got it outside and started it up, not bad actually. Then in started running poorly, hardly at all, had to keep the choke on or throttle twisted. No backfireing but definately carb troubles as it was running fine when put away.
Now I have to take those things off, look inside and see that everything looks great (just like last year) and hope that blowing some air around may be what they want....
No need to give too much advice, I pretty well know they are the problem and they just seem to be getting more finicky each year...I hate it!

 

It's better to store your bike over the winter with gas IN it. When you "ran all the gas out" THAT would have been the time to blow it all out with air, and I still wouldn't recommend it.

When you drain the gas, you don't drain it all; everything inside is still "wet" with gas and then you seal it up and walk away. That thin coating of wet gasoline soon becomes a nice fine coating of dry varnish.

Better to treat a full tank of gas with Sta-Bil; run the motor until the stabilizer gets all through the carbs; and then drain the float bowls in the spring.

Then the bike will fire right up (mine always do. And I've just started my 44th season on two wheels.)

 

I definitley will do it this way in the fall. Thanks for the suggestion. I was trying to please my wife by not having any gas smell in our basement.....

 

Soon you will learn that you can never please the wife, you'll always be wrong. :lol:

 

I dont see how it would affect her, unless your kitchen is also in the basement....



oh wait - your laundry room probably is, eh?

:lol:

 

Actually her piano is in a nearby room. She also is relatively easy to please but she has a lung disease. She is the love of my life and I hers. The usual wife jokes do not apply to her....she does not like shopping, spends wisely, etc. Her idea of a great vacation would be going to Sharlotte for a NASCAR race and see the museum...She is GREAT! Her favorite driver is Joey Loganno...hope the kid does better this year.

 

Thats awesome! Im happy for you two. I hope her lung problems get better. I just saw a perfect opportunity to post a great pic.


-Kaya

 

Now that's Funny !

If I needed to winterize, I'd try using Lamp Oil.
I have a couple Hurricane lamps that have sat for 20 years.
The liquid is clear, has not evaporated, and is odorless.

It would be just a little extra effort to load in and later drain.

 

That picture & caption is great Kaya. Of course the word for me would be DEDICATED haha.
I have my carbs off now and have cleaner in them....will take apart, poke prod and clear all passages as best I can. You know the more times you take those puppies off the easier it gets....The trick I have learned is to remove the intake pieces and then there is room to get them off..
I will definately be using some kind of fuel preservative next year or lamp oil as suggested....thanks.

 

http://www.goldeagle.com/brands/stabil/ ... spx#stabil

My dad used to use it in his '58 Ferrari; and I've used it in my Norton for almost 40 years.

 

Thanks for that bigfitz52. My problem now is that I took the carbs off, they looked clean of course having done it one year ago. I blew air in all orfices, ran a thin wire up any fine openings, pulled the jets, (2 screwed in each carb) made sure they were clear blasing air through them, etc etc. Everything looks clean as can be. Put them back on the bike and it still only runs with the choke on and gets worse as the motor warms up. It plain will not run with the choke off!
I had a simular problem last spring...ended up taking them to the dealer to look over. A tech did that and when I put them on it was fine. Looks like I will end up doing that again....Just can not understand what is doing this....any ideas? Oh by the way this same day I get a call...your Collector plate is here....ack....if only it was running....

 

Sounds like the enrichment circuit is still plugged. Any gas left in the carbs for an extended time will turn to varnish with the amount of ethanol in gas nowadays. That varnish has likely got your enrichment circuits plugged up.

 

Hahaha... My bike sleeps in the living room, she tryed to tell me to park the bike outside...when it comes to the bike there is no way I can please any woman...

 

There's a WHOLE LOT more to it than just two jets.

You need to pull the emulsion tubes, the primary mixture screws. washers, springs and o-rings; the float needle valves, probably the seats (or at least clean and polish them) the enrichment plungers, etc., etc. and clean and inspect them all carefully.

Then you need to "wet set" the individual float levels and do an accurate bench sync.

You missed a whole lot of carb.

Once back on the bike, AND AFTER ENSURING THE VALVE CLEARANCES ARE IN SPEC; you can do your running vacuum sync.

Do all of the above, in order, and it'll run fine.

Or fight with it forever. Right now you're in line to sign up for the "I've cleaned my carbs four times" club. The membership is growing.

 

Forgiven, I did not see what type of carbs do you have. If they are the Hitachi I would check the Idle jet in bottom of the float bowl. There is a great demo in the forum (can't seem to find it) using carb cleaner to check them and make sure they are clear. They are very very small and make a huge differance.

 

Well I got to it again and the culprit is the petcock which for some reason does not deliver fuel in the on possition. So when I started it in Pri. it ran until as warming it up I moved it to On and it ran out of gas somewhat coincidentaly. The bike ran fine when left on Pri. So that's it...thanks for the input. Now the puzzle is why does the petcock do that....I took it apart and it looks fine also....it flows fuel fine on reserve then very little in the On possition. This is while placing vaccume on the line that goes to intake vaccume when the bike is running. Just another thing I did not figure out right the first time.....sorry to bother you all with it.

 

You're not bothering anybody.

PETCOCKS we got covered, have at it: http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=25058.html

Everything else I said still applies; as you'll soon discover. Honest.

 

I know that people generally think of older people on the down slope slowly losing it. I am afraid to say that this may be true. I just figured out what is going on here....my tank has only enough fuel in it to reach the reserve possition on the petcock.....I am getting older....I must exercise my mind more or something.....I am losing it..... I appreciate your patience..haha The good side, those carbs are really clean, I am really good at getting those carbs off now, and I am insuring it tomorrow with my new Collector plate.....

 

Listen to the wizards,,,been there done that

 

This is officially my favorite thread ever.