Idle/Choke Issue - Seafoam it? UPDATE!!! did it work?

I have a 1985 XJ700XNC and I have been having idle and choke issues. I found another thread and it sounded like a carb synch would fix my issues. My bike won't idle for more than 10 seconds, it sputters and dies out. The choke seems VERY touchy, it will race up to 4500rpm then I barely tap it to the right and it goes down and starts to sputter out again... but I can usually get it to idle at 3000 with choke to warm it up. Then I turn it off and just give a tiny bit of gas at red lights and stuff. Power, smooth-ness, and everything is great when I am not idleing.

I talked to one mechanic who wanted to completely clean stuff out for ~$425 but I don't have that kind of money to put up. Im not a mechanic and taking apart the carbs is out of my league, plus I live in a apartment and don't have a bunch of space/tools etc. The shop by my house will synch my carbs for $80-120... Is it worth it? Do you think this will fix it?

 

Re: Idle/Choke Issue - Carb Synch enough to fix it? ATTN:GEEBAKE

Syncing the carbs without going through and cleaning them out throughly is rather a waste. I know you are in a tight spot, been there myself. I did my bike work in the same situation years ago. Just got to get creative. I built a complete bike in my bedroom on a sheet of plywood and some newspaper. Fortunately, I was on the first floor and it wasn't too very hard to push the bugger in and out. I got my deposit back too! Just take your time and be very clean! Plastic bags and ziplock baggies are your friends. Have you looked over Rick's guide to going through the carbs, it's pretty extensive. Couple his advice with a maintenance manual and you, yes you, CAN get through this without too much difficulty. Pity I missed you when I was in Sac back on the 4th, had all my carb tools in the trunk. I expect to be up your way again in Nov. Meanwhile, you can get in touch with Smokamoto, he is in your neck of the woods and knows how to perform the task. PM him, I'll let him know your trying to get in touch.
FYI, I used to live in Citrus Heights and have lots of family up that way so I pass through regularly. If your needing a hand when I'm headed up, I'd be happy to stop in and wrench with ya!

 

Re: Idle/Choke Issue - Seafoam it? *see bottom post

Thanks for the input Robert! I PMd smokamoto yesterday. When you're in the area we should go for a ride in the foothills or something.

Anyway, I was thinking about the idle issue and I came across the seafoam threads. Do you think this would help? The bike runs SO well other than the idle that it seems like a little seafoam treatment could help. Yesterday it was holding idle for a bit longer than it was before... to seafoam? or not to seafoam?

 

Re: Idle/Choke Issue - Seafoam it? *see bottom post

Couldn't hurt!

 

Re: Idle/Choke Issue - Seafoam it? *see bottom post

Seafoam helped my 650 out, and has done wonders for the MIL's car as well. I'd go for it.

If you find yourself considering spending the $100 on carb synching, spend the money on buying the tools to do it yourself instead. Then you can tweak it whenever you wish and keep it running great without spending the cash ever again...

 

Re: Idle/Choke Issue - Seafoam it? *see bottom post

Amen Maximator, there is some great advice.
Jon, try running some Seafoam with a little bit of gas into the carbs while running. Then let it set overnight. Fill up the tank with more gas to thin out the mix and then light it off. See if that doesn't help. This trick has been passed around on the forum before, you might want to poke around in the archives to get the true skinny on just how much to dilute the mixture before you pour it in there.

 

Re: Idle/Choke Issue - Seafoam it? *see bottom post

Well I just ran a third of a can into about a half gallon or so in my tank and ran it til it smoked. I'm letting it sit overnight and lets hope it will idle in the morning after I fill her up!!

 

UPDATE!!!! SEAFOAM IS AMAZING!!!

So I ran the concentrated mix for a bit, filled her up and ran the whole tank and nothing really got better... When I needed to fill up again I was thinking about seafoaming it again but decided not to. Shortly after filling up and getting on the freeway I hear a little pop come from my bike, but the engine didn't hiccup and nothing really happened...

I got off the freeway to check it out and at the first light off the offramp I noticed something...

I DIDN'T HAVE TO REV IT TO KEEP IT FROM DYING!! It was idleing perfectly!! I assume the pop was the idle jet unclogging. I don't know if it was the seafoam or just a coincidence but I have a feeling it was the seafoam...

 

Mine got even better with a second treatment. It would also be a good idea to take it for a good hard (high revs accelerating or hill climbing) ride to let it blow out some carbon.

 

Nice, I still have half a can of seafoam to treat it again...

That's a good idea, I'll take a little trip to tahoe tomorrow

I'll take some scenic pics and post them, it's a beautiful ride.

 

When you have the issues you describe ... there's NO magic wand or potion.

Your Carbs need to be Cleaned.
There are too many places that require more than being introduced to a chemical won't get cleaned ... and, in at least two cases that I know of ... from having to clean Carbs that were Chemically treated to "Try and See" ... just made the situation worse.

When you consider that all it takes to foul Pilot Jets and the Starter Jets is foreign matter smaller than a Flea ... and, this stuff is lodged where the chemical cant really work on it ... you be better off having the carbs cleaned and bench synced ... adding a inline filter and tuning your bike to run right ... rather than buying chemical and getting somplace to Sync yourt carbs.

I would not place much stock in anyone who was aware of an issue that could only be solved by cleaning the carbs .... offer to sync them without having cleaned and prepped them for fine tuning ... first!

 

Well my bike is an 85 xj700xnc so it has a fuel filter stock. Also, other than that one idle issue the carbs haven't shown any signs of needing to be adjusted or anything. It has always run perfect other than the idle and now it's like butter. I literally can't hear/feel anything off even when I'm trying to. I'm just gonna enjoy it for now and keep an eye on it, but I'm not gonna try and fix something that isn't broken and risk breaking it because I'm no mechanic.