Carb boots put on upside down by shop?

Hey folks,
Tldr busted 2 bolts removing old cracked boots . After much drilling and breaking a tap I caved and took it to a local shop to let them deal with it. Boots and stems came back with the bike upside down , and vac hose on 1 . What the heck? (Don't do boot changes , RTV old ones , not worth it trust me).

Anyhow fast forward a month or so and the mechanic trailers it back to me after starting and running a bit . I garaged it without looking due to the very next day I was PCS'd overseas. My stuff got in and I got tinkering , I see the mechanic installed all the boots I provided upside down , all stems are facing down . With vac off 1 . Bike is running little rough . I opted out of him doing a sync and the bill being higher so I could do it myself .

Since I know just enough to be dangerous and not a well established knowledge about the bike , common sense tells me this is wrong . Should I convert the petcock to switch style ? Or take it all apart and figure out why he installed boots upside down ?

Thanks in advance , sorry about the wall of text .

 

He installed the boots upside down because he's a dumbass that can't be bothered to tap on a keyboard for a few seconds.
The bike is running rough because the vac ports have to be closed off, either by caps, or by the vac line to the petcock. The intake boots need to be on the right way round, and I suspect that they are upside down because either the shop ordered the wrong set, or the "mechanic" didn't know which boots go in which position and just put them on so the carbs would go into them.

You don't need a different petcock. You need a refund for the "work" that was done and some time for YOU to set it right.


Changing the boots was the right thing to do. RTV works, but that really was just a way for us to keep the bikes running back when new intake boots were unobtanium.

 

Thanks for the reply man,
The mechanic was in Upper Marlboro, Washington DC / MD area. Mainly a sport bike mechanic , but was willing to do the drilling and replacing for me at a reasonable rate ( compared to the other shops in MD I called ). I don't know about how I can get a refund or anything now being stationed in HI. Lesson learned to take a closer look. He sat on it for weeks until I called him to let him know the mil movers were a week out and I need the bike to go on the shipment with household goods.. Showed up at my house a few days later quickly.
Messing around I have found my main fuse completely cooked, with signal fuse popped . Another thing that was completely fine prior to dropping it off.... However bike arrived laying on its side, so it will need to be addressed for payout to the crushed blinker and bent bar/mirrors by movers. Looking through the diagrams isnt too terrible, and I have already begun following wires. 14.5 @2500 rpms, but amazingly main fuse still is working , I don't think I've ever seen anything like it . While in the socket bike fires . Without nada .
See pic

FML

 

Face-palm..... DOH!!

Sometimes incompetence just amazes me

 

Thank you for your service.

Here is a couple thoughts.

1. Don't let anyone else work on your bike.
2. Read this http://www.xjbikes.com/forums/threads/the-information-overload-hour.27544/
3. Ask questions here when you aren't sure.
4. Tell your buddies back in MD to publicly shame that ass-hat who calls himself a motorcycle mechanic.

Ok maybe not that last one; if it were me I would have a civil conversation with him first (phone, e-mail) explain what he failed at and ask him why he charged you for doing it wrong? If he doesn't offer a partial refund (he did removed the snapped bolts), then tell him you will report him to the BBB, post an add on Craigslist / local MD paper and tell your buddies back there how he misled you and returned your bike to you in an unacceptable condition.

Don't just say these things to him, follow through and do it. It may prevent someone else from getting burned.

Integrity (in this case) means saying "Sorry, I can get the bolts out for you but I am not sure about this other stuff. Do you want me to go ahead and give it my best shot or I can recommend ____."

Pisses me off when people try to fake their way through life at the expense of others . . . .

Sorry - only one cup of coffee into my day.

 

Many other bikes have nipples facing down the problem is you really need to pull carbs and put in correct way... you will need gaskets( I made my own gasket material from NAPA) do not attempt to put rtv only in place of gasket . I've always done my own work.... maybe cause I'm an aircraft mechanic I'm very particiliar about how thing are done.

 

I have to admit I've been running a decade with rtv covered boots....I know they should replaced...they are the originals after all...

I am amazed someone would charge you but not take time to Google how the boots are fit. Unbelievable..

 

Much less, not even put the vacuum caps back on. Where is the vacuum line for the petcock?

 

it also appears there are no clamps, on the boots to carbs, they're probably sucking air.
stu

 

I am 100% positive they are. Bike is running incredibly lean. I let it run for a bit and as it got warmer it is now idling around 2k rpm. I was going to go to home depot and see if I could make a clamp for them, as it takes week+ for anything to come in.
As for which carb the vac line is off of, it is carb 1. furthest left . I had removed vac line for that picture so yall could see what was going on.

& stumplifter , thank you ! I always appreciate the support. Shop was unlisted on google, but was on yelp. That is how I found the place, should have been flag # 1.

 

We have them in-stock and you can have them in about 3 days!


Assuming the intake manifolds are the correct ones for your engine, installing them upside down will cause a huge vac leak, which no amount of clamping will resolve:

Finally, we also carry the original OEM intake manifold metal CLAMP RINGS, which include the cinching screw. These are used on the carb end of the manifold only.

NOTE: all intake manifolds differ between the left side and the right side versions in two critical manners:

* intake manifolds, when installed on the engines, "curve" inwards towards the centerline of the bike.

* they also curve "upwards" (as well as inwards).

This combination of both upward and inward curvatures of the intake manifolds is why it is not possible to simply swap left side (cylinders #1 and #2) and right side (cylinders #3 and #4) intake manifolds.....some people think that you can just "flip upside down" a right side manifold and it will become a left side manifold (or vice-versa). This would be true if there were only the "inward" curvature to the manifolds; however, the "upward" curvature prevents such swapping from occurring (as the swapped-side manifold would be curving "inwards and downward")...........and you'll never get the carbs to fit correctly into such mis-aligned manifolds, and on the slim chance that you do get them to fit, you'll end up with major vacuum leaks at that joint.


BTW, what model/year bike?

 

chacal, thanks for the reply, if I am reading this correctly then the wrong boots are probably installed on the bike. They all fit, but the tissue test showed they are pulling from the joints.
bike is 82 XJ650RJ.

 

Possibly, where did you get the boots from?

Well, since they are upside down (and w/o clamps), even if they were the correct manifolds they would be pulling air in.

 

Got em off evilbay. I believe the part number for them was 4H7-13586-02. That is what I have written on notes in toolbox.

 

That is the correct part # for the two left side manifolds (cylinders #1 and #2). The two right side manifolds would 5G2-13596-01-00 or 4H7-13596-01-00

 

Has the engine been replaced? The little bit of the valve cover that is visible sure looks like a YICS cover..... not a non-YICS cover. Can we see a pic from a little farther away?

And yes, the boot clamps are obviously missing

Dave F

 

* non-YICS engines have the intake manifold mounting bolt holes in the cylinder head aligned in this manner:

<#1 \ \ \ \ #4>

 

I'm away from my parts, and couldn't remember which ones go which way .......
Valve cover just looks funny and is throwing me off....

 

Quick snap of it at the moment with vac off 1 . Valve cover recently painted , that could be why its throwing ya off .Don't mind the spot I am currently sanding down. Black paint in that area has started to fall apart , so I am sanding it with my dremmel little by little for another coat . Anyone off hand know what grit would do the best for it ? Been using 325

Chacal , thanks for the part numbers . Gonna PM ya.

 

Uh huh.... it was the shiny black paint that was making me ask

 

It was in pretty bad shape prior. Always caught my eye every time I would go to ride . So were the carbs and boots , which got me on this rabbit hole. Woulda completed it all myself , but had to admit defeat after days of frustration trying to get the snapped bolts off 2 and 3 . If it was 1 or 4 I would have been much happier , shit happens