carbs coughing

for starters, my bike has pods. I had issues with getting it running originally but took it to a shop that rebuilt the carbs and possibly rejetted over 8 months ago. The bike came back from them running strong and has ever since. I have never put too many miles on it, but fire it up and idle it/take it around the block to make sure it is running smooth and thus far it has been.

About a week ago it started giving a few pops from the exhaust and the occasional cough from the carbs. The popping goes away once it idles a little bit the coughing persists and seems to be coming from the number 3 carb. There is a noticeable hesitation when revving from idle, but once the rpms are up a few thousand any throttle from there on is free of hesitation.

When riding, the bike does not accelerate nearly like it once did. It also sounds more like a V-twin for some reason than it normally does, if that makes sense. The other day i took it for a ride and when slowing down for a stop sign it died when the rpms dropped. I was able to fire it up but only with a ton of choke and i actually had to use the choke as the throttle, because the throttle caused the bike to bog down.

I am about to cry.

Can anyone help?

 

when was the last time plugs were done? sounds like a plug is fouling.
have you looked at the plug on the cylinder?
also, have you checked the float levels for that carb?
I think it's easier than it is made to sound, but you have to start looking closely at little things.

 

When was the last time the carbs were cleaned? Sounds like there might be some carb issues here. Start with new plugs then go from there. Pod filters can also cause those problems if they are not jetted right.

 

checked to spark plugs, and number 3 is indeed fouled up. I'll head to the shop tomorow and pick up some new ones and replace all of them because it has been a few months since replacing them anyway (even though the other three look good.)

Does anybody know what the gap should be for these plugs? I remember gapping them the last time i replaced them, but cannot remember what to set them at or where i found out what the gap should be. I will do some digging for the info, but if anyone can save me some time and let me know it would be greatly appreciated.

 

If you haven't put many miles on it, and it has been 8 months since you got it back, you probably just have old fuel. Unless you let it sit long enough for the fuel to evaporate in the carbs.

If you are confident the fuel didn't have time to evaporate and sludge up in the carbs, try draining the fuel tank and adding fresh gas. It can take as little as two weeks for gas to start going bad depending on what blend you put in the tank at the time, and on the local conditions.

 

before swapping the plugs, just move #3 around with another plug and see if the problem stays, or follows.

if it stays, it sounds like a stuck float to me.