(carb?) issue on another bike

[gamorg02]

so i've been slowly working on an '89 hawk (really cool bike). The short story is that it's been sitting for a bit so i took the carbs apart went thru with a fine tooth comb and got them put back together. bike ran pretty good for about 10-15m then i turned it off. when i went to start her again she fires right up and idles great but now i can't rev past 2.5k rpms. what typically causes this? i think its usually:

slides not moving

or

main jet clogged

or

no fuel in bowl.

being as clean as the carbs are and it ran at first i'm thinking #2. i know we've seen this on the forum here and its usually someone who runs the bike without the airbox and no air correctors? even giving it a good throttle blip causes it to be unhappy and almost stall out. just wondering what you guys think.

i posted some more info over on the hawk forum too if anyone is interested in the read:

http://hawkgtforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=29039

 

[choctaw]

Is it possible that you had some trash in the tank that got sucked up in there?

 

[gamorg02]

the tank was cleaned but the lines weren't. new fuel filter but like i said there was some residual stuff in the lines but i blew out the line between the tank and the filter so it should have been pretty clean.

i guess the hoses could be bad and dumping crap into the bowls but there are filters on the needle valve seats too.

 

[gamorg02]

So after troubleshooting the fuel pump/relay and finding that 'on' doesn't really work on the petcock (which is weird since cleaner flowed fine when i was cleaning it out), i found the issue. see attached pic

i have NO idea how that got there. it must have been in the lines between the fuel filter and the outlet into the carbs (after the filter it goes thru the pump then the carbs so easily could have been caught in the pump too i guess). i blew out the line between fuel filter and tank and cleaned out the tank. i'm curious how it got thru the needle valve filters tho.

only other thought i had it was a mixture of the cleaning chemicals byproduct. i soda blasted the carbs but rinsed them and then blew everything out with carb cleaner and compressed air afterwards. i rinsed out the tank with 'works' as i had heard good things on other forums. didn't use much, just sloshed it around to get rid of any crud. then rinsed the tank with some bad leftover gas then a few rinses with good gas. i sure hope it wasn't that.

anyways back to cleaning carbs. ugh. at least i know them well now.

 

[johnpclynch]

That is some serious gunk, probably a reaction between the fuel and the cleaning products you used?

I've seen the same in old carbs that haven't ever been cleaned

 

[mr.maxx]

Is it possible that you had some trash in the tank that got sucked up in there?

i was thinkin the same thing but didnt want to insult you:biglaugh:

 

[gamorg02]

That is some serious gunk, probably a reaction between the fuel and the cleaning products you used?

I've seen the same in old carbs that haven't ever been cleaned

think so? only cleaners i used was carb cleaner on the carbs and soda blasting. rinsed then with water, carb cleaner then compressed air and let sit for 5 days

tank had 'toilet bowl cleaner' in it as i heard it was good to remove surface rust if it existed. i mixed gas , soda and that in a cup last night and it didn't make a jelly. the soda didn't disolve but i mean it was like a few scoops of soda, 2oz of gas and 1/2 oz of toilet bowl cleaner so the proportions were pretty crazy.

i was thinkin the same thing but didnt want to insult you:biglaugh:

i really doubt it since i rinsed it multiple times with the petcock off.

 

[dannymax]

That's ugly!! Did you find anything that would cut it?

 

[johnpclynch]

ethanol and temperature fluctuations can cause gas to gel
also, microbial contamination of wet fuel can create a gel that is only soluble in water

 

[gamorg02]

That's ugly!! Did you find anything that would cut it?

even carb cleaner didn't really disolve it, more just blew it out. put the jets etc in my carb dip (thanks for the recommendation!) for 20 minutes and they came out all clean except one main jet block thingy so that and both float bowl covers went into the bath overnight. we'll see how that works out.

whats odd is before i even started 'cleaning' it the more air that hit it the more it turned to 'salt' looking stuff which is what i've found consistent online with just bad gas. sitll not sure how it got thru the needle valve filters, but i can't see any of the stuff i used causing that type of buildup and it looks awful consistent with what people are reporting bad gas looks like. musta been trapped in the lines/pump somewhere. going to have to clean those out too altho now the fuel pump is pumping clear clean gas.

heres some reading i had done:

http://kzrider.com/forum/3-carburetor/468213-jelly
http://www.jeepz.com/forum/all-other-jeep-models/21491-gas-turned-jelly.html
http://www.thumpertalk.com/topic/929196-bowl-full-of-jelly-warrior-carb/

ethanol and temperature fluctuations can cause gas to gel
also, microbial contamination of wet fuel can create a gel that is only soluble in water

makes sense since this bike sat under a deck for 2 years with the same (waiting to find out if treated or untreated) gas.

 

[choctaw]

Man that is some nasty looking stuff,,,wow!

 

[gamorg02]

yea. i'd 100% buy the it was in the lines or pump deal but i'm sitll not sure how it made it thru the needle valve filter thingy!