How is this possible?

[Mopheos]

I went out for a ride today, bike seemed to be running really good. Then I stopped and parked for about 15 minutes, came back out and saw a small puddle of gas under the cross-pipe section of the exhaust, and gas seemed to be dripping somewhere from underneath the bike around that exhaust cross-member. Bike then began to run worse and worse on the way home, like it was running on 3 cylinders or something. Let it sit and cool when I got home, and when I backed it into my garage, gas just dripped on the floor from I couldn't tell where. Got down and inspected, and it looks like I have a bunch of gas inside my exhaust pipes! I'm baffled! I recently did the "shotgun" on the carbs and synced them, and I also had my fuel pump stop working. I took it apart and had to reseat one of those little diaphrams in the plastic housing, but then it seemed to work fine. Man, I need some help here. Any ideas on what I've done now? Maybe I should start a thread entitled, "How have you f***ed up your bike today?" Man o man.

 

[KJShover]

Stuck float or a cracked fuel line/junction would be my first two guesses without being able to see it in person.

 

[desert_max]

Agreed. Give each carb a sharp rap with the butt of a screwdriver for starters. Then go looking for leakers (lines and/or fittings).

 

[Mopheos]

Dmax, where would you rap the carb, on the side where the slide is? Would I also need to change the oil now because it is polluted with gas?

 

[naughtyG]

I've had exactly the same problem with mine.

It was due to a rusted tank (on the inside). The rust dust found its way into the carbs, and stopped the needle valves from sealing. Gas then pours into the cylinder(s), flooding it, so it won't spark anymore and gas then runs out to the exhaust(s) and leaks out.

Mine would also feel like it was running on 2 or 3 cyls below 4-5000 rpm, and then suddenly pick up - actually that kick was better than vboost! LOL Like from no power to full power..

Anyway, grab a flashlight, and look in your tank. See any rust? If so, you will need to:
- either replace the tank, or empty, remove, treat rust with acid and then coat it (I've used Kreem in the past, worked well for me, others like a red thing I can't remember the name of).
- replace fuel filter
- remove, open, clean fuel pump
- remove, blow clean all fuel lines
- remove, break up, and thoroughly clean carbs.

Another way to find out if your problem's the same as mine: open up your float bowls drain screws, and collect the fuel in a white plastic or glass pot. Inspect - see any dirt?

Good luck, I hope yours is just a stuck or bad needle valve (they can get gummed up and stuck - peashooter and shotgun won't really help with that. You still need to take your carbs off to open them and check it out.

It's not difficult, there are full instructions with pictures in the stickies here:
http://www.vmaxforum.net/forumdisplay.php?f=6

 

[Mopheos]

Thanks NaughtyG - I have just recently renewed my gas tank. Removed it, cleaned and resealed it with the Por15 treatment. There was a ton of rust in the tank, and my fuel filter was nearly plugged solid with rust. I haven't taken the carbs off to clean because of the "intimidation" factor, but I just did the "shotgun" which seemed to really help. I wonder if I broke something loose that has since gotten stuck somewhere like the floats needle or the slide needle?

I also noticed when I took the idle mixture screws out, I counted the number of turns in to seat each needle, and all four carbs were significantly different! Number 1 carb idle mix screw was 8 half turns from seat; no 2 was 3/4 of a turn from seat!; no 3 was 5 half turns from seat and no 4 was 10 half turns from seat. After cleaning, I reset them all 2 and 1/2 turns (5 half turns) out from seat. Could that have caused a problem like this?

 

[EAGLEPI]

Could it be as simple as your tank drain bolt not completely tight?

 

[Mopheos]

I wish...but no, no gas leaking from the tank anywhere. Guess I'm gonna have to take it on the chin and R and R the carbs....

 

[EAGLEPI]

I feel for you, I have had my bike since May 2009 and had to have mine cleaned 2 times now and I have not even drove my bike over 300 miles in 2 summers.
So I wish you luck

 

[naughtyG]

I most definitely think you still have rust dust in your carbs. That shit doesn't just disappear - it clings like monkey shit on a banana..

Your solution is: take the carbs off, break'em up, clean them, put it all back together, sync them, ride.

Honestly it's not difficult, just look at the stickies in the Carbs/Tuning thread - it's all there for you in pictures..

Also about your A/F screws - were they set up like that from the factory? (ie did you have to drill plugs to get to them?)

2.5 turns out is ok for a start, if you wanna do this right you need a dyno with an exhaust sniffer. Also this only really affects idle and low rpm, and definitely has nothing to do with your problem.

 

[Mopheos]

True, the forum does have some excellent tutorials. I particularly see the great re-assembly sticky, but I didn't see an equally thorough removal/breakdown. Did I miss it?

 

[EAGLEPI]

True, the forum does have some excellent tutorials. I particularly see the great re-assembly sticky, but I didn't see an equally thorough removal/breakdown. Did I miss it?

You are right I have had the same problem and there are none that I found that show step by step of breakking down a set of carbs and cleaning and putting them back together.

The problem is most who give the advice in good faith on here have done it and it seems a lot easier to someone who has done it before but to those who have never done it it is very difficult and frustrationg when you only get bits and pieces of tutorials.

I can take my carbs off in my sleep now but the first time I was scared to death.... moral of this story is for those who are not that knowledgable and have never done some of these things need better step by step tutorials that cover every step.

This is a great forum but would be much better with well written tutorials for the learners.

Just my 2 cents

Ron

 

[naughtyG]

To take them off / apart, check out the sticky about 'swapping your main jets' by Maleko.

It has the full instructions on how to get the carbs off the bikes, and get to the fuel bowls (the main jets are in there).

I believe I referred to it at the beginning of my carb cleaning threads.

 

[Mopheos]

Thanks, NG. One other thing I thought about that I have done recently - I had a 4-1 Holeshot on the bike when I bought it. Since then, I bought a pair of slip-ons from Ebay (don't know the brand) and noticed when I installed them that I could see straight through them, with no baffle restrictions. Could that be contributing to my gas flooding problem?

 

[Mopheos]

I noticed in the repair manual that once the carbs are out, they only break the carbs halfway, apparently leaving two and two still connected. They say it's not necessary to disassemble them further unless a carb body is being replaced. Is that what those of you who have done this before found to be true?

 

[gamorg02]

Thanks, NG. One other thing I thought about that I have done recently - I had a 4-1 Holeshot on the bike when I bought it. Since then, I bought a pair of slip-ons from Ebay (don't know the brand) and noticed when I installed them that I could see straight through them, with no baffle restrictions. Could that be contributing to my gas flooding problem?

i sure doubt it...

 

[one2dmax]

For some things like cleaning the pilot jets or setting floats this is true. To remove some of the components (choke block and or coasting enrichener) or completely clean the carbs you do need to get them down to single carb bodies. You normally never need to remove the throttle shafts though.

Sean

 

[ZRX/V-MAX]

I feel for you, I have had my bike since May 2009 and had to have mine cleaned 2 times now and I have not even drove my bike over 300 miles in 2 summers.
So I wish you luck

There's your problem! Ride more, or buy stock in Stabil

Today's gas is sooooooo crappy, my two carbed bikes run like shit after only a couple of weeks!

 

[Mopheos]

So just went outside to look at the max, which is sitting under a cover, hasn't been run today. Gas is steady dripping from somewhere and I can see it dripping down into a pan under the bike. So I removed the air box and held the throttle open and pushed each slide out of the way. Looking down the throat of each carb, two appear to have no gas standing in them, and two have gas that sloshes around when I move the bike side to side. The no 1 carb seems to have quite a lot of gas standing down in the throat. Which is normal - relatively dry throat or gas standing in the throat?

 

[one2dmax]

When not running (and even when running) there shouldn't be much fuel pooling at all.

Sean