Just started up my neglected '97

[njmadmax]

After a loooong hiatus I am ready to get back in the saddle (work, Kids). Bought a battery, then installed it. Bike fired up but the front left carb is dumping fuel like crazy.

Most of my experience is of the single cylinder variety so I am weary of opening a can of worms. My rookie diagnosis is the the float must be stuck. There is also gas pouring from the vent tube in addition to free flow in the barrel.

Any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I am looking for some reassurance before i open the carb up.

 

[Thevmaxrider]

After a loooong hiatus I am ready to get back in the saddle (work, Kids). Bought a battery, then installed it. Bike fired up but the front left carb is dumping fuel like crazy.

Most of my experience is of the single cylinder variety so I am weary of opening a can of worms. My rookie diagnosis is the the float must be stuck. There is also gas pouring from the vent tube in addition to free flow in the barrel.

Any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I am looking for some reassurance before i open the carb up.

First thing with the bowl full of fuel tap the bowl lightly with the handle of a screwdriver or something else being careful not to hit it too hard where you may crack the bowl cover to see if you can get the float to move. It is stuck in the "down" position so it isn't shutting off the needle valve and the fuel pump just keeps filling the bowl to overflowing. Turn the key on and see if that helped the float to move. If that doesn't do the trick I would drain the bowl and use a syringe to put some fuel system cleaner (Seafoam or even Start Your Engines by Golden Eagle) into the bowl through the bowl vent. Fill the bowl with the cleaner and leave it for a while to let it break down any varnish etc. that is in the bowl. Drain and try again. If none of that works I would seriously consider just bucking up and taking the cover off to clean up the needle valve and check that the float is moving smoothly.

 

[njmadmax]

Thanks for the advice. I will give that a try this week and post the results.

By the way, is there a specific syringe you can recommend?

 

[Thevmaxrider]

Nope, I would go to a pet supply store and see what they have. A 50cc one should suffice, but any will do in a pinch. I usually use them once and then throw them away as the rubber and plastic can degrade after exposure to the cleaners, but that's just me.

 

[dannymax]

Just a thought but wouldn't it be a bunch easier and quicker to introduce the cleaner (Seafoam or SYE) through the vent tube for that carb? It will end up in the same place.

Also, once you get the offending carb free'd up be sure to run a few treatments of cleaner through your tank to get the entire system....there will be other areas of varnish more'n likely.

I like BG 44K for this, 1/3 can per tank for 3 tankfulls.

 

[Thevmaxrider]

Yep, that is the way I told him to do it. I guess if I person were so inclined they could also put it up through the drain tube, but I would think that could get messy:confused2:

 

[dannymax]

Yep, that is the way I told him to do it. I guess if I person were so inclined they could also put it up through the drain tube, but I would think that could get messy:confused2:

That would work too altho, after reading the MSDS for Start Your Engines, I may tend to use gravity rather than fight it with that product!! :rofl_200:

 

[Thevmaxrider]

That would work too altho, after reading the MSDS for Start Your Engines, I may tend to use gravity rather than fight it with that product!! :rofl_200:

Yeah, that stuff is vile!!! Got to be bad ass to work as well as it does LOL. Rov is meeting up with me today to get his two bottles.

 

[SpecOps13]

Seems the front left carb is always the first one to give problems.. Straight shot for any trash coming up from the fuel system. The other carbs have atleast 1, 90 degree turn to get any crap. All the suggestions are good and, I'll keep a link to this thread for future reff...

BTW: Welcome to the VMax Forum njmadmax...

 

[njmadmax]

Turned the key today to just check and see if there was any progress from fresh fuel sitting in the bowl and lo and behold she didn't dump any fuel and ran well with the choke on. Warmed up a bit and was idling at 2k with choke on.

Will not run with choke off and stalls on any blip of the throttle with choke on. Going to buy some seafoam Friday morning and let that run through.

It felt great to hear it run. There is no sound like a vmax !!! (holeshot exhaust)

Thanks for the welcome, I am looking forward to getting her on the road.

 

[06VMAXIMUS]

Sounds like the carbs are gonna need to come off for a good cleaning! Might as well do it right and get the beast running the way it was meant to. It's not bad to do, just check the stickies in the carb section of this forum. Once they are clean, make sure the tank is rust free and a new filter is installed before firing it up and syncing them.

 

[njmadmax]

Have been running the bike every couple of days to let the seafoam do its work. There has been some progress. Bike idles at 1/4 choke now. Revs all the way up with minor hiccups (no serious backfiring). But I am not yet at the point that I am comfortable enough to take it for a spin. There is some serious hesitation when revving it up.

I bought a new air filter and will be changing the oil. Going to run at least 2 gallons of treated fuel before I try to tear the carbs apart (ran about 3/4 gal so far).

Staying optimistic......

By the way what type of oil can you guys recommend? I have no idea where my bikes manual is.

 

[alorio1]

Rotella 15W40 non synthetic is my choice of oils. If you have 1 gal or less fuel in the tank, buy a fuel additive called "START YOUR ENGINE", It works and will probably clean the rest of your system up where Seafoam left off. $7.99 at Autozone and might just save you from pulling the carb rack.

 

[rebar]

Maybe siphon the old gas and replace it with some BP ultimate with seafoam. Thats all I run in my bikes. Iv heard aviation fuel is a good choice if you neglect them.

 

[bobzdar]

Get an aerosol can of carb cleaner and just spray it into the vent tube until it's full and let it soak. I was able to fee up one stuck float that way (but not the other 3). If just one is sticking, hopefully the carbs aren't too gummed up. I'd actually drain the other 3 and run carb cleaner through them while the other one soaks, just to flush any gunk out of them.