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desert_max

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Chandler, Arizona
I had a 2-day camping trip this weekend. Just got back. Didn't really go as planned... I had originally intended to take the valkyrie, but the carburetors are off of it due to a fuel rail leak that I've been procrastinating on fixing.

So, I said to myself, I will take the Vmax! It performed flawlessly last weekend on a 330 mile Loop into the same territory. But, I had an issue!

Loaded the bike up and headed up to my buddy's house 30 miles away to Rendezvous for the trip. Got off the freeway a mile from his house, smelled gas and see it pouring off the rear right hand carburetor. I pull over, try the tapping and sloshing back and forth to try to free up a potential stuck float - no joy. So I decided to assume risk of no fire in the mile to his house and fired up to head to his place. Bike starts losing power and dies in less than a quarter of a mile.

I called him and he brings his trailer over, we take the Vmax 30 miles back to my house. Switch all the stuff over to my Cafe gl1000 and I made the trip. Trust me, that bike is not made for long trips... Or to load with camping gear. That's another story, but I won't go into that. Really good time and a quantity of whiskey was drank.

I haven't really looked at the Vmax yet, but I did happen to notice that the oil level appears to have gone UP suggesting that it was ingesting gasoline on the freeway. I am assuming at this point that it is a stuck float or scrogged needle valve. When I went through the carburetors a month or so ago, I spent no money on them whatsoever. I just cleaned them out. I paid attention to float pivots but...

So, the last thing I wanted to do was to pull the carbs back off of this thing. I'll try running the bowls dry and sloshing them again a couple of times. Might even puff a little air into the fuel Inlet. If that doesn't do it, it'll have to wait its turn behind the valkyrie who's carburetors are currently in many pieces on the bench.

I have a sticker on my tool box that says "I love carburetors".

I might rip that sumbitch off there!
 
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I usually buy the K&L float valve needles, they are usually about $5 apiece, I keep a set of spares.

If the bike has some miles on it, you probably should replace both the seat and valve.

Part #36
Needle Valve Assy
1FK-14190-15-00
$16.40

https://www.ronayers.com/oemparts/a/yam/50045c0ef8700209bc7942f3/carburetor

Question: do you obsess over the tiny spring wire holding the needle valve to the float tang? You know the "one-sided" thin-wire clip? I just use a tiny awl/probe to get the looped wire (not one-sided wire) of the new needle valve onto the float tang, as I'm installing the needle valve and the carb float, with its straight pin to hold the float to the carb body. You do-not need the 'one-sided' needle valve wire; and by the way, if you can locate that wire on the fiche here, your eyes are better-than mine!

Fiches are usually good for locating the order of assembly. That dotted-line that goes from part-to-part will guide you in parts assembly. That's helpful for intricate, small assemblies like carburetors. However, in the case of the needle valve, the needle valve seat, the gas filter screen (part #37 Net, Filter 1J7-14994-00-00) for the needle valve port/gas supply passage, the gasket/O-ring (part #38 O-Ring 1FK-14147-00-00) and the blank plug (part #39 Cap 41R-14118-01-00), it doesn't show that the seat and needle valve are attached to the inside of the float chamber, while the other parts are on the outside of the carburetor body.

VMax carburetor.png
 
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Thanks once again for the information and the link, FM. You helped me before, and you've helped me again. I could have found it I suppose, but you sure saved me some time

I don't know if you folks have been paying attention to the temperatures in the southwestern desert, but we're running 10 to 15 degrees above normal. We're already hitting summertime levels. And you know what summertime is like in the desert Southwest, right?

I have both a swamp cooler and air conditioning in the shop, but the meter starts a spinning... And it's dang well worth it!
 
Sure, you're welcome, COVID-19 isolation goes-easier when I'm helping solve VMax problems.

I did notice things were already into the 90's there. Was it Ocala FL you used-to be-in? From summer hot & humid, and 'boomer' early-afternoon summer thunderstorms, to "but, it's a dry heat!"
 
Yep. Ocala to Phoenix - with a stopover in Houston for 4 years.

( we've already topped 100 in Phoenix a few times...)

Waaay too darn early.
 
For closure: this turned out to be a self-induced issue. I had somehow managed to route the PVC hose that's supposed to run to the underside of the airbox into the bowl vent for the offending carburetor! Stupidity (or to be fair - inattentiveness) knows no bounds...
 

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