Fuel system gunked up?

[nonplus]

Hi,

Probably an easy question for most of you, but I had my bike stored for about a year, and just took it out.

I've changed the oil, checked the fluids, and re-lubed my chain (will prob replace -- a tad rusty). Starts up just fine.

But when I'm on the freeway, my top speed is 85 mph :sad:

Also, as I get lower on gas, the bike is less responsive and top speed is even lower.

I imagine that the fuel system is clogged up and blocks some of the fuel from passing through.

What should I do? I imagine there's something I can put in my tank that'll clear it up?

Thanks!

[Mohawk]

It sounds as if your pretty gunked up. I had a similar situation, not as bad, but what I did was buy a carb cleaner that you add to the fuel and ran 91 octane for 3 tanks and it cleared it up. You might need to take the carbs off and give them a good cleaning though. While your in there you could do a re-jetting too.

This is what I used:

http://www.gunk.com/item_details.asp?itemno=M2312



My 2 cents.

[smokescreen]

you could put in some injector cleaner, and then fill the tank with fresh gas (87, as you want it to burn easily) maybe Chevron, or another with detergents in it. Use a quality cleaner like Lucas or somaght. then when the new fuel has cycled, rev it to higher rpms to move the injectors to a higher pulse rate. With the fuel properly thinned with detergents and lower vicsocity additives, you should clean the injectors out enough to get the bike rolling again. But short of sending out the bike for service, there isn't much more you can do.

[Mohawk]

1st gens have carbs....not FI.

Also I have read that a gummed up carb can cause the bike to run lean (since the correct amount of gas is not getting through) and thus I ran 91 to help protect against knock and ping.

Also try this link:

http://www.atvconnection.com/editor/techtips/carbclean.htm

It has some good info.

[smokescreen]

sorry, didn't realise this was a gen 1. as long as you run a very thin detergent, the system should clean rather quickly. freeway driving is not a good idea as it causes the carbed bike to run leaner anyway. better to do lots of throttle driving.

If the carb setup is similar to the ducati monster carb setup, I daresay, it would be very easy to clean the carbs without too much disassembly.

[nonplus]

Thanks for the tips, guys. I won't have a chance to try this til after New Year's but I'll try running Chevron gas with one of the cleaners from Mohawk's link.

Hopefully it works, and I won't have to take my bike apart.

Happy holidays everyone! I'll give an update when I give this a go.

Thanks again.

[nonplus]

Gah. No go.

I ended up running a couple tanks with Berryman Chemtool and no dice :(

How hard is it to take the carbs apart? Maybe I'll take it to a shop...

[dnakase]

My pilot jets were junked up and the solution was to pull the carbs and blow out the jets with air. (Thanks again to Racinteach)

My bike only sat a little while, maybe 6 weeks and it wouldn't run off full choke.

Better to do it right than pour magic mojo fuel kleeners in to your gas tank.

[Tom]

Originally posted by nonplus
Gah. No go.

I ended up running a couple tanks with Berryman Chemtool and no dice :(

How hard is it to take the carbs apart? Maybe I'll take it to a shop...

The biggest pain while taking the carbs apart is that sometimes the little screws are stubborn and won't budge. Other than that, it's really not too bad. You can look around this site for pictures and hints before doing it:

http://www.geocities.com/catpoopman/Johns_bike.html

I think most people have their pilot jets gunked up because the holes are smaller, but it sounds like you are having problems with the main jet. I would just clean everything anyway while I'm in there. If that doesn't help, you can also try cleaning the petcock and the fuel pump.

[racinteach]

when the pilots are gunked...it will not run off choke...the way he said it sounds like everything in there is array...pull them clean them...the hardest part was getting those darn choke cable screws out...without stripping them...hello impact driver...:D

[nonplus]

Okay, so I've taken my carbs out of my bike...

Now, before I spray carb cleaner all over anything, is there anyplace in particular that I might look to try to find the source of my problems?

Any place that get all gummed up the easiest?

What I'm after here is learning to recognize the problem. That way, it'll be easier to recognize when I've fixed it, too.

[Tom]

I would clean everything, but this is the one that tends to gunk up first because the passages are smaller.

http://www.geocities.com/catpoopman/rejet6.jpg

[nonplus]

Originally posted by Tom
I would clean everything, but this is the one that tends to gunk up first because the passages are smaller.

thank you, tom.

exactly the answer i was looking for. and with a picture too! :cool:

[nonplus]

All done! Runs like a charm :)

Thanks guys!

I did end up with one more screw than I started with though :o

I think it belongs on the fairings somewhere, because I was wondering if I'd need to take them off to get at the clamp screws at one point... Oh well, I'll worry about that later!