| Author | Message | ||
     Redfender |
Hi, I am a newb, it is true. I am trying to get my bike running after the winter (although it had this problem late fall as well..) It took a few times but the bike finally started, but it idles out after about a minute and if I try and throttle it up in neutral (or sometimes on it's own accord) it sounds like the airbox / carb is chirping / hissing air and theres a touch of white smoke noticable sometime :-/ Has anyone experienced this? I just replaced the venturi ring and gasget and air filter because I notived the old ones were cracked. "Das Boot" was replaced just before I got the bike so I don't believe that is the case. I don't want to catch on fire, I want to ride! :-( Ideas and speculation welcome :-) | ||
| Ezblast |
Make sure the boot is solidly on, and try running 3 to5 ounces of Seafoam with premium gas, to help de-gunk the carb. EZ | ||
| Gearheaderiko |
All of that may be normal if you're running it without the airbox cover on. | ||
| Redfender |
Thanks, I picked up some seafoam, I am going to drain the gas and replace it with the seafoam / gas mixture and give that a shot. I saw the two bands for Das Boot while I was there and I was able to tighten one of them more than two turns. It is punishingly nice outside. Certainly I should have gotten to this sooner :-) Thanks for the tips I'll report back with details... | ||
| Redfender |
Well. Having not had to resurrect a bike from winter before I don't know whats normal or not normal. Drained gas, added New gas, (w/ seafoam added) replaced the venturi ring and gasket (gasg. torn, ring cracking) and replaced pre-bent tubing that attaches to the venturi ring and clamp. (the old one was worn out and didn't have a good clamp on the post, would slip off, etc) the bike started.. idled poorly, whenever I try and add throttle it resists / sputters, if i bring the throttle up very gradually it gets a bit further but then sputters out. If i bring the throttle up hard, it sputters out almost instantly and after all this, it eventually gets to a point where it won't start at all anymore (clogged / flooded carb?) I am going to give it another start up later and try and let it idle longer, maybe let some seaform work through and do its work. Does this sound like it's time to pull the carb? | ||
| Indybuell |
Sounds like intake boot. | ||
| Gearheaderiko |
"pull the carb"? If its 'to give it a good cleaning', thats a bad idea and usually doesnt fix anything and leads to more problems (unless you are very familiar with carbs). The slow jet is what usually gets clogged from sitting. It can be cleaned, but its better just to replace it with a #45 jet if you havent done so already. If its the original spark plug or the plug has over 10,000 miles on it,its time for a change. They last 10,000 miles and unless your Blast has very low miles, its time. Its possible that the safety switches are acting up and thats what caused problems before you put it away for the winter. Usually they act up once the bike is put in gear, just idling normally in neutral doesnt cause a problem but.... Is it puffing out black smoke? Does it smell heavily of gas? Is the plug black and sooty? Those are signs of running rich and flooding. Shutting of the gas will cause the bike to run lean, so if this helps, you know you have a rich problem. Also leave the petcock on "reserve". That will eliminate the possibility you have a bad petcock, low on fuel or even a venting problem (leave the gas cap loose to solve that problem). But at this point I'm very suspicious about the condition of the boot and its installation. It was replaced by a factory boot and not just some hose that some think will do? | ||
| Ezblast |
lol   To you Erik my friend!  EZ | ||
| Redfender |
Ordered a new manifold, waiting for the mailman, it certainly can't hurt | ||
| Redfender |
So... over lunch today I checked the petcock reserve / vapor lock (cap off) and the boot. The boot! The carb end was not fitted into the boot properly at all as if it had slid out. I was able to push it back into the boot and secure it. bike starts and idles much better now, but it still doesn't take acceleration without sputtering out. The boot is now the prime suspect, I had not noticed this before. Thanks everyone for the advice, very much hoping the new boot fixes it. :-) | ||
| Gearheaderiko |
2 things to watch out for on boot install: Too loose & Too tight. Both lead to leakage. I usually say tighten it just until you see the boot start to "mushroom" or distort. But that might be oversimplification and subject to interpretation (though I've got a good feel on how tight it should be, thats the best way I can figure to express it). Using a screwdriver or nut driver rather than a socket on a ratchet should help avoid overtightening. Open to other suggestions on proper boot install. PS to Ez: yes, they'll probably put "dont pull the carb apart" on my tombstone!!! |
