Cleaned Carbs, Have questions

[short1]

Got my bike running the other day after doing a quick cleanup on the carbs. Was going to adjust the floats and realized the float bowl on the 2nd carb was dry, adjusted the floats and change the pilot jets, then it had gas in the bowl but it was only running one cylinder unless i'm on the throttle.

Everything I read says it's the carbs, sooo i decided to tear the carbs down and do the pinesol soak that i've read about. Soaked everything for about 24 hours, rinsed and blew air through every hole i could find and resprayed it all with carb cleaner, they turned out immaculate. Some before and after pics below, that bucket is the pinesol after the soak.

Now it's clean but still only firing on the left side unless revving, I can hear the difference in the exhaust note and that side of the motor stays cool unless giving it some throttle. What could be some other causes of this?

Also I don't have any air/fuel mixture screws on top of my carbs, is this ok? Every video and picture i've seen of these there are adjusting screws. Mine have what looks like copper plugs in them that don't look like they come out. Sorry for the blurry pic!

 

[bcware]

The idle mixture screws need to come out. The plugs you see are anti-tamper devices put in on later models designed to keep you from adjusting your carbs. You must drill them out! Your model may have a rubber o-ring inside there that is commonly damaged over time.

Use a center punch and make a mark right in the center of each plug; this will keep your drill bit from walking.

Use a drill bit smaller than the plug hole size. I would suggest drilling a small hole and using a screw extractor to pull the rest of the plug out. You can also try threading a screw into the hole you make.

When you drill put minimal pressure on the drill. Once you break through the plug you do NOT want to drill into the idle mixture screw behind it. Just go slow and be very patient.

There is probably more than one way to do this as well! Feel free to search around and see what other people think. Many bikes have these! I just removed some from my 2007 Honda Shadow VT1100.

 

[short1]

Thanks for the reply! There are already very small holes in the center of the plugs so it should be easy to drill it out some and go at it with the extractor. I believe i've read to turn the screws 3 turns out from all the way in, sound about right? Do you think this could be part of my problem? I'll update how it goes once it goes

 

[xschris]

If you soaked the carbs without removing those o-rings and removing the butterfly seals you will need to replace them. This is why it is a good idea to FULLY disassemble the carbs before cleaning them. Do a forum search on this subject as it has been covered a bunch of times. Another thing to check is to make sure fuel can flow through the bowl. This hole is for the pilot circuit pickup pipe. Spray some carb cleaner in it and make sure it comes out the bottom hole. Also did you sync the carbs with a manometer?

 

[Sesty]

do what chris said with saftey glasses on... made that mistake only once.... carb cleaner to the eyes was not fun. take the choke plungers out too

 

[short1]

I drilled out the plugs and pulled the idle screws and o-rings, they seem to be in fine condition. Thanks for the tip xschris, i'm pretty sure everything was flowing well when i blew compressed air through every nook and hole i could find, though i will tear it down and check again. I have not set them with a manometer.

 

[xschris]

do what chris said with saftey glasses on... made that mistake only once.... carb cleaner to the eyes was not fun. take the choke plungers out too

Just let the fluid trickle into this hole. Even with compressed air (150psi) it still can be plugged. The fluid is a test to make sure it can pass through. I soda blast all my carbs and carb parts. Makes them like new and takes about and hour or so (depending how dirty they are) Syncing carbs is a must!!

 

[short1]

Carb cleaner is flowing through the bowls nicely. I set the idle mix screws at 3 turns out and bench synced the carbs, and it was running great both sides. The screws were both turned in all the way snug when i took them out.

I've been running it on prime because i couldn't get it to stay running longer than a minute or so set to on. As i've read it looks like a normal thing and i need to upgrade the petcock. Looking around i realized that the vacuum line from the carb to the petcock is hanging loose from the petcock For the heck of it i plugged it with my finger and the idle surges, then after a couple seconds it starts snapping and popping on that side, unplug it and it's back to normal idle running smooth with good throttle response.

So i'm thinking the next step is to replace the petcock to a non vacuum one and get some new carb boots (they look a little cracked) then sync the carbs with a manometer?

This is the first carb i've ever worked on and it seems like the more i read the more confused I am about it lol You guys have been a great help so far let me tell ya!!

 

[xschris]

Yes a manometer Search the forum on how to make one as they are cheap to do.

 

[mpetry]

do what chris said with saftey glasses on... made that mistake only once.... carb cleaner to the eyes was not fun. take the choke plungers out too

Safety glasses aren't good enough. Carb cleaner shot past my safety glasses into my eyes. Get some splash goggles.