Hello, I am new to these forums and new to motorcycles. I am not new to wrenching or electrical though.
I decided to post this thread instead of hijacking another which I started to do already, although he has some similar sounding issues with his bike.
I recently purchased a 2000 vstar 650 that has sat since 2005. It only has 3000 miles on it. When i purchased it I knew the carbs would be gummed up.
When I got it it would only idle with the choke pulled all the way out, and the second I touched the throttle it would die. Searching these forums I learned that was a carb issue.
I tore into the carbs about 4 times now, each time a little deeper.
I am about certain that all the passage ways are clear in the carbs. I boiled them in lemon juice for an hour and cleaned them with carb cleaner as well as seafoam. I removed all rubber parts and cleaned those in seafoam (they never got boiled or carb cleaner on em). The jets were completely gummed up originally, and now i can blow through them with my mouth. The carb cleaner sprays through each passage way quite well, and the rubber parts seem soft and are in tact.
It will idle without the choke pulled out now, and it will even rev a little if I let it warm up for 5 minutes. I can drive it in first gear to about 20mph, second gear about 22mph. If I dont ease on the throttle to allow it to catch up it will bog down. I only get about 1/4 throttle before it bogs out, and to do that I have to pull it slow.
I have new gas in it, I tried both 87 and 92 octane. I also eliminated the fuel tank by having the fuel pump suck gas out of a clean bottle.
I removed the air filter (it was perfectly clean) and installed new plugs and gaped them to .028. The existing plugs looked fine.
I checked compression of both cylinders, both are around 120psi although the rear cylinder creeps up a tad slower than the front cylinder to that number. On the cranks the rear jumps to 60, 90, 120 and the front jumps to 80,100,130ish. (I think that is ok right?)
The battery is new and is at about 13.5v when the bike is running. I connected a 10A charger to it to push it to 14v while running and still no change.
If I pull the choke out the bike will rev a little higher but still bogs down with more than 1/4 throttle. Also when I do this it tends to stay revved longer even when I release the throttle.
I squirted gas directly down the throats of the carbs while it is running and I can get it to rev up a lot higher, which makes me believe it is still carb related.
The fuel pump seams to move fuel from one container to another quite well, and when I put my finger over the outlet it builds a little bit of pressure. (maybe 1 psi?)
I am at a loss. I have been through the carbs so many times I can rebuild them with my eyes closed. I dont see a single thing wrong with them but it appears to be fuel related.
The pilot jet is .20 and the main had a 6 or 9 on it i believe. When I look down the main jets hole it appears that it is smaller than the pilots hole.
When I look down the throat of the carbs I can see fuel coming out of the needle valve area but it doesn't appear to be misting, but I am not sure if it is supposed to be.
I know this is a lot of information, especially from a new comer. I am hoping that the experience from you guys here will lead me to a solution. I promise to post the solution when I find it. I really need some input on what to do, where to check, etc. Thanks
Joe
I decided to post this thread instead of hijacking another which I started to do already, although he has some similar sounding issues with his bike.
I recently purchased a 2000 vstar 650 that has sat since 2005. It only has 3000 miles on it. When i purchased it I knew the carbs would be gummed up.
When I got it it would only idle with the choke pulled all the way out, and the second I touched the throttle it would die. Searching these forums I learned that was a carb issue.
I tore into the carbs about 4 times now, each time a little deeper.
I am about certain that all the passage ways are clear in the carbs. I boiled them in lemon juice for an hour and cleaned them with carb cleaner as well as seafoam. I removed all rubber parts and cleaned those in seafoam (they never got boiled or carb cleaner on em). The jets were completely gummed up originally, and now i can blow through them with my mouth. The carb cleaner sprays through each passage way quite well, and the rubber parts seem soft and are in tact.
It will idle without the choke pulled out now, and it will even rev a little if I let it warm up for 5 minutes. I can drive it in first gear to about 20mph, second gear about 22mph. If I dont ease on the throttle to allow it to catch up it will bog down. I only get about 1/4 throttle before it bogs out, and to do that I have to pull it slow.
I have new gas in it, I tried both 87 and 92 octane. I also eliminated the fuel tank by having the fuel pump suck gas out of a clean bottle.
I removed the air filter (it was perfectly clean) and installed new plugs and gaped them to .028. The existing plugs looked fine.
I checked compression of both cylinders, both are around 120psi although the rear cylinder creeps up a tad slower than the front cylinder to that number. On the cranks the rear jumps to 60, 90, 120 and the front jumps to 80,100,130ish. (I think that is ok right?)
The battery is new and is at about 13.5v when the bike is running. I connected a 10A charger to it to push it to 14v while running and still no change.
If I pull the choke out the bike will rev a little higher but still bogs down with more than 1/4 throttle. Also when I do this it tends to stay revved longer even when I release the throttle.
I squirted gas directly down the throats of the carbs while it is running and I can get it to rev up a lot higher, which makes me believe it is still carb related.
The fuel pump seams to move fuel from one container to another quite well, and when I put my finger over the outlet it builds a little bit of pressure. (maybe 1 psi?)
I am at a loss. I have been through the carbs so many times I can rebuild them with my eyes closed. I dont see a single thing wrong with them but it appears to be fuel related.
The pilot jet is .20 and the main had a 6 or 9 on it i believe. When I look down the main jets hole it appears that it is smaller than the pilots hole.
When I look down the throat of the carbs I can see fuel coming out of the needle valve area but it doesn't appear to be misting, but I am not sure if it is supposed to be.
I know this is a lot of information, especially from a new comer. I am hoping that the experience from you guys here will lead me to a solution. I promise to post the solution when I find it. I really need some input on what to do, where to check, etc. Thanks
Joe
