Carb questions....

[Ohioan]

So, I took the carbs off of a '83 GS450T. It was having issues.
At first, It would start up and run find, until it warmed up, then it would rev up to about 4k RPM.
So, I thought, I'll do the cheapskate carb cleaning and pour some seafoam in.
Well, after doing that, it would start fine, idle fine for about 2 minutes, then the idle would just plummet and it would die. If I kept the throttle open, it would just barely run.

So, I took the carbs off to give them the thorough cleaning they deserved. the tank had fuel in it when I took it off the bike.

When I would turn the carbs over fuel would leak from the air jet on the left side carb but nothing would leak out from right side carb, there was no fuel in the bowl.

So, is fuel supposed to leak there? Should there have been fuel in the right side carb bowl?

I'm thinking something was wrong with the fuel flow in one of those carbs. Just don't know which.

[Killer2600]

So, I took the carbs off of a '83 GS450T. It was having issues.
At first, It would start up and run find, until it warmed up, then it would rev up to about 4k RPM.
So, I thought, I'll do the cheapskate carb cleaning and pour some seafoam in.
Well, after doing that, it would start fine, idle fine for about 2 minutes, then the idle would just plummet and it would die. If I kept the throttle open, it would just barely run.

So, I took the carbs off to give them the thorough cleaning they deserved. the tank had fuel in it when I took it off the bike.

When I would turn the carbs over fuel would leak from the air jet on the left side carb but nothing would leak out from right side carb, there was no fuel in the bowl.

So, is fuel supposed to leak there? Should there have been fuel in the right side carb bowl?

I'm thinking something was wrong with the fuel flow in one of those carbs. Just don't know which.

If the bike is new to you and the PO didn't run it regularly and/or it didn't run well at purchase you need to go through the carbs and clean them properly. If you can't "see" them clean inside and out, then you'll never "know" if they are clean to the point that them being dirty isn't causing any running issues.

Carbs are not supposed to be tripped over but if they do they should leak equally. I suspect the one not leaking is not getting fuel to the bowl or the passage to the air jet is clogged and letting fuel leak out or air get in for that matter. Just re-read your post, yeah no fuel in bowl is not what you want, need to fix that.

[Ohioan]

Well, I got into it with some help with an impact driver.

The left side carb had some sludge in the bottom of the bowl. That's probably not a good sign eh?

[Dave8338]

Pull them all and dip em. A simple carb spray through all the passages does not do the trick. Even a partial blockage in a primary will cause tuning issues that will keep you stumped for days. Clean is as clean does...

[1978GS1000custom]

if your near cleveland ohio your more than welcome to drop those carburetor bodys in my ultra sonic cleaner.they look like new when done and are 100% clean. cliff

[Ohioan]

I found a couple broken o-rings down in there. That probably didn't help. I ordered an oaring kit, so those will be replaced.

Is it safe to dip the bowl gasket? How about the floats? Not sure how the plastic will hold up.

Thanks.

[mike_of_bbg]

Assuming you're going to replace the bowl gasket (and you should unless they come off in really good shape), you should still get as much off as you can so bits don't come off and get stuck elsewhere. If you're going to use the typical Berryman's or Gunk carb dip, you don't want to put anything plastic in there. Particularly if you want to keep it. So no floats either.

Getting the outsides as clean as possible with some soapy water first will extend the life of your dip, too