One way to clean carbs on the bike

[spyug]

I'm a convert to Seafoam myself. After lots of good reviews on the XS board last year I gave it a shot and it smoothed out a bit of a rough idle ( after a meticulous cleaning and rebuild). Since then I put an ounce or so in each tank.

When I got the GS this year, I did a quick carb cleaning and again started a Seafoam regimin. I also add it to the crankcase as I'm told it is good for cleaning clogged up oil passages (the bike sat for 7 years). I checked with the manufacturer and it is petroleum based and safe for use with M/C clutches...so no worries as the OZ blokes say.

It seems that gas these days go bad quicker than before and as they say , " an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" so at an ounce or so a time Seafoam is a cheap preventative measure IMHO.

If the carbs are kept clean and the bike is run regularily I don't think they'd need to be cleaned more often than every 3rd or 4 year. Its the long term winter layups that play hell with them if untreated gas is left in.

For the last couple of years, I drained the tank and ran the carbs dry for winter storage. This year I'll keep 'em gassed up with the Seafoam in and hopefully get a short ride in every once in a while.

Carb cleaning is not really fun afterall.

Cheers all.
spyug.

[Bizcocho]

Congrats, NEO, on a very creative solution. I too think it isn't likely to hurt the floats, and I don't think the pressure can get to the diagphrams either. If there's a risk, it may be that you could force dirt into an orifice; but you wouldn't be much worse off. Great out-of-the-box thinking!:-D

[NEO]

...and practically got the s^&* kicked out of me. Just for fun, I'll repost the message here, to see how it flies, then when I'm next here, I will post "their" replies to this message. Here goes the Yahoo group message:


""""It's hard to argue with a guy telling you to do it right. I am a
waaaaay meticulous, plodding individual (which must be why it takes
me so long to get anything done??? So, Chuck, my apologies to you in
advance... but do listen, with an open mind:

I am the past owner of a Yamaha XJ-750 Maxim. Bought it new in 1983,
sold it last April. Many years elapsed with Maxine...and much to-do:
marriages, medical school, residency...so as you might imagine, she
was neglected on more than one occasion. Maybe even once or twice,
not winterized right...or at all...

And more than once, in March, when the first smells of spring in St.
Louis (and in Norfolk, where I went to school) are the smells of the
dog**** thawing from out beneath the permafrost and tundra...Maxine
didn't run quite right.

Being the lazy sort, who hates to disassemble carbs and the
like...and sporting a chemistry degree, as well, thinking most any
problems can be solved by solvent (no pun intended), I couldn't help
but do the following:

1). Run the carbs out of gas by d/c'ing the fuel line and running
engine until quits.

2). Using a can of carb cleaner, and sticking the squirty red tube
thing into the main fuel line, and administering slowly...filling the
four float bowls with carb cleaner from the spray can. Let the bike
sit for about 15 mins. after this maneuver.

3). Start the bike. NB: believe it or not, the bike will run (or at
least mine did on carb cleaner. I'm not sure how. I know that carb
cleaner is predominately benzene, which doesn't burn much. Maybe it
was the leftover gas in the bowl mixing with the benzene. I dunno.)
I didn't say it was pretty: you might have to dick with the choke and
the throttle to get it to run, and it won't idle nice. It's work.
Keep filling the floatbowls with the carb cleaner by squirting it
into the main fuel line. The bike really does run on the carb
cleaner.

4). Fuel tank of bike: leave in 1 gallon of gas, and mix in a couple
of those tall plastic bottles of @#$% that say "fuel system cleaner"
or "fuel injector cleaner". Yes, I noticed that each bottle is
supposed to treat a whole tank of gas. Never mind. Connect main fuel
line.

5). Start bike. Apply helmet to head, drive the bike like you're 16
years old (only don't fall down) for 10 or 15 minutes. Just drive
the living **** out of it.

6). Go home, run the carbs out of gas again as described above, and
repeat the old carb-cleaner-in-the-main-fuel-line trick again. Leave
the solvent in the carbs for 15 mins, and then run the bike again on
the carb cleaner, if it will run. If not, just crank the starter and
suck the cleaner through the carb as best you can, manipulating the
choke and the throttle. In my experience, the bike will run.

7). Re-connect the gastank to the carbs and run the living **** out
of your bike again. Try to just putz around a little too, so the
juice will be sucked around the jet and the needle at the most
commonly used throttle settings.

8). Leave a quart or so of this toxic mixture in your tank, fill up,
and drive bike normally.

Using this procedure, I sucessfully owned a 750 Maxim for 23 years
WITHOUT EVER HAVING TO DISASSEMBLE THE CARBS for cleaning.

This may not work for you. Your mileage may vary. I hope you have
as much success with it as I did. I just bought a 93 GSX1100g that
has a bad stumble in it at 4000 rpm, and I'm getting ready to apply
this technology to the new bike """

You got me curious so i tried while the bike was running,the main fuel line dis-connected and spraying the cleaner through the line. The bike ran,and ran,and ran. It gained rpm's a little then all of a sudden shot up so i turned the idle down and it ran for 5 minutes on constant spray of 2 cans of carb cleaner. BUT after i shut it off it would not restart on cleaner alone. I let it sit in the bowls about 30 minutes then blew it out again. I really didnt think it would run on cleaner only but it does.

[Headphase]

price of petrol keeps goin up here it might be cheaper just to fill my tank up with carb cleaner then.
\\/