#2 carb dead at idle

[tkent02]

>>Is your gas filler cap water tight?
Probably not- 34 year old rubber seal.

>>Do you store the bike under a roof or outside
Garaged. Honestly, bike has probably never been wet since I got it

So of course,
>>Do you go through a tank every few days or does a tank last longer?
Could be 2 or 3 weeks before there is a day nice enough for me to get out. I get non tier 1 gas, but from a very new station with plastic tanks. They get their fuel from the Conoco-Phillips rack and turn over ~10000 gallons a day.

So Sta-bil or Seafoam is a good idea for me in every tank? I don't think it could hurt, except maybe long term deposit buildup.
I don't have problems with my fuel-injected vehicles including the one that gets driven only a few times a year. But nothing else has passages as small as a Mikuni pilot jet.

FI systems are sealed, they dont have the evaporation in the system that clogs things. I don't do anything with the FI bikes even when they sit for months. No worries at all, they fire right up every time.
I don't know what to tell you except to ride more. Drain the bowls when you park it?

I have heard that Sea Foam can attack the rubber in your expensive CV carburetor diaphragms. Maybe Stabil is better? Don't know.

 

[Guest]

>>

So Sta-bil or Seafoam is a good idea for me in every tank? I don't think it could hurt, except maybe long term deposit buildup.
I don't have problems with my fuel-injected vehicles including the one that gets driven only a few times a year. But nothing else has passages as small as a Mikuni pilot jet.

I would use Sea Foam but not in excess. Also I would check the filter on your petcock. Maybe it has a tear, or hole or maybe it's not even there (i've seen them that way) and maybe that is allowing some rust particles to help clog up your pilot jets

 

[Tempted]

Did you plug the petcock hose? If you leave the hose off the carb(and it is the #2) then it won't get fuel.

 

[bikerdave]

30 gauge wire wrap wire from Radio Shack is the right size to clean the hole in the end of the pilot jet. The wires in the welding tip type cleaners are too big.

The pilot jets are new. As in only have about 200 miles on them. I think I might have found the problem though. The pass through in the float bowl on #2 was plugged up. I've resoaked everything and gone over all the tiny holes with fine guitar string to poke out the holes. It appears thats how the idle feeds through the pickup tube that goes down unto the float bowl. I'll be remounting the carbs today and hopefully I licked the problem.

 

[bikerdave]

Did you plug the petcock hose? If you leave the hose off the carb(and it is the #2) then it won't get fuel.

Yes. Vacuum is dead on. just no fuel coming out. I think I figured it out though