Seafoam - question

[jamatta]

Guys thanks again for taking the time to answer this....

I searched around this great site and am considering trying seafoam and fresh gas to see if it clears up my problem of stalling without the choke on. It seemed to work for others here.
It does start and run, but only with the choke on. It will often stall when I try to give it any gas too. The gas has been in it all winter (a.k.a cold-candian-winter) so it is probably crap. I have read posts about using seafoam and my question(s) are...


1. Would this be a good first step to try? i.e. seafoam and fresh gas
2. Logic would seem that if seafoam cleans out the fuel system isn't it just going to loosen all the crud up and plug everything up even worse? I am a beginner and don't want to mess up a semi running bike and I'm too nervous about cleaning carbs right now.
3. Also, I replaced the cracked fuel lines and there is air in the lines. Could this be causing the stalls?

thanks ahead of time.
J

[boyat68]

From my experience with Sea Foam, I run a little bit, about 3 oz per tank of gas (5+Gal Tank) all the time. I still had to clean my carbs a couple of years back after letting the bike sit for 3 years without running it. The Sea Foam helps dissolve the varnish that accumulates over the winter months from not ridding. This is in my XS1100G. In my 400 Honda, I have sticking floats that I have not cleaned yet, but after running a tank with 1/2 can of Sea Foam, the floats do not stick any more. The Honda sits unused longer than the 1100. It is always a good first step to try as the Sea Foam actually dissolves the gunk and runs it through the engine as a mixture. It will not dissolve rubber, and if you have the auto rubber type fuel lines, then the rubber flakes off of the insides of those lines and lodges in the filter screen of the carbs, or still worse under the needle valve.

There is always air in my fuel lines as I can view the clear fuel line and see the bubbles. This is an indication that fuel is flowing. I have inline filters also that collect the crud that gets into the tank. The air does nothing as the float bowl and needle valve keeps adequate fuel in the carb for use in the engine.

The stalls could be from the pilot jets being blocked, the pilot air screws being blocked, or the main jets being blocked. The only sure way is to do a clean job on the carbs and examine all of the jets and passages of those carbs.

[trbig]

With the bike running, spray some carb cleaner around the intake boots and carb holders and see if the rpm changes (Meaning a vacuum leak) It may need the extra fuel because of an air leak.

As for using sea foam... the way it sounds is that you need to clean your carbs. If you use Sea Foam, it will either fix it.. or you'll still have to clean your carbs. Kind of a no lose situation. Yeah, your bike will start... but what good is it the way it is?


Tod

[oldyam80sg]

Sea foam will help-but it is not a cure all.Dirty carbs are dirty carbs period.There are plenty of threads on this site that will guide you step by step in their removal and cleaning.Years ago my SG was running like crap.The only solution was to remove the carbs and clean them.I followed the steps on this site and they are very clean today.When they are clean, you can run Sea-foam in them as a way to further clean up things even further.Also running in-line filters help a great deal too.

[trbig]

"Dirty" carbs and varnished carbs are really two different things. I had a generator recently that my son had drained the gas out of for his car. (Yeah, I'm probably the only person something like THAT has happened to, right?) What little gas that was left had set up and smelled like terpentine. I put 5 gals of gas in it with half a can of Sea Foam, and pulled on the starting rope until I was blue (Actually more a shade of bright red) in the face without so much as a sputter. All this pulling though, had brought in fresh gas with the Sea Foam into the carb. I went to try again with it the next day, and it started on the 2nd pull. The Sea Foam had done it's job and dissolved the varnish. It now runs like new.

So it is worth a try.

As for air in your lines.. that isn't a big deal at all. These aren't like a fuel injected setup where the lines lead directly to the intake. They are simply there to keep a reservoir (Float bowls) filled with fuel so your carbs can draw from that.

Tod

[oldyam80sg]

I like Seafoam but i also like Berrymans Chem Tool-alot cheaper too and i like the results.

[thewiz]

Sounds like a vacuum leak to ....

me, too. Over one winter is probably not really long enough, in and of itself, for fuel to varnish up.

Since you found fuel lines cracked, then there's also a good chance that vacuum lines may be cracked too. Spray, like Tod says, but also look closely at the lines leading from the vacuum advance to the number 2 carb, and the ones leading from the carb boots to the fuel taps (if a Standard), or if a Special the one leading from carb boot the Octopus, and finally the rubber caps on the carb boots. These are the areas most likely to develop vacuum leaks when hoses get old, crack and begin to fit sloppily ... and we don't want a sloppy fit on our hoses, do we? Also if there are fuel filters installed, it may be time to replace them.

[Crazcnuk]

Try a few tanks with seafoam.

These guys here will clean carbs out of a brand new bike, if you let them.

[skids]

If the fuel lines were cracking, there is a chance that rubber chronicles have passed into the carb fuel inlets and have collected on the screens (if yours has 'em. There might be a chance that you could set the carbs to the prime setting to fill them up (also good if the vacuum hose was leaking air), then take them off he bike and roll them to drain fuel out of the fuel inlets to wash the bits out. Oh heck, if you're going that far, you may as well do a spray job on them for a quick clean. There are those that say you must do thorough clean, 3 different times... I have not been that unfortunate! (knockin' on wood) Get: New fuel line. Get the real stuff. Motorcycle shops sell the transparent ones that stay flexible), New inline fuel fillters (Fram #G3515 or equivalent is very compact and efficient flow).

[trbig]

rubber chronicles

lol...

Tod