Rough start up issues

[jfmerk]

Last fall I put my restored '78 standard down in the basement for winter storage. I also re-painted it but more on that some other time. I put a little stable in the fuel just because I wasn't sure just when I'd get to taking the tank off for painting. I eventually got to pulling the tank in January. I did not drain the carbs. Fast forward to today, and I got everything back together, put about a half tank of gasoline in the tank wheeled it outside and started it up. It started it up after a couple trys. I noticed I hadn't put the fuel valves in the "Prime" position so I did that as it was running. After 30 seconds or so I put them back into the "On" position. This is a stock bike, all fuel systems are stock.

It ran beautifully last fall, no problems.

Now, I have no throttle response, when you crack the throttle it dogs and almost kills the engine. Even after it's warmed up, if you take the choke off, it dies. With the choke on, it runs fairly smooth, but as I said give it a little throttle and it just bogs down. If you slowly open the throttle I can get to rev a bit. I drove it to the front yard and going up a small hill killed the engine, no power. I had to get the rpm up to about 4000 and feather the clutch to make it up this tiny little hill.

Do I have a stuck float needle or something? I tried the small plastic hammer tap on the bowls with no success.

Any tips?

[lancelot455]

I would think that after you removed the tank the fuel in the carb started to evaporate, Gummed up the carbs from the deposits left behind. You probably have to take the carbs off and clean them.

[crazy steve]

Sounds like gummed up carbs... pull 'em and clean 'em...

[fredintoon]

Hi JF,
me three with "clean the carbs" Also dump out the last years gas, most likely it'll still be OK in your lawn mover.

[cywelchjr]

You could TRY and drain the carbs and put about 1/3 can of seafoam in the tank before you put the petcocks back on prime and try and run it a little again. That MIGHT clean them up enough but probably not, but I figure worth the try to not have to pull and clean them if it happens to work.

[jfmerk]

I guess I too felt something is not well in the carbs, but I didn't think they'd gum up in that amount of time. But as I think of it, the two main feed lines to the carb tee's where open. The bike was covered, but these lines where open so I guess over a six month period, the fuel evaporated and left residue. I'm just suprised because they were completely gone through last year and only have a couple tanks of gas run through them before storage. Do they really gum up that fast? From fuel evaporating? Obviously; yes! Oh well, looks like I have a little work to do.

Thanks for the input everyone!

P.S. Just got in from a 150 mile ride on the Venture, beautiful day here today!

[cywelchjr]

If your going to leave the carbs open, it's often better to drain them than to let the gas evaporate. It turns to sludge when it evaporates, but if you drain it the only issue is rubber parts drying out, which may not be a problem over the winter. It's rare however for bikes that have sat over the winter to get away with not having to have the carbs cleaned at the beginning of the riding season, especially apparently if kept in a warm place rather than outside, but I believe it seems the chances are better if the carbs are drained.

[jfmerk]

Lesson Learned!

Well I tell ya, I took the carbs off, left the four them together but removed and cleaned every jet, tube, passage, etc that can be cleaned and really didn't see anything that made me think "yes" this is the problem. But.... put them back on and without making any adjustments, she ran much much better. Took it for a ride and no hesitation, just smooth acceleration even under low rpm acceleration. Adjusted idle air mixture and sync twice and called it done!

I did notice the clutch slipping a little under a couple moderate to hard accelerations A little adjustment is in order probably. As I let the clutch out, it seems to have too much free travel at the lever before the clutch starts to engage.

So thanks again for the right on target advice everyone! I'll take much better "winterizing" precautions next year!

[natemoen]

Personally I don't like stabil, don't think it works so well. Drain all gas and run it till it dies.

[crazy steve]

Well I tell ya, I took the carbs off, left the four them together but removed and cleaned every jet, tube, passage, etc that can be cleaned and really didn't see anything that made me think "yes" this is the problem. But.... put them back on and without making any adjustments, she ran much much better...

I had a 650 twin before I got the XS11 in '78, and every spring I would have to pull the carbs and blow them out. Never found/saw anything in there, but if I didn't, the bike would start running bad. Didn't seem to make any difference if I drained the carbs in the fall or not either...