Carb Cleaning???

whats up everybody?? listen, this is my second year owning my 98 ZX11... and ive never done a carb cleaning or adjustment. is this a really bad thing? i have the infamous flat spot btwn 3500-4000 rpms and my idle sometimes surges up to 2000 and sometimes drops to under 1000 rpms. i took it to a local bike shop and he said carbs need cleaning and that it would cost 400 bucks!!! is this the average price? can i do this myself? i am mechanically inclined when it comes to cars and i have done the fork springs and fluid, oil changes, brakes...myself so far and about to do the steel braided brake lines myself... so can i do this carb cleaning or what?!! i need some help cuz my baby aint runnin right. i have a muzzy exhaust that was already on the bike and it looks like it was slipped on so i dont know about headers or whether it was jetted. thanks
:popcorn:

I'm no bike mechanic but I had a friend who used to come into the garage I worked in. He would bring his whole carb setup in and take it all apart and scrub everything in our parts cleaner machine. He would scrub all four carbs and I guess its the fuel rail that connects them pretty good, then when he put them back on he had what he called a carb synchronizer.

It was pretty much a tool that hooked up to the carbs and it had little glass windows with mercury in them. he just adjusted everything untill all the mercury bars were level and then said they were synced. he said it was amazing how much smoother and more powerful it felt after syncing.

I'm a little sketchy on the tool itself as I've never seen it in action only heresay. Thats the best I can describe it as it was described to me.

thanks alot... i appreciate the info. pretty confident i can handle this. i am going to look in to that tool. hopefully i can find it.

i used to use a product called "redex" which was a deposit cleaner for jets in carbies. i would pull each spark plug and put a teaspoon of this stuff in each cylinder with a little fuel and turn the motor without the plugs in. then pour some cleaner into the carby throat. and then add whats left in the bottle to about 5 liters of fuel. put the spark plugs back in

try to start the bike. it won't start for quite a few turns. (its like trying to start a whipper-snipper on full choke). leave it soak for 5-10 minutes and try again.

ps don't do this in your garage. open space only as when it starts, there is so much smoke, it's like your in the middle of a burnout comp.

thanks. im gonna take the whole thing apart and really get in there and clean out whatever gook and crap i find.

knorwj.. thanks for the post... i found the carb synchronizing tool for less than 100 bucks...and it seems like something i can do pretty easily. cant wait to hear and feel her roar properly. actually might have fun doing this job plus saving almost 500 bucks.

I have a method I've used a lot with good success...only time it's gone wrong on me is with older bikes that used foam floats and neoprene float needle seats, carb cleaner will eat them up if they are already degraded...but the fact that it made it worse verified that those parts were in need of replacement, so nothing lost...anything built in the 90's or newer used Viton seats and floats that aren't affected by the cleaner so much.

I take the fuel line off at the tank, start and run the motor until it dies (carbs empty)..then fill the fuel line with carb cleaner until it backs up (watch the painted parts), will take some time as you have to fill all the carbs...now put the fuel line back on at the tank and turn the fuel on...

Start the motor...it may bitch a bit but they will start on carb cleaner...slowly open the throttle and closed, then slowly open again, at mid range of rpms pull it wide open quickly and drop it (don't wanna overrev)..it may sneeze through the intake when you do this, that's OK...then go back to slow open and close, taking it to 4-5000 rpm or so until you feel the gas begin to start feeding it (it will even out and the exhaust will smell less acrid).

You have just cleaned the whole fuel and induction circuit. Congrats! Assuming there is no massive crap in there that needs disassembly to remove, you should notice the difference.

Good luck with the manometer (carb synch tool)..that's always fun (not).

lol. ok. thanks. i will try that first. but suspect its been a while since anyone did any work on this bike.

carb cleaning is easy. get a rebuild kit for your carbs. clean them 3 to 4 times then put them back on synch the carbs. a cheap digital camera is good to use. to take photos as you dismantle the carbs. that way you can look at the photos to see ware the parts go back on. any needle valve you remove count the number of turns. this will get you very close to the synch point.

if it does not run. re-clean them. chances are you missed something.

Kerosene makes for a good cleaning agent too. And it's tasty!

Thanks a lot. I didn't even know about the rebuild kit. I'm moving tomorrow to fla. Just broke my back loading my bike onto the truck. 600 lbs. Had to build a ramp cuz the truck was a small one and didn't come with a ramp. Did it alone w/my girlfriend and she is tiny. Bike got stuck at the top end of the ramp. We were there for 15 minutes till someone pulled up and gave us an extra hand. Whew..thank god cuz the way the ramp was stuck..I couldn't get her back down w/out pullin the ramp down.look forward to ridin asap. Got a lot of new parts to put on the bike. New springs...new upper fairing...brakes....air filter...steel brake lines. So I can't wait. Plus that carb job needs to be done. I turned her on and tried to ride up and down the street...and my initial throttle response is horrible. I get no power till about a 1/4 turn. Where can I get kerosene from?

Certain gas stations sell it - usually if they sell diesel they might have kerosene. The kind of gas station that has a hardware store attached, ya know? Buy a blue kerosene can to put it in (so you dont mix it up with your red gas can or yellow diesel can!) and put in 10 bucks and you'll have years of cleaning. Its great to clean o-ring chains with too. In fact i think my sv manual states to ONLY use kerosene to clean the chain with.

Certain gas stations sell it - usually if they sell diesel they might have kerosene. The kind of gas station that has a hardware store attached, ya know? Buy a blue kerosene can to put it in (so you dont mix it up with your red gas can or yellow diesel can!) and put in 10 bucks and you'll have years of cleaning. Its great to clean o-ring chains with too. In fact i think my sv manual states to ONLY use kerosene to clean the chain with.

I haven't had a bike with a chain in a while, lately it's been shafts and belts. I guess the last chain I had was my '89 KZ1000P Police Special.

I used to have a strange way of dealing with chains...I'd take the chain off and have it ready, then change the oil in the car with the motor hot, drained into a clean container. Then toss the chain in the hot drain oil...let it steep for 30 minutes or so, then fish it out and hang it up over the drain pan to drip dry.

Pull it through a soft clean towel, and it was clean and every link was very supple and free rolling...:iceslolan

I haven't had a bike with a chain in a while, lately it's been shafts and belts. I guess the last chain I had was my '89 KZ1000P Police Special.

I used to have a strange way of dealing with chains...I'd take the chain off and have it ready, then change the oil in the car with the motor hot, drained into a clean container. Then toss the chain in the hot drain oil...let it steep for 30 minutes or so, then fish it out and hang it up over the drain pan to drip dry.

Pull it through a soft clean towel, and it was clean and every link was very supple and free rolling...:iceslolan

Not a bad idea actually, except i only change my oil every 15k miles. Kerosene is still good for breaking up varnish in carbs though. And i have 3 gallons of it so i gotta use it sometime. Now that i have my pitbull stands, i cant wait to take the rear wheel off and clean stuff :D

Kerosene does a NICE job of cleaning the chain. Doesn't lube it, but it cleans it up right quick! :D I like the oil change trick! I, too, don't change oil often enough to make it count, though. :(

i would get new bowl gaskets take the carbs apart be careful with the floats but pull them off and spray gumout straight through the hole were the needle pushes in then in every jet u can ,than clean off the needle that rests on the float put it back together with the new gaskets and prime it up (just turn the gas on after u install it) make sure gas doesnt pour out (stuck float ) and fire it up go for a quick ride and call it a day.

Hey folks,
First post! Anyway, I am going to reply to this one in particular because i believe i am having some similar problems. I have a 98 yamaha yzf 600, I was working in florida for about 4 months and didn't have anyway to start the bike. I did not put stable in it either (i know, im a moron) anyway, i get back home and try to start it. It will start when i have the choke on full and will idle a little funny but not too bad. After it warmed up, i turned the choke off and it will stall, i treid to give it some gas but it falls on it's face. I started taking the gas tank off to get to the carb, you guys think it just needs to be cleaned? fuel filter? any ideas will help. Thanks guys.

check your fuel pump relay if ur bike has one. i had the same problem and as soon as i would twist the throttle it would shut down. my relay is hanging right from the battery housing. i went thru 2 relays before considering that the fuel filter that i switched to may have been over working the pump and or relay because the new fuel filter was almost 5 times smaller than the oem and the valves going in and out were like little straws compared to the openings on the oem one. some one on here i believe, tried to rip me a new one saying that was impossible but once i switched back to the stock size fuel filter, i havent blown a relay since. switch the relay and make sure none of ur fuel lines are clogged. just one way to get closer to the answer if not completely solve the problem. hope that helps. if not...sorry, i tried. lol. by the way.....welcome to our humble abode.