carburetor mishap

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Thedude1973
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carburetor mishap

Post by Thedude1973 »

I'm sorry if there's already an answer for this, but I wasn't even really sure what to search for. I tried doing a search for "i'm an idiot" and "don't take it apart if you can't put it back together" but didn't really get the info I was hoping for.

I tore the carb down, cleaned it. Pulled out the main and the pilot jets.. Cleaned and blew them out the best I could, and put all back together. Put a new fuel line from the petcock to the carb and that seems fine.

I fired the bike up, and the throttle response (once it warmed up) seemed noticeably improved. That's where the good stuff sort of turns not so good.

Soon as I turned the bike off, fuel started draining from the tube connected to the bowl. I'm guessing I messed something up with my float? This is not a total panic type situation. But I was supposed to go ride tomorrow. There isn't time to take the carb off and try and find out what I did wrong, and still have enough daylight left to ride.

Is there a common error I could have made? I felt very confident that I re installed the float properly, at least according to the cyclopedia manual. Can I ride it like this without hurting anything? Fuel doesn't seem to drain when the engine is running.. I desperately want to hit the trail tomorrow, but if it isn't meant to be.......


I'd rather miss a day of riding than damage anything because I'm too anxious to get out there.

I'm really sorry for being a moron, but believe me... I'm learning and I will understand my bike inside and out before the season ends.
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Re: carburetor mishap

Post by KDXGarage »

bump the bowl to unstick the float??

check the ground for missing parts?

become quite handy with the fuel petcock??
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Actionman
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carburetor mishap

Post by Actionman »

I bet the pin holding your floats has slid sideways allowing your floats to cock sideways. You have to be careful when tilting that carb sideways when reinstalling it, cause the previous owner of my 01 had his pin slid halfway out and it poured gas out the overflow tubes. The press fit of the pin is the loosest ive ever seen on these carbs. That or the float valve disconnect from the float. Ive seen that happen as well. Or, simply a little crud is sticking the float valve open. Just my .02
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Thedude1973
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carburetor mishap

Post by Thedude1973 »

I couldn't sleep. I pulled the carb out again and re-read the manual. I watched every youtube video I could find on it. Not sure where the error happened, but I do a reassemble and re-install. Fuel no longer overflowing as long as the bike is level. Looks like I'll see how today's ride plays out and go from there.
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bufftester
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Re: carburetor mishap

Post by bufftester »

Sounds like the float stuck for whatever reason, most likely the pin had moved as stated earlier. If you put allen head bolts on the float bowl you can pull the float bowl without removing the carb in the future.
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Re: carburetor mishap

Post by Thedude1973 »

Float doesn't seem to be stuck. Had a great ride today but she's definitely got carburetor issues. When on a dirt road WOT, it never revs high enough to shift into third. And it still overflows.

I'm thinking about sending it to RB for mods. Since its already clean and gunk free. May as well do it now.

It was a half day off riding, and (in spite of my carb issues) I'm so effin happy I'm on a kdx. I know it's the perfect bike for me. I'm a C rider on a good day and this machine definitely makes the tough stuff ride-able for someone like me who's still got tons of technique to learn.



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Last edited by Thedude1973 on 10:48 pm Jun 12 2013, edited 1 time in total.
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bufftester
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Re: carburetor mishap

Post by bufftester »

There is definitely something wrong in that carb, sounds like some passages are blocked at the very least. It's also possible that you had gunk migrate from the tank which would contribute to blockage. The carbs are really pretty simple, when you spray carb cleaner into a hole it should come out somewhere else. If it doesn't theres a blockage. And don't soak your carb in the big cans of cleaner, it can destroy the jet block gasket and lead to all kinds of issues.
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rbates9
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carburetor mishap

Post by rbates9 »

IMHO, if your carb is having issues I wouldn't send it to RB yet. I would get the issues sorted out to make sure that the carb is not broke, cracked, or just worn out before spending about $220 on the carb mods to a bad carb. Just my .02.
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Thedude1973
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Re: carburetor mishap

Post by Thedude1973 »

I think I am just going to buy one of the OEM pre modded carbs from Ron and keep this one to learn on. Time to sell some woodworking tools!


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carburetor mishap

Post by Actionman »

Thedude1973 wrote:I couldn't sleep. I pulled the carb out again and re-read the manual. I watched every youtube video I could find on it. Not sure where the error happened, but I do a reassemble and re-install. Fuel no longer overflowing as long as the bike is level. Looks like I'll see how today's ride plays out and go from there.
I call that the "magic disassembly". Sometimes a dimple disassembly and nothing else will cure the problem. I've seen it a lot doing work in the electronics field. It's as mysterious as Bigfoot and the Bermuda Triangle.
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canyncarvr
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carburetor mishap

Post by canyncarvr »

rbates9 wrote:IMHO, if your carb is having issues I wouldn't send it to RB yet. I would get the issues sorted out to make sure that the carb is not broke, cracked, or just worn out before spending about $220 on the carb mods to a bad carb. Just my .02.

Mr. Black won't modify a carb that's 'bad'...broke, cracked, worn out...whatever.

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