CHOKE DOESN'T WORK

[grego]

HI ALL

well today i discovered that the choke doesn't work. i don't know how much travel it should have but it only goes an inch at best. i didn't want to force it. i chased the cable to the carb and i found that it is all enclosed with a nut. i looked at the service manual and the only thing i found for the "start plunger" is how to adjust the slack. i need your expert instructions on
1. to determine if the porblem is in the hand grip
2. the cable
3. the carb

also need expert instructions on how to fix it.

i also discovered that the rear brake adjusting nut has a nail in it instead of a cotter pin.
am sure finding a lot of things to raise some doubts about the history on the bike. when i bought it the odometer said 168 miles. the cycle shop i bought it from said the owner had all the work done at his shop. oh its a 2006

safe biking
grego

[geezer]

about your choke, i am no expert but fortunatly you dont have to be to work on this bike. what i would do first is get a 14 mm wrench and remove the part off the carb, then see if your choke lever works properly, there should be no noticable resistance when moving it back and forth. if it now works i would suspect the spring thats inside the plunger when you remove it. i had a problem like this to and ended up cutting off the very end of this spring so my lever would move freely. supposedly all this spring does is make sure the plunger comes up as you take off the choke. if it still dont work, the carb might need to be removed and cleaned, giving special attention to the choke circuit. i just went out and played with the choke on my bike and it seems an inch is about enough. who knows maybe the cable broke off or something but i bet when you remove it off the carb youll be able to narrow it down. good luck

[Water Warrior 2]

My first thought would be a corroded and stuck choke cable. I would start by disconnecting the cable at the carb and cycling the choke lever for smoothness and cable movement. Any light oil or ATF will lube the cable and wash out some of the grunge. After that I would inspect the choke itself for proper function. Keep it simple and don't go looking for exotic problems and fixes because there probably won't be one.
If your bike really has that few miles on it in 5 years I would expect a lot of TLC to make things smooth and dependable again. We are here to help.

[grego]

THANKS WATER WARRIOR,GEEZER
i will check it as soon as i get some time and let you know what i find..

safe biking

grego

[grego]

HI ALL

ok i removed the choke nut and i see the spring. was waiting for it to come flying at me and then get lost on the garage floor. the cable doesn't move at the carb end. i see the cable cover flex when i push the choke.

ok now how does the hand grip and other parts come off so i can shoot some penetrating oil down the cable and then some light weight oil

thanks for all the help......14mm right on

safe biking

grego

[5th_bike]

ok now how does the hand grip and other parts come off so i can shoot some penetrating oil down the cable and then some light weight oil

Well so far I have been able to lube the choke cable without taking the hand grip apart, if you just unscrew the metal part (with the choke cable length adjustment) from the bottom of the hand grip. Then, activate the choke (pull towards you). Then, when de-activating the choke, pull the metal part down at the same time, you should see some inner cable exposed that you could go lube, it will drip down the cable.
Maybe you will also have to screw the adjusting nut on the metal part in all the way, to make the metal part 'shorter'.
Hope this works.

[Water Warrior 2]

Another idea here. Pull the tank to expose the choke cable route through the bike. Pull the entire cable through the bike towards the bars. With the cable still attached at the bar you should be able to suspend the cable above the bike and allow oil to drip down in the cable sheath and limber up any grunge in there. Wrap a rag around the choke lever assembly to soak up any drippings. Penetrating oil first and after things are loose and working well just do it over with a light oil to provide future lubrication and prevent binding or corrosion.
While you are oiling you might want to give the throttle cables a drop of oil to smoothen things out. Not sure about the clutch cable though. If it has a teflon inner sheath do not oil it. Oil does not play well with teflon. Of course if the teflon is already binding oil will make it work well enough till you get a new cable. My Vstrom has a teflon sheath in the clutch cable and it works very nicely after 6 years.
From the sounds of it, your GZ has waited a long time for some TLC and some one to take it out where it belongs. Get things working and the GZ will certainly reward you with what it can do.

[grego]

hi all

went to work on the bike when i got home from work. i first removed the 14 mm nut at the engine.
then at the handle grip i removed the screw holding the choke into the hand grip. i removed the screw across from the first screw. the top and bottom of the assembly that contains the horn,directionals and hi beams. it wouldn't come completely apart, perhaps i missed something.
i could see the choke cable. it was a nice lime green.

i tried to loosen the adjusting nut, but i couldn't get the cable elbow out of the assembly. i stuck the plastic hose that's on the can of kroil penetrating oil next to the cable as far down as i could get it. sprayed the oil onto the cable. hopefully some of it would run down the cable.
after about 10-15 minutes tried to move the cable. still no go at the engine end.

i think my next move is to remove the whole assembly. i'm sure somebody out there has had to take it apart and can walk me thru it. i hate breaking things when i'm trying to fix something.
i looked in the service manual and remove figure a then remove figure b doesn't quite help me .

any and all help would be greatly appreciated !!!!

safe biking

grego

[geezer]

good luck i have never removed the chock cable on this bike but man it cant be that involving! :whistle:

[Water Warrior 2]

Squirt some more stuff in there and wait till tomorrow. It will take some patience to see how well the fluid penetrates and loosens the green corrosion you found.

[mrlmd1]

If it's that stuck from corrosion, it will probably never work smoothly even if you do manage to free it up. Better plan on buying a new replacement.

[grego]

HI ALL

round 2

this afternoon when i got home from work was determine to get to the cable. i grabbed hold of the 2 pieces and pulled them apart. took the cable off the choke lever and with a syringe feed the cable kroil penetrating oil. i feed it a lot and i didn't see anything coming out the other end. giving the cable a good tug it didn't budge. my thoughts were ok maybe the cable got crushed some time in its life.

removing the gas tank. i see the 2 bolts. i guess i need a golf tee to plug the gas line coming out of the tank. i have read that there needs to be a vaccum to suck the gas out. does that i don't need the tee??

looking at the service manual it looks like its cable #22 figure 36. it doesn't show the rubber boot or the nut. do you just pull them off or is there another cable with these fittings already attached?that i haven't come across in my search.

thanks for all the help so far
all help is greatly appreciated
safe biking
grego

[geezer]

removing the gas tank: remove seat, remove bolt, remove fuel line(no need to plug as long as valve is set to ON/RESERVE, remove vac line at rear of valve then remove, absolutely nothing to it once you get your feet wet :2tup:

[blaine]

HI ALL

In the service manual it looks like its cable #22 figure 36. it doesn't show the rubber boot or the nut. do you just pull them off or is there another cable with these fittings already attached?

Yes,the boot and nut are separate from the cable.Just FYI the choke cable is referred to as the "starter plunger cable".
:cool: :)

[Water Warrior 2]

HI ALL

In the service manual it looks like its cable #22 figure 36. it doesn't show the rubber boot or the nut. do you just pull them off or is there another cable with these fittings already attached?

Yes,the boot and nut are separate from the cable.Just FYI the choke cable is referred to as the "starter plunger cable".
:cool: :)
Or sometimes called an enrichener cable in different parts of the world. So many of us are left in limbo by a common language. lol.

[grego]

HI ALL

the conclusion

when i got home today i thought well the penetrating oil should have dripped out the other end. and lo and behold it did !! gave the cable a tug and nothing. well now to plan b. i followed geezers instructions on tank removal. the tank had one more hose at the rear of the tank. what its for i don't have a clue.
removed the cable. i found a kink in the cable. not where you would expect under the tank, but about a foot down from the hand grip. carefully reconfigured the cable cover until the cable moved freely.
injected light weight sewing machine oil into the cable until it came out the other end.
reassemble was easy until the spring shoot past me at the speed of light. after a 15minute search outside the garage i found it. put everything back together and adjusted the cable.
fired it up and there is about 1.5 inches of travel and i can hear the rpms going up and down. now it idles a lot better. the choke must have been partially engaged.

well that was my first venture into bike repair and am sure it won't be the last. thanks to all for your expert advice.holding my hand thru the operation

safe biking

grego

[blaine]

Congratulations on your fix.We are here any time you need a hand.
:cool: :)
http://s3.postimage.org/a0lt3fwk/th_Congratulations_CAE99_KHU.gif (http://www.postimage.org/)

[Water Warrior 2]

Well done. :2tup:

[5th_bike]

Yay, :biggrin: you fixed it ! :rawk:

[grego]

hi all

thank you all for your moral support and knowledge


safe biking


grego

[Rookie Rider]

My choke cable is stuck outside the motor, i cant push it back in. Im talking about the cable under the seat on left side of the bike. That is the choke right?

[alantf]

Whoops!!!! The choke cable actually goes from the choke lever to the carb. The only thing I can think of, under the seat, is the lock cable that goes from the left side panel (the lock) to the seat. :??:

[Rookie Rider]

And where is the choke lever ?

[geezer]

left hand grip, lol dude learn that bike!

[Rookie Rider]

hahaha

[Water Warrior 2]

Read the owners maual please. Your bike will thank you.

[alantf]

And where is the choke lever ?

Oh shit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :curse: :oops:

[Rookie Rider]

O_o There isnt a choke lever on my left hand grip.

[blaine]

O_o There isnt a choke lever on my left hand grip.
Rookie Rider wrote:
{I let it warm up too, and as idle gets faster i turn that white knob under seat to lower the idle. Bout 5 minutes and im off.}



The white knob is the Idle screw and should be adjusted to about 1200 rpm,when the bike is warm,and than left alone.If your choke is working properly,and the idle is set properly,the idle should lower as you take the choke off.

If there is no choke lever on the left grip,than someone has removed it.This is why you were using the idle knob for increasing your idle.
:cool: :2tup:

[Rookie Rider]

But why would someone remove it ?

[blaine]

But why would someone remove it ?
I have no idea.Have a look at your carb on the left side,if there is a cable entering the carb with a 14mm nut,that is your choke cable,then you can trace it back to the bars.
:) :cool:

[Water Warrior 2]

Choke lever is just to the right of the hi/lo beam switch on the handlbars. It moves towards the rider to engage and towards the front of the bike to disengage. It should move smoothly with a small amount of drag to hold it in place when you set it prior to start up. Notice the white arrow in the pic. Shows direction of travel to engage choke.

[Rookie Rider]

Thank you fellas

[dspdr]

Hello everyone, I am new to the forum and am having a choke issue.
I dont have a lever attached to the choke cable. it has a wire wrapped around it when you need to use it. Well my bike wont turn over now and the cable wont move. Could I have pulled it too far using the attached wire?? Is there anyway to NOT use the choke to start the bike?? If NOT, do I need to take it off the carb and replace it?? I have the manual and its not clear.
Thank you in advance for your help..

[blaine]

Hello everyone, I am new to the forum and am having a choke issue.
I dont have a lever attached to the choke cable. it has a wire wrapped around it when you need to use it. Well my bike wont turn over now and the cable wont move. Could I have pulled it too far using the attached wire?? Is there anyway to NOT use the choke to start the bike?? If NOT, do I need to take it off the carb and replace it?? I have the manual and its not clear.
Thank you in advance for your help..
Welcome.You really need a new cable & lever,for the bike to start effortlessly,without harming the starter.The cable just unbolts from the side of the carb.It is a 14mm nut.
:) :cool:

[dspdr]

Welcome.You really need a new cable & lever,for the bike to start effortlessly,without harming the starter.The cable just unbolts from the side of the carb.It is a 14mm nut.
:) :cool:[/quote]


thank you

[Cujo]

Hey everyone....

So I'm having the same problem Grego had. My bike sat for a long time and now the choke lever won't budge at all.

I took the handlebar housing apart and took the lever off of the cable, and the cable definitely is stuck. I poured penetrating oil on the cable part hoping it will go down the tube, but it hasn't improved anything as of yet.

Here's my (bigger) problem.... I removed my gas tank so that I could remove the starter plunger 14mm nut off the carb, but the nut is completely stuck on there. As much as I try, it won't budge, even after putting oil on the nut as well. And the more I tried to force it, the more the carb moved and made me afraid that the carb would dislodge from the engine.

So, any suggestions on how I can get that nut off so that I can fix or replace that cable?

Thanks all!

[5th_bike]

Well I would first try to get the cable going because then you don't have to remove the nut. I once read that a good way of getting oil in the cable is to take a plastic ziploc and cut a tiny corner off it, feed the cable through, then tape the plastic to the outer cable, then pour some oil in the bag and it will easily run down the inside of the cable. I would just use motor oil like they recommend.

Second, about the nut, penetrating oil takes some time, (I figured you used like WD-40) so just give it a rest and try again tomorrow.


Good luck.

[Cujo]

Well I would first try to get the cable going because then you don't have to remove the nut. I once read that a good way of getting oil in the cable is to take a plastic ziploc and cut a tiny corner off it, feed the cable through, then tape the plastic to the outer cable, then pour some oil in the bag and it will easily run down the inside of the cable. I would just use motor oil like they recommend.

Second, about the nut, penetrating oil takes some time, (I figured you used like WD-40) so just give it a rest and try again tomorrow.


Good luck.

I never thought about the ziploc, that's a very good idea which I'll try tomorrow. I did oil up the nut and cable as much as I could and planned to leave it for a day or two, so hopefully it'll work with time. Thanks a lot for the suggestion!

[Water Warrior 2]

Automatic transmission oil will work as a penetrating oil. It will clean and lube a cable quite nicely.