Yellow Haze Below the Carb?

[tcrave]

When I bought my gz, the people said that it had just had a complete tune-up, including the carb being rebuilt, but I have my doubts. People don't tell the full truth, simple as that. I have a large feeling that they lied about the entire thing. When I got home, it was having some troubles shifting, so I changed the oil and it was NASTY! I e-mailed the lady and asked if she had ever had trouble with shifting and told her I changed the oil and she emailed me back saying that no, she had never had troubles and then informed me the oil hadn't been changed in a long time and probably needed it. What the hell? I thought an oil change was standard in a tune up? O-well, whatever, I was expecting to be lied to, I just factored that into negotiations.

Turns out the hard shifting is normal for these bikes, either they don't have a first gear synchro, or it is out. Not a big deal though, just have to keep it in mind while riding.

Anyway, I now have a new problem. I was riding my bike down the street to work and all the sudden, it died. It was decently warm, so I tried to start it again and it wouldn't start. So, I pulled the choke level and it started again. I left the choke on the entire ride and then once I got to work, I turned the choke back off and the bike died...well dang! So then after I got off work, I started it up again and it would idle a little high with the choke on, and so I turned it to half way and it was still a little high, so I turned it all the way down and the bike died. So,I had to ride with the idle a little high and the choke half on. But, then after I let it sit for a day, its fine now.

But, here is the part that worries me too...I went to wash my bike yesterday evening and noticed a yellowish has all over the carb and on the metal casing right below the carb. I figured it might have just been a stain, but then I started scrubbing and with a HARD scrub, it started coming off...now I'm a bit worried. Any ideas?

[geezer]

might be your float bowl gasket leaking, my bike develps this yellowness on the bottome of the carb too. im not to worried about it yet as it doesnt leak or drip on the engine, i am keeping tabs on it though. as far as the stalling, have you messed with the mixtur screw yet on the bottom of the carb? mine would also stall hot i checked it and the screw was 7 turns out! should be around 3 max! check it out

[blaine]

Sounds to me like the carb was flooding and is dirty.If they didn't change the oil,I doubt they done any maintenance.Put some Sea Foam or Berryman's B-12 in the tank and run it for a couple of days.You can put in double what it states on the can.It may take a couple of tanks of fuel to see full effect.
:cool: :)

[tcrave]

Thanks for the replies. I have already put an half a can in the tank already, nothing really has changed. Will probably try some more.

I am almost sure they lied to me now. I went out and checked it again and it is definitely leaking something. There were actually a couple drips hanging down, waiting to fall, so I put my finger in it and it smells and looks like oil to me. I'm not very familiar with carbs...how the hell is oil leaking out of it??? Is oil supposed to be in carb?

Yes, I have messed with the idle screw thing on the carb quite a bit actually. When I first got it, I had it set to idle VERY low, kinda liked it....but I have been adjusting it up now since it won't idle that low anymore without dieing. I'm going to keep trying to lower it more and more to see if I can get it back to where it was before without dieing.

It hasn't died again since that one time, but like I said, I have adjusted the idle up a little.

I'd really like to clean the carb out....I would rather do it myself so I know how to do it and it would be a ton cheaper, but I honestly have no idea how. Does anyone know of a good instruction manual or instruction video for this?

Pretty disappointing that people lie straight to my face, but whatever, guess thats how people operate these days. I think I still got it for a good enough price though so far. $1,200 for a decent running bike that needs a little maintenance still isn't bad.

[blaine]

Geezer is talking about the "idle mixture screw".A totally different thing than the "idle screw'.Don't try to idle the bike down too low,as it's not good for the engine.Idle should be around 1200 rpm.Do a search,there are a lot of threads on cleaning the carb.
:cool: :)

[alantf]

Yes, I have messed with the idle screw thing on the carb quite a bit actually. When I first got it, I had it set to idle VERY low, kinda liked it....but I have been adjusting it up now since it won't idle that low anymore without dieing. I'm going to keep trying to lower it more and more to see if I can get it back to where it was before without dieing.



Are you talking about the big white knob, under the carb? If you are, then it should be set to 1200 to 1400 rpm at tickover, with the choke off, & the engine HOT.

Actually, this is what Suzuki recommend, but you can take it as the starting point for what suits you. LOW REVS ARE NOT GOOD. :)

[geezer]

yes low revs baaaaad. doing the carb on your bike should be very simple for you. removing the tank takes about 5 minutes then just get a god look at what your doing and go for it :2tup: but if your nervous about the task better not try it without some supervision

[tcrave]

Thanks guys! Yea, I was talking about the little white knob. Guess I will have to do a little more research to figure out what you guys are talking about then. Thanks for letting me know about the idle! How do I know how high it is idling without a tachometer? I drive a 5 speed car, so I know the idle on that pretty well, but I am not familiar with how the idle should sound on a motorcycle. My last motorcycle was a 700cc and had a tachometer.

I will look again, but I have searched and searched and have not found a good read up on cleaning the carb. But, I will look again. I would prefer to do it under supervision, but I don't know anyone around here that is good at doing it and willing to spend them time with me. My dad knows how to do it on cars, but no motorcycles and he is 4 hours away anyway.

[tcrave]

Oh, and will rebuilding the carb fix the leaking? Is it "normal" (in a general sense) for oil to be leaking out the carb?

oh, and I have already had the tank off, so thats easy for me, it literally took me, like you said, minutes to do. I wanted a thorough cleaning, so I took the tank off to clean the bike, lol...I'm a little ocd on cleaning.....which is another reason this yellow haze is frustrating me. It seems the more I get into motorcycles and the more problems I have, the more I know what to look for when buying my next one! My last motorcycle had a few issues, so I knew to look for those on this one, but this one is giving me more issues too, so now I am learning more...so thats a plus. And, I got the bike cheap enough that minor problems are not the end of the world. Glad I got it for cheap though.

[Water Warrior 2]

There should be no oil in the carb to leak out. Are you sure it is oil ? .....Rebuilding the carb using new gaskets etc should solve any leaks. If the needle and seat for the carb float is overly high then there is a possibility that fuel would leak out. But I will leave it to the guys who know carbs better than I. Some one will be along soon.

[geezer]

oil should not be in the carb no matter what. i wonder what your airfilter looks like. is the hose from the motor to the air box there? look underthe carb at the engine and you will see what im talking about, it connects to the bottom of the airbox. see it? yeah after looking at my bike for a moment my yellow film is getting worse so i think a new gasket is in the bikes future. strange that it isnt leaking though. it would seem that your bike could use alot of maintainance, i would leave no stone unturned ma dude. if you can get your tank off you can work on this bike :lol: here is what i want you to do

check your airfilter. to get to it remove the left side(sitting on bike) cover. this cover is the one that says "gz 250" on it. you will see the airfilter held on by 3 screws. inspect it and make sure it isnt to dirty looking.
remove carb and clean.dude this is so much easier thn you think, with tank off just look at what you need to do,get all the cables ans hoses off, lossen the airbox (bolt is in the same area as the airfilter screws) this will give you a bit more room to get the carb out.
valve adjustment. look at the front and back of engine. see the twocovers held on by 2 10mm bolts each? the front and rear look identical see em? remove em and you will see the rocker arms 2 in each side of motor. someone please post a link for the good man to follow here.
check your oil level. is it where it shold be?might be overfilled resulting in your oil injestion.

[blaine]

There is a hose on the bottom of the air box with a plug in it,this is for draining any crud out of the bottom of the air box.Make sure that you replace the plug when finished,or the bike will run like crap.
:) :cool:

[Water Warrior 2]

The air filter must be removed for inspection. There is a reverse air flow from the inside to the outside. Opposite of a typical car air filter. This is also the reason to NOT modify the airbox as it will actually bypass the filter and feed the carb/engine dirty air.

[tcrave]

Thanks for all the great tips guys! It means a lot that you are willing to help! My buddy came over today and I told him about the problem. I mentioned a bit about what you guys said about the air box and all and he said "yep, their pretty well right. lets take a look." He told me to take the seat off and the air filter out and hand him a flashlight. He showed me a few things and told me it was the blow-by.

Basically he said that oil was getting up trough the blow by and getting into the air box. He showed me the seal from the carb to the airbox and same one on the other side and told me it was probably leaking through there a bit too. He said that usually it just burns through, but I had some build-up. I asked him what to do about it and he just said "nothing, its working like it supposed to. take some brake cleaner and spray down the crank cash, DO NOT hit the air box or anything close to it. Just clean off the yellow shit and let it be." He said it was completely normal and that in the older days, the tube would just run down out onto the road and still all over the road, but they had to switch it around and run it back through for environment standards or some shit like that. I asked if i could just take the tube out of the air box, plug the hole, and run the tube down to the ground. He said I probably could, but then it might leave a mess wherever I park it.

So, basically I am just going to drain it and clean it and be happy its nothing severe. I probably put too much oil in it when I changed it. I didn't check it the proper way.

Thanks a bunch! If you have any more suggestions on how to improve, let me know!

[Water Warrior 2]

The oil volume is 1300 cc's without a filter and 1400 cc's with a filter. You may want to drain some out if you really put in a lot more.

[jonathan180iq]

FWIW, synthetic motor oil will really help with the clunky shifter. Just make sure you get the good stuff.

[tcrave]

Yea, I was thinking about draining out some of the oil, but I checked it the proper way the other day and it looked fine. I dunno, maybe I should drain more out, but I don't want to drain too much out either. As nice as it is to not have to mess with a dipstick, I am almost finding dipsticks easier. Also wish this bike had a center stand. It just doesn't seem possible to get a very accurate reading on these gz250's. I do have synthetic...when I bought the bike, the first thing I did was changed the oil...used Mobile 1 Synthetic. Expensive stuff!!

It didn't really seem to change the clunking much, but I didn't ride it much before changing the oil, so I could be wrong. 1st gear is still a bitch...but my buddy said that either the bike doesn't have a 1st gear synchro, or it is out...and it would be a huge pain in the butt to fix it if it is there and is out...so not a whole lot I can do about that.

I'm probably going to be changing the oil again in the near future. I don't know what kind of oil was in there before, but it was pretty dirty...if it was conventional oil, then there will still be residual oil left over, so I think changing it again would be a good idea.

[tcrave]

So does anyone have any suggestions for checking the RPM's on these bikes since they don't have a tach?

And thanks again for all the help!!! This forum is GREAT!

[jonathan180iq]

If this is your first bike, don't expect gears to mesh like they do on cars. Especially when you drop into first while sitting a red light. A good "thunk" is par for the course. At least that way you know that it's in there :)

I would expect that while you are riding you aren't experiencing the same "thunkiness".

[tcrave]

This is my second motorcycle, but I'm still 100% beginner. My first motorcycle was a 1984 honda magna vf700c...way too big for me. I'm 5'9" 165 pounds and was 100% beginner. I didn't have my license, just my permit. First gear was sychro'd on it though, which is why this makes me leery...but everyone tells me its normal.

But yea, I hate that thunk noise...it worries me every time. But, i just need to accept that its normal. Yea, when I am riding, i don't experience the noise. I normally shift to first right before stopping. What kinda gets me though is that if i shift into first before stopping, then after stopped, shift into neutral, then i have to roll the bike a few inches to get it to go back into first again.

[jonathan180iq]

That last part, is also totally normal.

Your '84 Vf700 was a very nice bike for it's time. The gz250, on the other hand, is a price point bike that is made just about as simply/cheaply as it can be made. Don't get me wrong. It's durable and tough. But there are features and options on more expensive bikes that didn't even get sneezed at when they were designing the Gz.

Also, you answer your question about RPMs, see Quimrider's Tachometer installation. It was my second favorite addition to the bike ever!.

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=533 (http://www.gz250bike.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=533)

[tcrave]

Thanks! I like that tach! I will be definitely looking into that. As long as i can get one for under $50, that will be the first addition I will be putting on it. I know when to shift, thats not a problem and I know when its revving WAY too high, but I'd still like to see where the RPMs are at regardless, especially when idling or going a constant speed for a long time, its just nice to have.

And yea, that is essentially what my buddy said too...that these bikes are just made as cheaply as possible, which is why the blow-by is set up like it is...i also noticed some excess RTV that had squeezed out when the crankcase was put together and I said "damn, looks like the person had rebuild this before, thats disappointing" and he responded with "nah man, thats just how they made em. it was the cheapest and easiest way to do it."

I will be putting one of those tachs on my bike as soon as possible, thanks!! What was your first favorites addition?

[tcrave]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Custom-M ... ccessories (http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Custom-Mini-Electronic-Tachometer-Gauge-Harley-_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem20b90407b5QQitemZ14054 3002549QQptZMotorcyclesQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories)

will that one work?