Start-up Problem

[alantf]

Originally Posted by blaine

drain & clean the air box & filter.

Don't forget to look under the bike. You'll find a tube with a plug in it, & a clip. This is the drain hose from the air box. Remove the clip, remove the plug, & let the tube drain. Replace the plug & clip. An essential part of routine maintenance too. :2tup:

[JWR]

Originally Posted by alantf

Don't forget to look under the bike. You'll find a tube with a plug in it, & a clip. This is the drain hose from the air box. Remove the clip, remove the plug, & let the tube drain. Replace the plug & clip. An essential part of routine maintenance too. :2tup:

That was a good catch alanf...
Alot of people never clean the drain.

[mrlmd1]

It sounds like your battery is drained so you probably have to charge it - on a 2 amp charger. The bike does not charge sitting at idle and you have depleted your battery.

Is the oil level high in your site glass? ( indicating gas has gotten into the oil and increased the volume). Pull the oil fill plug and smell it also. If the volume is way up and it smells of gas do not start it until you flush it out and change the oil and filter.

How much Seafoam did you add to the gas? The usual dose is 1 oz/gal, at most 2 if you want a high dose, so your smoking and engine dying could have been from a large overdose.

What is draining on the floor, is it gas? Then your float needle valve is not closing off properly and gas is overflowing out the carb. You can empty the carb by a drain screw on the bottom before you take it off if you choose to do so for cleaning.

If you let the bike sit for a while, like a day or two with the Seafoam in there, and you drained the carb, if you don't think your oil level is high or gas is in there, and you have charged up your battery, you might try and start it again. If you are still leaking gas out of the carb overflow drain, then you have to take it off and clean it out properly. And if you do get it running, you should change the oil, oil filter, air filter, anyway.

[jonathan180iq]

Originally Posted by bjrscj

When I got back down, a bunch of smoke was coming from the engine. But that didn't seem like a big deal, since when I compared reviews of carb cleaners, those who used seafoam talked about how cool the smoke was that came out of the engines. But then everything hit the fan.

I didn't catch this part earlier.

Just so you know, when those guys talk about tons of smoke from using Seafoam, they are referring to treating the head. A lot people feed seafoam into the engine itself through a brake booster or something and get lots of white smoke out of the exhaust, which they claim is carbon burning off. ( I think any liquid in the engine is going to burn white and cloudy but whatever...) Simply using it as a fuel additive to clean your intake or carb should not cause that type of smoking.

I don't think anyone asked; What type of smoke was it? White? Blue? Did it smell like steam, oil, or something burned?

[bjrscj]

Originally Posted by mrlmd1

It sounds like your battery is drained so you probably have to charge it - on a 2 amp charger. The bike does not charge sitting at idle and you have depleted your battery.

Is the oil level high in your site glass? ( indicating gas has gotten into the oil and increased the volume). Pull the oil fill plug and smell it also. If the volume is way up and it smells of gas do not start it until you flush it out and change the oil and filter.

How much Seafoam did you add to the gas? The usual dose is 1 oz/gal, at most 2 if you want a high dose, so your smoking and engine dying could have been from a large overdose.

What is draining on the floor, is it gas? Then your float needle valve is not closing off properly and gas is overflowing out the carb. You can empty the carb by a drain screw on the bottom before you take it off if you choose to do so for cleaning.

If you let the bike sit for a while, like a day or two with the Seafoam in there, and you drained the carb, if you don't think your oil level is high or gas is in there, and you have charged up your battery, you might try and start it again. If you are still leaking gas out of the carb overflow drain, then you have to take it off and clean it out properly. And if you do get it running, you should change the oil, oil filter, air filter, anyway.

- It doesn't look like I have any more liquid when I look through the site glass.
- Since I don't have a fuel gauge, I guessed as to the amount. It's very possible I went over the recommendation.
- I thought the drainage is gas, but when I looked today, it looks like there are spots in the parking spot. Gas doesn't leave spots, to my knowledge, so it seems as though what leaked out was oil. Does oil mix with the gas so as to cause this issue?

I think I'll try draining the carb and air box this weekend when I have time. My battery seems to still have enough to turn the light on and get a little kick, so I may be able to start things without charging it. However, I'm just very nervous about trying to start it without cleaning out the carb and air box if they can get ruined. I'd rather not take the chance if you think they could be destroyed. Unfortunately I JUST replaced the oil and filter 200 miles ago, but oh well.

Originally Posted by jonathan180iq

I didn't catch this part earlier.

Just so you know, when those guys talk about tons of smoke from using Seafoam, they are referring to treating the head. A lot people feed seafoam into the engine itself through a brake booster or something and get lots of white smoke out of the exhaust, which they claim is carbon burning off. ( I think any liquid in the engine is going to burn white and cloudy but whatever...) Simply using it as a fuel additive to clean your intake or carb should not cause that type of smoking.

I don't think anyone asked; What type of smoke was it? White? Blue? Did it smell like steam, oil, or something burned?

It was white/gray smoke.

Thanks again for all the help.

[mrlmd1]

Let's back up a minute -- Is your bike leaking anything or did you just park where there are spots on the ground? Is your bike wet underneath, dripping anything? Can you tell where it is coming from? Maybe you didn't leak anything. That smoke can be from the Seafoam.
Put some fresh gas in the tank- fill it.
Charge up the battery, put the petcock on RUN, use a little choke, no throttle, and see if it starts and runs.

[bjrscj]

There were no spots on the ground prior to me running it on seafoam. When the bike leaked, the spots were wet to the touch. Now that it's a day later, the spots are still there. I'm very certain the spots are from the bike. Unfortunately I won't be able to drain it or look at it in more detail until the weekend. I think I'm going to start with the recommendation to drain the bike, then try starting it. If it stalls out again, if I understand it correctly, it's probably the carb (the needle?), so I'll take it apart and clean it/replace parts. If you think I have something out of order, let me know.

[Gz Rider]

...

[jonathan180iq]

I think you're on the right path, but you do need to determine where the leak is coming form and what is actually leaking.

[bjrscj]

I got the carb off and I was actually surprised at how easy it all was. However, I didn't find anything that looked like it would be the cause of the problem in the carb. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get the float tank off, as one of the screws was stripped. But the rest of the carb looked like it was in great condition.

[attachment=8:7ynnym04]IMG_0034.JPG[/attachment:7ynnym04]

I've been rethinking whether or not the issue is the spark plug. I was able to get the spark plug out and it looked pretty nasty. When I checked my bike the last time, it was dark out, and somebody suggested that I left the petcock in the prime position. While I didn't do that, I do remember taking the fuel hose off to see if the issue was the vacuum hose, and some fuel may have come out then. If it was the spark plug and I primed the engine and gave it throttle while starting, is it possible I just flooded the engine and the problem isn't the carb? But that still wouldn't explain the smoke coming out of the engine.

Old Sparkplug: [attachment=7:7ynnym04]IMG_0038.JPG[/attachment:7ynnym04]

I did get a new sparkplug, but unfortunately the booklet at the store gave me the wrong plug reference. As you can see, while the plug I bought fits in, the other end doesn't fit in the cap.

[attachment=5:7ynnym04]IMG_0042.JPG[/attachment:7ynnym04]

I was going to check the air box, but I wasn't sure which hose it was. There is one that's at the very bottom of the motorcycle, which is connected to the carb, but the service manual seems to show it sitting up higher by the battery. Which is the correct hose to drain?

Finally, I think I did something pretty stupid. I have everything back together, but there's a hose that's sticking out and I can't figure out where it goes. From the diagram, it looks like the vacuum pump hose, but I don't see anything in the area where it looks like it should plug into. Any ideas? It's at the top left of the carb if you're looking at the bike from the left side.