Carb Getting Dirty?

[dwh367]

I took in the shop for it's 10,000 mile service and they told me they had it running better a lot better but the carb will probably have to be rebuilt by the time the next service is due. Is it normal for a carb to wear out on this bike at between 10,000 and 13,000 miles?

[alantf]

Originally Posted by dwh367

Is it normal for a carb to wear out on this bike at between 10,000 and 13,000 miles?

No! It probably needs carb cleaner running through it. I noticed in one of your earlier posts that you were a bit scared of using it. Afraid it's a necessity with the GZ. If this doesn't work, the "rebuilding" will, in all probability, be just stripping the carb & manually cleaning it.

[Water Warrior 2]

Sounds like Alantf is on to the right answer. Also keep in mind to use top tier gas only. All top tier gas has a small amount of Techron(cleaner) in it. A lttle added cleaner will do wonders for the carb and keep you happy. Whatever cleaner you use just add according to the instructions and keep on riding.
I had an issue with the Vstrom once when I used a less than wonderful brand of gas. After a few fill ups the FI system was throwing nasty codes. Switched back to Chevron and the bike was happy again.

[dwh367]

I've been riding quite a bit since the dealership worked on it and it seems to be running normally again. On a warm day I can get it to start and idle without the choke but riding requires a little bit of choke applied until the engine is up to temperature, which is normal from what I understand. It's also falling back down to a normal idle when I come to a stop so for me that was money well spent. Evidently the possibility of the carb needing to rebuilt already was a worst case scenario that they wanted to warn me about.

[Water Warrior 2]

Well there you go. A testamonial on how to keep a GZ happy. Ride it.