Please advise if I am heading in the wrong direction

[SlyFinkley]

First week in April I had an issue with a car which decided to populate the space my GZ & I were occupying. :skull:
1 x fractured scapula & many visits to the hospital and some bonding time with "Proficient Motorcycling by David.L.Hough, I am getting it ready to ride again. (If you can't actually ride you may as well read about how to ride correctly.)
Then we hit the road I picked the bike back up & rode it to work where I could securely store it. ( Nb: Holding in the clutch with a broken shoulder is a bit ouchy after a few minutes.)
Anyway, after reading the many posts here on starting after storage, I have drained the tank, and re-filled with fresh fuel, charged the battery, changed the plug and drained the float chamber.
The bike starts once only per session, will rev hard but splutters a bit and will die at idle. ( Will not start again for a few hours, so I am pretty sure it is flooding due to the needle sticking.)
Due to my inability to get seafoam or Berrymans b12 chemtool in Australia ( Maybe Easy Rider could bring this up at the Berrymans stock holders meeting?) :2tup:
I am about to embark on taking the carb out & giving it a good clean. As I can only get aerosol carb cleaner. ( I have done this with Cars, but my bike is a new adventure in mechanical repair )
I know this topic has been done to death here, and I am aware of the berating I am about to receive, but I have read all the posts and just want to hear one of our experienced members here say: "That sounds about right to get it going".

[GZ250]

sorry for all the mishaps. if there is no major problem and it is just the starting issue the gz has a chronic problem. this starting issues happens with my gz everytime it sits for a week. your did fall and keep that in consideration also.

use your choke and keep it ON. berry 12 is not the end of the world. i have used other additives and they work. if you cannot find anything the highest grade gas (petrol) will do the same trick.

good luck and wish you a fast and full recovery.

[Easy Rider]

Originally Posted by SlyFinkley

I am about to embark on taking the carb out & giving it a good clean. As I can only get aerosol carb cleaner.

There is nothing magic about the carb cleaners we use and recommend most here.
What about Gumout or something from Lucas ????

If you can get spray cleaner, surely you could get something else in a non-spray.

If not, you can even use the spray stuff.....by disconnecting the input hose, draining the float bowl and slowly spraying the cleaner directly into the carb via the gas hose. If you do that, you can turn the engine over a few revs with full choke but don't expect it to actually start. After a couple of hours, you can reconnect everything, put it on PRIme, open the drain screw and flush out the bowls.

If you've done car carbs before, a manual cleaning would be better.....but take a lot longer. Note that the screws holding the bowl on are sometimes VERY tight and having a proper "Japanese Phillips" (don't remember the correct name) is helpful in getting them loose without damage.

As already said, use choke and you might want to up the idle screw just a bit until you get this sorted out.

I wonder if it is possible that your petcock is not working and you are just running out of gas.
Have you tried it on PRIme yet ?? If you do that, be alert for evidence of gas leaking out......due to a stuck float.

[SlyFinkley]

Originally Posted by Easy Rider

Have you tried it on PRIme yet ?? If you do that, be alert for evidence of gas leaking out......due to a stuck float.

Thanks for the advice, the PRIme is leaking fuel like a siv, so that sounds like the issue.

[Easy Rider]

Originally Posted by SlyFinkley

Thanks for the advice, the PRIme is leaking fuel like a siv, so that sounds like the issue.

Most of it anyway.

It is possible to work on the float and needle valve just by loosening the boots (and maybe cables) and rotating the carb enough to get the bowl off......without actually removing the carb.

If you have small hands and good eyes, that might be a workable option. Getting full strength cleaner directly into the bowl might be an option too. That won't help, of course, if the float itself has failed.....but I think that is pretty rare.

[alantf]

Originally Posted by Easy Rider

They're called POZIDRIV (yes, that's how it's spelled!) In England they're more common now than the old phillips type. A tip - like I've mentioned before - if you can't get hold of a proper pozidriv, try grinding a flat on the end of an old phillips screwdriver, & it'll fit better. Pozidriv has a flat end. :2tup:

[Water Warrior 2]

Originally Posted by SlyFinkley

Thanks for the advice, the PRIme is leaking fuel like a siv, so that sounds like the issue.

Depending on where you are checking the flow, Prime should be leaking as it is a straight gravity flow. Before tearing things apart do the following just to humor me. Start the bike and keep reducing the choke to keep the revs from going sky high during warm-up. Lynda's GZ would rev it's brains out with full choke and then just shut off if the choke was not backed off to control RPM.

[Easy Rider]

[quote=Water Warrior]

Originally Posted by SlyFinkley

Thanks for the advice, the PRIme is leaking fuel like a siv, so that sounds like the issue.

Depending on where you are checking the flow, Prime should be leaking as it is a straight gravity flow. [/quote:2nbwn11o]

WHAT ??
You are really confusing the issue here.

IF everything is still put together, it absolutely should NOT be leaking......if the float valve is working.

PRIme is nothing more than ON.....and, just like older bikes without the vacume shutoff, you should be able to leave it there all the time with no ill effects.

BUT.......running the bike (or trying to) when the needle valve won't close is a BAD thing to do......for several reasons.

[music man]

Here is another helpful hint, since the GZ (or any motorcycle really) has a tiny gas tank by fuel additive standards, you can take spray carb cleaner, spray it into a small bowl or the cap to the spray itself until you have a couple of ounces of it in there, and pour it in the gas tank, presto, backyard Berrymans/Seafoam fuel additive. :2tup:

[SlyFinkley]

I took the carby appart. (Pg 106-112 of the Owners Manual) and found a large piece of aluminium foil stuck to the float needle valve.
So I completely cleaned everything, as there was traces of a really fine sand in the bottom of the float chamber too.
I also found the float valve was engaging at about 20mm not the 13 recommended, so without a Vernier caliper, used a toothpick & a steel ruler to set this correctly. (Pg 111 of the Manual )

She purrs like a kitten now. Also got my hands on some "Liqui-Moly 4T Fuel System Cleaner" and threw that in the tank for good measure. Thank you to you all for your help.

Whoo Hoo I'm back on the road. :2tup: