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]

Originally Posted by grego

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.