A gremlin took a dump in my

[Lucky]

carbs.

the last week or so the bike was acting like it was dropping a valve in the rear or missing on the rear plug, but everytime i'd test something, it would allways come back to fuel...  the rear plug was sooty and it was sucking gas at an incredible rate.

pulled the carbs again today & found that with the rear top off, when i pushed the accel pump in it would shoot bubbles back into the hole the pump draws fuel into.  ok, the check ball wasn't seating.  played with some carb cleaner & a dental pic..no go. 

decisions.. do i really want to risk drilling the plug out & not being able to seal it up later?  no choice.  if the check ball was stuck open would it be possable that venturi vacuume was pulling fuel past the weight & ball under the nozzle & loading the engine up with fuel?

i held my breath, center punched the plug & put a very small drill bit in my Dremil. after drilling the plug about 3/16th & expecting to go thru, i didn't so i stopped, put a small screw in it, bit down with vice grips and tapped the plug out.

i didn't drill thru because it's not a plug, it's a ball. whew! ok, it'll go in & seal.

not much under it but a little scale.  i put a wire brush bit in the Dremil, cleaned the passage & seat, cleaned the ball off & slightly streched out the spring, put it all back together. sucess! it sprayed without blowing back into the bowl.

i also cleaned out the pilot needle again, looked like more scale, but it's so deep i'm not sure. (a fiber optic light on my mini-mag helps)

hoping that all was the problem i put it all back together & CRAP!! still the same. 

tired, sweaty & ready to hurl my bike i reluctantly pulled the 82's off Cafe & stuck them in.  ran great, a little synqing & fine tuning & she purrs.  well, the releaf is that it's not a valve problem & i can get to work tomorrow.

now, what to do about the freaking mystery problem on the 83's next time i have a day off (it's all i've been doing on my days off for a month, & 3 days on my vacation.)  on a whim while cleaning up, i started blowing thru passages with my mity-vac & lo & behold, the rear pilot air jet wouldn't blow!  alternating between blowing & sucking (shuddup) i now have some movemet between the pickup casting & the bowl port.  there is an oriface at the bottom of that well.  i slowly filled the well with carb cleaner to allow it to soak & THINK i might have seen some gasket scrapings float to the top...

maybe tomorrow i'll drop some carb dip in the well & let it sit a day or two..

hmmmph! some carb guru!...

--Lucky

[YellowJacket!]

You absolutely amaze me with your process of troubleshooting.  I would have pulled a tiff on it a long time ago - Sledgehammer - (to borrow an expression from tiffinator)  ;D

David

[Lucky]

I FRIKIN FOUND IT!!!!

i went out for a smoke & went into the shop to blow thru the passage some more, seemed better, so i put it back together, i figured i'd see if it was as 'free' with the air as the ft carb.

still blocked solid! WTF???

i tried to blow thru just the air hornpilot air jet (with the airhorn off) & still blocked.  now i know the jet's not plugged, i had it off.  the passage from the jet goes in the airhorn & makes a 90 degree turn.  looking under the airhorn at the passage i didn't see anything untill i put the fiber optic maglite on it.  what do i see?

ORANGE! Freakin mud dauber got in there & blocked the pilot air passage solid! a straight dental pick & carb cleaner gave me a blast of orange mud out the passage...

put it all back together and did the pressure test again, now free & clear.

my carb cleaning suppliments will now include injector cleaner & RAID!!!

of course i still won't believe that's the problem till i have a chance to mount the carbs again...

--Lucky

[h2olawyer]

Sounds like more of a "YellowJacket" type gremlin to me.   :D

Glad you found it & got it worked out.  Amazing where those critters can find to make a home.

H₂O

[Lucky]

I was starting to feel like Tommy Lee Jones in "Under Seige" (i don't care for Steven Seagal, but TLJ is one of the coolest actors!) when he's standing under the 5" gun when it went off & started babling "Looney Tunes"...

Where's the crazy icon?

[YellowJacket!]

Sounds like more of a "YellowJacket" type gremlin to me.   :D

Glad you found it & got it worked out.  Amazing where those critters can find to make a home.

H₂O

LOL!
Hey Lucky, it was getting its revenge from the nest that you knocked off my sawzall case!  ;D  :o

H2O's right...them little buggers are a pain down here.  I had one in each of my weep holes, my breather vents, handle bars, frame, etc.

Wonder now if I have the same problem with MY carb....

David

[Rick G]

Hey Lucky , better clean up your language!  This is a family site!!  Sorry couldn't resist! ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;)

[Lucky]

i DID clean it up, you shoulda heard what my family heard for the last 3 weeks & especially today! lol

[h2olawyer]

You must have finally found the right combination of words to allow you to find the gremlin.   :D

H₂O