Just cleaned carbs, still have problems. HELP!

[sboneill]

Ok so I just bought a 2003 Katana 600 recently with about 3800 miles. It ran okay but was fairly sluggish and didnt have the best throttle response. So I tried some seafoam for a few tanks of gas with minimal or no difference. Then I did an oil change yesterday and decided to pull the carbs today. Pulled the carbs and cleaned them. The bike seems to rev at idle better, before it was sluggish and lagging from 3k on down. So i take it out and it stalls out fairly quickly. Then everytime i came to a stop and put it in first gear it would turn off, stall out. Then trying to start it back up i would either have to choke it and rev the hell out of it to get it running/started back up again. It also isnt running well and is slow as well. Any ideas on the problem or what I should do? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. Im ready to give up on this thing.

[PilotC150]

Don't give up, there are quite a few things you can try.

Arsenic would be your best bet for advice on things to check. I'm still a newbie so I don't want to steer you in a wrong direction.

But I can definitely tell you to not give up!

[The CyberPoet]

(1) When you cleaned them, what did you do? What did you disassemble (if anything), etc?

(2) Has the bike ever been down (laid on it's side)?

(3) Do you know whether it has a jetkit or not? If it has an Ivan's and you reset the A/F screws to OEM, it'd act like this; if it has a dynojet brand jetkit, the diaphragm springs that come with that kit are too stiff and should be replaced with stock ones (otherwise it bogs at low RPM's).

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

[arsenic]

what CP said, did you sync the carbs after you had them off? Did ya, did ya, I bet you didn't start there.

[sboneill]

(1) When you cleaned them, what did you do? What did you disassemble (if anything), etc?

(2) Has the bike ever been down (laid on it's side)?

(3) Do you know whether it has a jetkit or not? If it has an Ivan's and you reset the A/F screws to OEM, it'd act like this; if it has a dynojet brand jetkit, the diaphragm springs that come with that kit are too stiff and should be replaced with stock ones (otherwise it bogs at low RPM's).

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

We took off the top and the bottom of the carbs. The circular pieces and the bottom pieces with the floating bowls. We used the carb cleaning spray that i bought at a local bike shop and sprayed them down completely.

The bike was only dropped on its side from a stand still, on the left side, but nothing more than that.

It does not have a jet kit on it that i know of. it looked stock to me.

Thanks a lot for the help, let me know if you need more info.

[dnargsiefil]

Did you take any jets out? Does not sound like it.
I think if it is acting funny in low rpm's you need to pay attention to the pilot jet. That is the jet hiding behind the little rubber plug you get to when taking the float's off.
Look through the jet and take some plastic bristles and clean them good... than spray carb leaner through all the disassembled jets and the passages and make sure it comes out in different locations.

[sboneill]

Did you take any jets out? Does not sound like it.
I think if it is acting funny in low rpm's you need to pay attention to the pilot jet. That is the jet hiding behind the little rubber plug you get to when taking the float's off.
Look through the jet and take some plastic bristles and clean them good... than spray carb leaner through all the disassembled jets and the passages and make sure it comes out in different locations.

Nope, didnt take the jets out. My friend that I was working on it with said that he didnt think that we needed to go that far with it, but maybe we should have. But any reason why it is stalling out at a stop now and acting like this when before they were cleaned that didnt happen?

[dnargsiefil]

Nope, didnt take the jets out. My friend that I was working on it with said that he didnt think that we needed to go that far with it, but maybe we should have. But any reason why it is stalling out at a stop now and acting like this when before they were cleaned that didnt happen?

Just a little bit of crap pulled through makes the difference. Remember there are to carbs really one for the idle and low end and one carb circuit for higher rpm's...
There is a post on the Factory Pro page how to diagnose issues on the carb depending on the rpm and how it behaves

http://www.factorypro.com/tech_tuning_procedures/tuning_carbtune,CV,high_rpm_engines.html

I know you don't have a jet kit in but this gives you some idea, where to look and pay attention...

[sboneill]

Just a little bit of crap pulled through makes the difference. Remember there are to carbs really one for the idle and low end and one carb circuit for higher rpm's...
There is a post on the Factory Pro page how to diagnose issues on the carb depending on the rpm and how it behaves

http://www.factorypro.com/tech_tuning_procedures/tuning_carbtune,CV,high_rpm_engines.html

I know you don't have a jet kit in but this gives you some idea, where to look and pay attention...

Thanks for all the help, I really think this is above and beyond what I should be doing. I think i need to take it somewhere to get work done.

[dnargsiefil]

Thanks for all the help, I really think this is above and beyond what I should be doing. I think i need to take it somewhere to get work done.

If you had the carbs off the bike and got them back on... you were more than 70% there...
To unscrew the jets you just need to be able to use a screw driver, do one at a time (open and close him back up) before opening the next one and keep the jets clean.
Leave the carbs on the rail... it really is not that hard.
I never had a bike before nor am I a mechanic and I got this to work.

Paying $400 for cleaning and another maybe 200 to synch them plus any parts ... well that is hefty...

[Lehbs]

All it takes is time and organization. And take pictures for your reference. It comes in handy when you go to put it back together and something doesn't seem to fit right.

[The CyberPoet]

Q: Did you see any orange-colored paste when you took off the lower portion (float bowls)?

Also, did you check to see that all four float mechanisms (one per carb) moved freely?

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

[rowdyontheroad]

I had a similar problem with my Kat when I first bought it. It sounds like you might have a hole in your diaphram. 2 of my 4 carbs had messed up diaphrams and it had the same symptoms your bike has. Let me know how it turns out.

[sboneill]

Q: Did you see any orange-colored paste when you took off the lower portion (float bowls)?

Also, did you check to see that all four float mechanisms (one per carb) moved freely?

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

Nope, no orange colored paste that I saw. They actually seemed fairly clean, at least to me.

Yea the float mechanisms seemed to move freely and everything seemed ok. I just still dont understand why it is running worse than before i took them out.

I had a similar problem with my Kat when I first bought it. It sounds like you might have a hole in your diaphram. 2 of my 4 carbs had messed up diaphrams and it had the same symptoms your bike has. Let me know how it turns out.

What did you end up doing/how did you fix it? is everything ok now? How can I tell if thats the problem? Thanks.

[dnargsiefil]

You would have to take the top cap of the carbs and remove the diaphram including the needle and spring very careful. Inspect the diaphram for any tears or holes. Make sure it is in nicely in and watch for the o-ring under the vacuum port.
Good this about this is you can do this without taking the carbs off the bike.