I've lost a hose...

[Wil]

It seems I've somehow lost a hose during the last few days, I've only just noticed however. I believe it was connected to the carbs, no idea what it does, and it routed down under the bike and poked out by the exhaust. It looked like the end was sealed, so I think it may be some kind of vacuum tube or something. Anyway, what effect is this likely to have? I've noticed yesterday it was fine out on the open road but prone to stalling at low revs.

[BarMatt80]

if it is the sealed hose, then it goes to the bottom of the air box. it will cause the problems you state. messing up the vacuum of the engine and then messing up how the engine meters fuel. It is a drain for oil, gas or whatever gets in the air box. get ya another and plug it as soon as possible.

[Wil]

Can I plug it with anything else as a temporary measure, or will that be a bad idea?

[ZukiFred]

if it is the sealed hose, then it goes to the bottom of the air box. it will cause the problems you state. messing up the vacuum of the engine and then messing up how the engine meters fuel. It is a drain for oil, gas or whatever gets in the air box. get ya another and plug it as soon as possible.

+1
I agree with BarMatt on this one.

as long as it is pluged it will be fine.

[Wil]

Well, all I had to plug it with was an old foam earplug the dog had chewed (didn't particularly want to put it back in my ear!). No idea how long it will stay in there, but I started her up and the idle was totally smooth at around 1.2k rpm. Before it was up and down between 1k and 2.5k rpm, and when I'd pull up on my drive it would just drop and stall for no reason, so hopefully that will be fixed too. The idle has been funny for a while, even when the tube was still on the bike, so I guess it may have worked loose some time ago and just not dropped off the bike until now.

Thanks guys!

[Londob5]

To quote other Katriders....

[BarMatt80]

just be carefull it does not get sucked into the engine. any plug is fine, as you have found, the hose just makes it easier to drain.

I use some thread protectors i think they call them when blocking off items on my bike.