A few issues after putting it back together.

[wraith0078]

Okay, awhile back my bike started to die at idle. Long story short, two of my pilot screws had backed out and fallen out altogether, one was far enough out it was about to fall out and the fourth seemed relatively okay. I purchased replacement screws, springs, washers and o-rings and put everything back together. Now I'm having some other issues.

1. It's running really rich. I open the throttle a bit and a nice cloud of black smoke comes out of the tailpipe. I'm guessing this has something to do with the pilot screws, since that's all that changed. I thought I had them at 2.5 turns out, but maybe they didn't get screwed in all the way.

2. The idle's fubar somehow. I'll rev it from idle (approximately 1500RPM or so) and it'll rev just fine, then drop back and stay at 3000RPM for about 30 seconds or so, then drop down to around 1200RPM.

My mechanical abilities aren't all that great and I'm getting frustrated. Any ideas what could be causing these two issues, or do I give up and take to the shop?

[kevin2502000]

Did you clean the carbs when u had them off? If you had 2 missing screws I'm sure it sucked in some dirt.

[Kfreak]

Isn't the hanging idle the sign of a vac leak? Check your air box to make sure the boots are on the right way, especially the center two.

[kevin2502000]

1. It's running really rich. I open the throttle a bit and a nice cloud of black smoke comes out of the tailpipe. I'm guessing this has something to do with the pilot screws, since that's all that changed. I thought I had them at 2.5 turns out, but maybe they didn't get screwed in all the way.

?

Rich means the opposite of lean. Rich means not ENOUGH air in the fuel/air mixture. If it was running lean you certainly wouldn't expect black smoke coming out of the exhaust. I would clean the carbs really good and then do a synch. When you turn your choke on notice how it revs the engine up? That is a rich condition. I think you are correct, it's running rich. Check float heights and needle and seats.

[Kfreak]

Just going on past experience with my bike. My Idle was hanging at 3000 rpm's after bliping the throttle. Would drop back to 1200. It was the center boot's on the air box not seated right onto the carb's.

[kevin2502000]

I also had a weird experience once after taking off my carbs. Just by sure coincidence by cable had decided to fray and would hang up not letting the throttle close all the way but would idle down eventually probably more by the vibration slowly pulling it closed. I didn't feel anything different at the hand grip, it was the last 1/16" of the pull. Might be wise to check your cable routing and make sure it isn't pinched somewhere not letting the throttle close smoothly.

[arsenic]

Rich means the opposite of lean. Lean means not ENOUGH air in the fuel/air mixture. If it was running lean you certainly wouldn't expect black smoke coming out of the exhaust. I would clean the carbs really good and then do a synch. When you turn your choke on notice how it revs the engine up? That is a rich condition. I think you are correct, it's running rich. Check float heights and needle and seats.

are you drunk? lean means not enough FUEL, too much AIR.

[kevin2502000]

I wish I WAS drunk, unfortunately I'm at work. Thanks for catching that btw.

[scottynoface]

Hanging idle indicates a vacuum leak or an excessive lean condition.

The black smoke, well the smoke is from fuel, question is why are you dumping so much. Stuck float maybe?

[kevin2502000]

It can't be running lean and burning too much fuel at the same time, too much fuel means rich. It could be rich AND have a vacuum leak though.....

[Wild-Bill]

There's LOTS of places to develop a vacuum leak. Start chasing them down. I've been chasing vacuum leaks for a while now and I think I've finally got all of them. It took some time but it's worth it to have a smooth-running bike. Put your patient face on and get your hands dirty.