Carbs and Ethanol Questions

[Sundowner]

Hey Kids,
Got a really weird Question for the Tech Guru's here on KR

We here in FL have a 10% ethanol mix in our gas.
The really buggy question is Both Katana's and mom's GZ-250 are having Carb issues (racing, idle is always being adjusted) while my sister and her Husband's Harleys
a 2005 Sportster 1200 with the Evo II engine and a 1998 Dyna Low Rider with The 1340 Evo are having no problems whatsoever. All the Bikes have been ran last year about the same amount of miles. this is a real bugger to me why the Carbs on the Suzuki's are all fouled up but the Harley's are running like champs.

Any Ideas?

[Kreylyn]

Hey Kids,
Got a really weird Question for the Tech Guru's here on KR

We here in FL have a 10% ethanol mix in our gas.
The really buggy question is Both Katana's and mom's GZ-250 are having Carb issues (racing, idle is always being adjusted) while my sister and her Husband's Harleys
a 2005 Sportster 1200 with the Evo II engine and a 1998 Dyna Low Rider with The 1340 Evo are having no problems whatsoever. All the Bikes have been ran last year about the same amount of miles. this is a real bugger to me why the Carbs on the Suzuki's are all fouled up but the Harley's are running like champs.

Any Ideas?

If the carbs are clean, then it's simply a tuning issue. Today's fuel mixtures need different carb settings than old fuels did. It basically means your engines are running leaner than they should, causing the idle and surging issues. Richen it up (jetkits help alot) and you will probably find you have little to no more issues.

Just be aware you have a much shorter shelf life for the fuel when in an open system like on the Kats. Much more than 3 months and your asking for running issues if you don't ride the bike much.

Krey

[steves]

My guess is, it's a difference in carb design.

The first thing I would do is drain the float bowls empty, add some "dry gas" to the tank, shake it up... and then fill the bowls again.

I've been having this issue (mostly with my snowblower) were I get water in the bowl that causes the machine to stall out.