anyone willing to help?

**Pharaoh** · 10-29-2007, 10:59 AM

I need to clean my carbs but have never done it before. I know that it should be 'easy' but would really perfer to have someone with me who has done it before. I also have another problem. I am not sure if I am allowed to do something like this in my building or not (we will try anyway).

I am located in Mississauga and ride a 2000 Yamaha R1.

**Pharaoh** · 10-29-2007, 11:01 AM

I will pick up everything that we need and beer and wings after the job is done

**egypt_rider** · 10-29-2007, 11:11 AM

when are u planning on doing this?

**Pharaoh** · 10-29-2007, 11:16 AM

when ever is good for you!

**toastman** · 10-29-2007, 05:10 PM

does the bike run currently?

**Pharaoh** · 10-30-2007, 08:26 AM

Yes, the bike runs currently. I know that the carbs need cleaning just from monitoring my fuel economy over the summer!

**skip** · 10-30-2007, 09:24 AM

thats not always just the carbs needing a cleaning. when was the air filter replaced? have you had the carbs just balanced?

**toastman** · 10-30-2007, 10:08 AM

If the bike runs then put a can of seafoam in the tank and ride it - taking the carbs out to clean is a waste of time in your case

**Pharaoh** · 10-30-2007, 10:39 AM

Where can I buy Seafoam??? I've been looking for it for a while!

I will be cleaning the air filter too, I just can't seem to get the steering damper off

**toastman** · 10-30-2007, 10:53 AM

Platinum Powersports has it

**Pharaoh** · 10-30-2007, 11:15 AM

I found a Part Source store that has it. He says that I should pull the vacuum line off of the carbs and feed it in through there.

**Pharaoh** · 10-30-2007, 11:15 AM

Ho do I do that???

**toastman** · 10-30-2007, 12:55 PM

just put it in the tank and ride it

**Pharaoh** · 10-30-2007, 01:55 PM

So I shouldn't do the whole carb. thing (where I feed the seafoam directly into the carbs)?

**toastman** · 10-30-2007, 02:40 PM

it's not required
Put the stuff in the tank and ride it

**Pharaoh** · 10-30-2007, 02:49 PM

ok...cool!

I'll go pick up a bottle toady and use it in the tank (the weather is good enough for me to go out with the bike for a while). Should I also put some in the crankcase?

Can it also be used as a fuel stabilizer in the winter?

**toastman** · 10-30-2007, 02:53 PM

no to the crankcase
yes to use as stabil

**Pharaoh** · 10-30-2007, 02:58 PM

just out of curiosity...to use it directly into the carbs...do I have to remove the gas tank or is there some workaround???

**oomis** · 10-31-2007, 11:33 AM

I'm confused as to why you think it's your carbs that are affecting your fuel economy. If you had problems with your carbs, you'd see it in other ways, namely stumbling, power dropoff, stalling and difficulty starting. If you have none of these issues, you may see a slight benefit from cleaning your carbs (it never hurts and always helps) but it probably won't have a drastic effect.

However...

There are 3 things you should be doing to your carbs if you want them clean and set up right.

The first is clean them, and Seafoam is your best bet if you're not removing them from the bike and disassembling them. There are two ways that you can clean using Seafoam; a hard treatment and a regular treatment. When carbs are really bad, I recommend doing a hard treatment first, then a regular treatment.

You don't apply Seafoam directly to the carbs, that's not how it works. As far as the advice that suggested putting it through the vacuum intake, I wouldn't take advice from a PartSource employee. *shrug*

Drain all of your gas except for a few litres. Add a WHOLE can of Seafoam into the tank, so that the concentration of Seafoam to gas is really high. Run your bike. It will run like crap, you'll probably see smoke out of the exhaust, it will want to stall, but run it for a couple of minutes to make sure that the gas/seafoam gets into the float bowls and passageways of your carbs. Let it sit overnight to soak.

The next day start drain the float bowls and the gas tank to get rid of as much of it as you can (there shouldn't be that much left). Fill up with fresh gas and add another whole can of Seafoam. This time, because the concentration is less, you can just ride your bike. It will probably still not run perfectly, and you'll be wondering why it is you took the advice of some idiots on the internet.

The reason it's not running right at this point is because your carbs now have to be synched and the fuel / air mixture set.

I do this myself once / year (not the hard treatment, I don't let my bike sit for that long) and I use these tools

http://www.carbtune.com/ to synch the carbs and
http://www.carbtune.com/colortune.html to set the fuel / air mixture.

If you don't feel like investing in the tools to do the job, just take it to a shop. It is, however, a job you should be able to do yourself.