Had to make the decision about plugged carb jets.
 

Well after my 95 CBR1000F started running rough and just about only running on the choke, I suspected that it was time for a full carb cleaning service. Although I had done most all the work on my bike myself, the task of disassembly and removing the carb bank seemed like a
bad dream about to happen. I did call a few reputable repair shops in town including the local Honda dealers who wanted nothing to do with my bike due to its age they said. The only place that did offer to do the service wanted about $1100 or more to do the job. Not only the silly cost of this but the thought of some rookie mechanic trying to tear down one of these complicated assemblies gave me the jitters just thinking about what condition it would be returned in. So I made the plunge and dived right in. First thing remove all side panels, seat, lower side fairings. Second, remove fuel tank, disconnect fuel sensor wire plug, and disconnect fuel line and engine vacuum line from petcock. After removing fuel tank, remove petcock and drain all old fuel. Next the fun part , disconnect choke and throttle cables from carb
assembly, and breather hoses from air box and valve cover. Unbolt air box from frame and remove air filter lid and old air filter, this required some moving of the breather hoses and wire harness to acomodate as the spaces are tight around the air box. I also did remove the fuel tank overflow catcher and hose from the bracket at front of the air box. Once the airbox is loose just pull it back as far as possible and fix with a bungy cord to hold it. Of course loosen all four clamps on your airbox to carb boots first. Then loosen all four clamps on your engine to carb boots these may be tight but using a wooden stick you can pry each side of the carbs gently until they pop off. After loosening both sides of the carbs push downwards on the assembly and it will come loose. You can then get your carbs on a work bench to start the cleaning process. The whole process gets a bit boring from here but essentially I found that the idle jets are always the problem most commonly found as they plug up with gunk rather easily with such tiny openings. I removed all the floats, main and slow jets, ran brass wire through each jet until all were clean. The reassembly was a bit challenging but not nearly as bad as it was in the dream. Anyways I saved a chunk of change and I know that other owners of this bike have been in the same situation so do not fear!!!!!
After removing and examining each jet, I made sure they were clear, and blew out with compressed air, before thoroughly soaking all parts in a carb cleaning solution basket/can. I can say this, be very careful when you remove the pistons/needles rubber bladder assemblies as they are very delicate and extremely tricky to get back in place with the spring getting lined up and keeping the gasket edges in place at the same time.
To make a long story short, after reassembling everything, I refueled the tank with 1 gallon of gas just to check for leaks, fortunately there were none. After a couple of starts to get the new gas to the carbs it fired right up, what a difference, no choke necessary at all and running smoother than ever. I readjusted the throttle stop to around 900 rpm's on the idle or so which seemed to be just right. So next step: Test Ride

Well done for having a go yourself, I am dreading the day that my 93 needs this done, hearing others taking on the job gives me hope!

Yes, here's to you for attempting and completing that procedure. Guy I bought my '87 1000f from had same problem. Spent $950 at local dealer for work. All grades of fuel here in North East U.S. contain methanol. He never ran gasoline again. Only 108 octane race fuel, which I also run. ( Bike has mods ) pricey, but bike isn't ridden much, is garage queen. On my daily rider ( 1983 CB 1000c ) I've put a couple ounces seafoam in every tank or two. Never had carb issues.. 8yrs. You can also look up the ingredients of Seafoam on line , and mix your own for pennies. Just thought I'd throw my 2 cents in. ( Bad, I know ) . Again...good job.

My mistake......ethynol not metynol in fuel

A coworker has offered to help me with mine, he like wrenching like this so why not? I could do it myself but two heads are better than one, so we're going to make a day of it and take the plunge.

Question, any issues with the float bowl gaskets? If my slides feel smooth I may just leave them alone and tackle only the bottom half. Last carb I did the upper half was fine, only the bottom end needed thorough cleaning.

Just ran some Seafoam through mine but doing the carbs will be the next step. Got a sync kit also so that should be fun.

Raz

On my carb clean I did make sure all the bowl gaskets were limber not dry or cracked, and took some very fine steel wool and rubbed the surfaces smooth and clear of any remaining gunk, then dropped the bowl covers in the cleaning basket to soak for a bit. As I mentioned before the trickiest part was lining up the edges of the diaphragms in the edges of the carb bowl and trying to line up the springs at the same time. It took several attempts to get this right but use a little trick of holding the compressed spring down in place with a small tongue depresser while closing the bowl lid. Hope you get good results, Gary