Haha when my wife started to complain i said "babe it can be one of 2 ways! Me leaving my stuff around till ican fix it OR i can go drop it off at the dealer and pay 700 bucks to get it totally fixed But if i do that then you wont be able to do as much shopping when i take leave next month. Now which would you prefer?"

That got her to shut up for the 3 days i needed. lol But boy did she shop when we took leave. haha

Try it but be warned that it may backfire or not go as well as mine did. It only happened to work for me cause she knew i was planning on letting her shop.

 

Haha nice bargaining skills. I noticed you said leave, you military?

Anyway, I'm convinced i missed something on the spark plugs cuz the carbs are clean. She wants to start when I give her gas, so I'm thinking maybe one or 2 sparkplugs are out, and that + a f%##ed up sync are the issues right now.

Is gettin the plugs from the side at those little access panels the easiest way? I've seen talk about coming in from the top, do you have to rip out that big rubber flap thing? I messed with it a bit today but didn't feel like disconnecting the coils.

Oh and Fenatic, I picked up some seafoam as suggested. gave the valves a good coating but can't really let em soak prolly til this weekend. But even with what i did I could see carbon buildup coming off them. Stuff is potent! thanks for the suggestion.

 

put some fuel in a bottle (cleaned with gas sprite bottle will do) and pour a lil bit in each carb directly in the top. Now you know you got fuel in all the carbs. If it has spark then it should try to start. Make sure all the spark plug wires are on the spark plug good.

 

Ya im in the airforce.

I told you sea foam is great. With my new bike i run two tanks with sea foam before my oil change. Just to make sure my baby stays clean.

I cant remember if you said you tested all the plugs by themselves but if you havent then thats a must. Might as well go and replace the plugs if you havent already. As far as ease of access i think that is the easiest way. I dont have my F2 anymore or else i would go and look to see if there were an easier route.

 

Yeah I'm gonna pull them all again today if I have time and recheck em. The wires look brand new and the guy I bought it from said he changed the plugs and wires early this season, so I'm gonna try to just clean off carbon buildup if they all check out good.

As far as my leaky tank is concerned, I located the hole in the breather tube. all efforts to close said hole have failed, so I guess it's on to the KBS system.

 

Well.. All plugs and wires are good, gaps are good, poured some fuel into carbs to no avail. It's getting cold here so I'm sure that's playing into the problems, but I'm at a loss. It's getting fuel from the tank (unless the valve is screwed and it's only letting some fuel come thru) so next thing I'm gonna check is compression. I rented a compression tester, then realized the threads are the wrong size so I have to take it back and see if they have one that will fit. If not, guess I'll have to buy one.

gonna nominalize the pilot screws? (I think thats the right term) this weekend, is it 2 1/2 turns from bottomed out? I think I saw someone say that. Any other suggestions are appreciated.

 

You said the plugs and wires are good. This means each plug/wire combo was tested by grounding out to the frame and showing a nice fat blue/white spark. When you had the carbs out, you cleaned out the bowls and took out all the jets, cleaned them and blew out all passages in the carb. You can check the carb sync visually by looking at the butterflys in the carb throat. They should all be open the same. Some guys set them with a feeler gauge. The adjustment screws are in between the carbs and must be set in specific way. They are easy to get out of wack.

Once that is all done, if pouring gas down the throats did't work, I would try spray starting fluid (ether). I've had good luck getting hard to start engines going with it. I also invested in a remote fuel tank (hangs from above the bike) as working with the tank on or near the bike makes access tough.

Even if the carbs are still plugged up, the bike should fire with fuel put in the throats. Keeping it running is another story sometimes. Air, fuel, spark.

Saw the pics of your bike. It looks in great shape.

 

+1 make sure you have a blue spark and not an orange spark. If you have a blue spark then your coils are good so that wouldnt be the problem. Is the idle screw in the right place? Did you use the choke after your put a LITTLE bit of fuel in the throats. To much aint good. Try it a few times.

 

The bike ALMOST starts when the choke handle is down, which is choke off right? She'll stutter for a few seconds while cranking but just won't start. She doesn't even do that with the choke on. Still need to check compression. What should I set the pilot screws to for a good starting point?

 

49 state pilot screws are 2 1/8 turns out unless you are at high altitude, then 1/4 to 1/2 turn in. California bikes are 2 3/4 turns out (1991). When you say down, it is actually pushed forward (if sitting on bike) to the off choke position. If it is almost starting without the choke it sounds like too much gas. Check the choke cable to the carbs and make sure that it has the right amount of play. I usually clamp mine with the groove on the cable end flush with the clamp edge.