Hey all, first off, nice informative site here! Picked up a 96 F3 with around 20k miles last year and rode it about 3K miles trouble free. Love the bike, soooo much better than my old FZR I formerly rode.
Heres the issue, the bike starts right up and runs and idles great. It free-revs in neutral perfect all day long. It seems to rip in first gear hard and clean to redline. When I shift into 2nd gear the bike won't run above half throttle, (not sure exact RPM cause the tach doesn't work, will search for a fix later) and from any gear higher, 3rd or up, forget about it. The bike doesn't run at all. I can pull in the clutch when in a higher gear and it doesn't free-rev. Then eventually I can slow, downshift back into neutral or first and it rips again. What?
Thanks in advance for helping out a newby.

 

Could be 3 things right off the bat..
#1. Fuel pump not working
#2. Clogged jets
#3. air solenoid valve is not working

I'd start with 1 & 3 because they are simple checks and simple fixes. To check fuel pump, you can just put your hand on it when you start the bike and you should feel some kicking. If not you might want to follow Idodirt's pump repair - https://cbrforum.com/forum/stickies-91/how-repair-your-f3-fuel-pump-102151/

As far as the air solenoid valve, it may be rusted shut like mine was. I could hammer the throttle in 1st, but all other gears it just sputtered and tried to die. Since the valve controls pressure/air flow between the carbs, it may be restricting the needed air. Easiest check is to just unplug it from the harness. If it'll accelerate lots better in all gears, that's the problem and you can take it apart and clean it or buy a cheap Ebay one.

Should be on the right side near clutch..


The connectors can be a pain for people that have never un-done them.. Took me quite a while and lots of frustration to figure it out lol.. Just simply lift the little tab on the inside up and pull them apart while keeping it up. No need to shove sharp tools into the side to try to get the little bumped edges to go in.. You'll see what I mean.


After you do all that, you'll prob want to check carbs.. I'm not too good at that so I'm hoping someone else will chime in on that and/or suggest something else.

Good luck!

Oh! Welcome to the forum!

 

Well i just had the same problem with mine. If you the hoses and mini air filters off of the air solenoid, make sure that the filters are all in the right way, air blows through them the way the air is suppose to flow, and that the hoses are hooked up right. I checked that today and my bike is running great now.

 

as for carb cleaning
http://www.musclecross.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=113