Hey everybody,

I decided to check my carburetor for any varnish after having some power issues on WOT. I pulled the carburetor off and cleaned out the float bowls, floats, float valve / needle, diaphragm,main jet &slowjet. Everything seemed to be pretty clean already but I continued anyways figuring it wouldn't hurt anything. I was wrong =).

After re-installing the carbs the damn bike won't start! I turn the ignition on and I can hear it trying to start but the bike won't turn. So I check all my cables and everything looks good. I then decide to recheck the carbs and find that only float bowl #1 (far left side) had fuel in it and2 through 3 barely have any and # 4 is still dry. After that I assumed I may have clogged one of the jets or air vents internal to the carb so I opened up the carbs and ensured the passages were clear by blowing air through them and feeling for exiting air.

After re-installation it still will not start..

I am not a carb guru but followed instructions posted on how to clean carbs from this forum. Is it normal for only the #1 carb to have fuel in it until started after carb re-installation or should all the carbs have fuel in the float bowls once the petcock valve is opened?

Any input on getting my baby running againwould be greatly appreciated!

 

Another quick question for other f4 owners. When you turn the ignition key to ACC or on, do you hear your fuel pump make noise? Just wondering because when I turn my bike to on I don't believe I hear any sound from the bike at all. I'll recheck it when I get home just to be sure.

 

try some starter fluid. The bowls on the f4 are really hard to "get full" after being emptied.

Try spraying it 4-5 times and it should start to suck some fuel into the adjacent bowls.

 

Sounds good. I'll go ahead and pick some up today after work and give it a shot. Thanks for the input.

I never used starting fluid before so where in the intake system should I spray it? in the air box below the filter, the throttle body, front fairing air vent?

 

I usually give a quick spray into the throttle body.. You do NOT want alot of the stuff.

Just maybe a 1-2 second spray.

 

either it needs starting spray like you said or you might have damaged something in the carbs. If you were scrubbing hard on the diaphragms or sprayed carb cleaner on the diaphragms then they might be ruined. If they're ruined then (I think) there would be no suction to get any fuel in the float bowls, etc.. so check the diaphragms and make sure the needles are straight and clear.

 

Alright, I went ahead tried the starting spray once with no success. I could hear it starting to turn the engine but was not enough to get fuel into the bowls. So I went ahead and disconnected the fuel pump hose than runs to the "T" splitter at the carbs and ran it straight to the fuel tank. Gave it a crank and she ran just fine. I idle'd it out with the stop throttle and throttle response was pretty crisp in comparison to what it was like before just on the kick stand.

Funny thing was, while it was running with direct fuel I could hear the fuel pump thumping away. So I believe I may have a couple of possibilities to why it didnt start.

1. The fuel pump is not pumping strong enough
2. The carb vacuum system may be restricted somewhere
3. I didnt try enough times with the startingfluid to get fuel in the bowls =)
4. Fuel pump relay malfunctioning...

It's dark out now but when I get a chance I am going to hook it back up to the pump and see how she runs. I'm hoping its just possibility #3 =) If I am missing something please let me know.

Thanks brveagle & allenpa5 for helping out!

 

I went through a bunch of headache getting my bike started after a carb cleaning, turns out it was the fuel tank petcock. I had to turn in on and off a few times to get the fuel to run through it. I even went as far as to take it out and clean it, but it was clean, I think there's something in the design that causes the fuel valve to "stick" closed, or I need to replace the petcock all together. Everytime I shut off the fuel, I have to rotate the dial a couple of times on/off/on in order to get the fuel flowing again. Just a thought, your symptoms sounded the same as mine.

 

I had a POS truck that wouldnt start so I took off a fuel line to check the pump and it was squirtin just fine. spent a bunch of time and money trying to diagnose it and it turns out that even though the fuel pump was pumping it was like 10 psi instead of 30 psi .. you get the point. it should be pretty easy to replace and cheap on ebay....good luck and let us know what the end is..

 

Well I hooked it back up to the fuel pump and she still turns on. I still have the bogging issue whenever I open the throttle up wide. I guess maybe my fuel pump could possibly be bad and not providing enough pressure, but I think it is more likely that the carbs need synchronizing. When she idles i can hear a slight pop come out of the exhaust every couple of seconds. It runs around fine at low speed increasesbut as soon as I decide to get on it, it bogs down.

I think I am just going to have it sent to the shop to get a new air filter, valve clearance check and carb sync. The bike has about 43k miles on it!