A few weeks ago I pulled off my carbs and cleaned them up. The only thing I missed as far as I can tell were the pilot screws.

I've been trying to fire my bike up for two days now and nothing. Nothing until today that is.

I finally pulled off the top of the air box and dribble a little fuel into each carb then cranked her over. Varrrooommm! She goes then sputters out. So I start tracking down the issue. Pulled the tank off and put vacuum on the petcock, nice fuel flow. I then pulled the rest of the air box off so I could get to the fuel line and see if there was fuel in there. Yep! Lots of fuel. I pull the carbs off and pull the fuel bowls off. Yep! Plenty of fuel in the fuel bowls. I'm using fresh high octane pump gas in the tank and my "dribbler".

Soooo, why won't my bike fire when there's plenty of fuel in the fuel bowls? More to the point, why doesn't my bike pick up fuel from the carbs?

I'm quite sure I'm missing something very obvious here. And yes, I was putting vacuum to the petcock with my vacuum pump the whole time while trying to start it. Plenty of fuel, and ignition that works 'cuz I heard it roar a little (man it sounds good too!).

Any ideas?

 

So is the bike starting, but not idling? or is the bike not starting at all anymore?

If the bike starts but doesn't idle, then it could be that the pilot jets are still clogged... the opening on those things are SUPER small, so they clog easily and prevent your bike from idling...

 

Neither starts nor idles.

It only started when I dribbled fuel into the carbs directly. It roared nicely for about a second and died as soon as the fuel burned off. The carbs are getting fuel but for some reason they aren't transferring fuel to the engine. Tomorrow I'm going to look for some obvious vacuum leak. That's all I can come up with right now. Of course I'll perform a more thorough cleaning of the carbs.

 

Right under the intake ports are screws. Usually #2 has a nipple on it for the fuel petcock to pull vacuum from. That might be your leak if your using a pump instead of the engine. It does sound like the carbs really need to be taken apart & cleaned thoroughly. Plugs might be fouled as well.

 

Random question, but when you took your carbs apart and cleaned them, did you mess w/ the a/f screw on the bottom?? i tried tuning mine to be perfect before meeting up for a group ride. It got perfect for a second and would pull on one wheel easily, then she failed and i was pushing her home again. Either the screw was in to far or out to far messing up the ratio, i had to readjust them all to about 2 1/2 turns out then she started right back up.

Also how cold is it where your at?? lol took me 20 minutes to start my bike couple days ago, she's been sitting for like 3 weeks in a shed and its been like 30 degree weather

 

I believe the vacuum line for the petcock is from cylinder #1.

 

Hmm, mine is coming from No. 1. There is a nipple on No. 2 but it is a plug. So I'm not sure.

Very cold. Rarely above 30 usually around 20 or less.

You may be right. Not sure what the one on No. 2 is for and why they didn't put a screw in it like the others.

Also, as a side note, I did take my needles out of the slides this time and all brass parts got the dunk treatment. I noticed each of the needles has a .020" washer under each. Clearly this richens the mixture, perhaps to compensate for the Muzzy can and K&N air filter? Anyway I thought I'd throw that in too. I couldn't find my magnifying glass so I can't tell you for sure what needles and jets I have in there. I'm guessing stock but I wouldn't put any money on it. Oh, I ordered a new set of the rubber boots that go between the carbs and the head too.

Thanks guys. I'll update as I get more info.

 

It doesn't matter which cylinder the hose for the petcock is coming from. The petcock just needs a vacuum source to pull the diaphragm so fuel will flow. Do the needles have slots at the top to move the c-clip higher or lower? Or does it just look like a nail. The washer under the adjustable needles are for half increments of the clip on the aftermarket needles.
This is an aftermarket needle with slots.

This is a stock looking needle

 

No slots. I was wondering about that as others mentioned moving the C clips up or down to different slots. I'm used to that with my old dirt bikes. Nope, they look like nails without slots.

 

If you have the needles that look like nails, then you have stock needles. You will need to identify the needles & jets though.