TrailBlazer
Race Dog
- Joined
- May 3, 2007
- Messages
- 2,947
- Reaction score
- 804
- Location
- Port Elizabeth
- Bike
- Honda XL650V Transalp
Some help from the more learned among us please...
I bought a Chinese cheapie 200 for my missus to learn how to ride, and once she had mastered the trickery involved, I got her a KLE.
Result was that the 200 has now stood for a little over a year.
I have now offered the bike to a family member who is in need of some transport, and hauled the bike out of the workshp over the weekend to get it running again.
When I opened the fuel tap, gas started pouring from the carb overflow.
This didn't seem to be too much of a problem... just a sticky float / needle + seat... or so I thought.
I stripped the carb and checked. The two posts where the float retainer pin goes through, feel sticky, and smeared a grey paste-type substance off on my fingers. I tried tapping the pin out to release the float, but it seemed to be stuck. In addition, the floats felt "heavy".
I put the carb into a bowl of water and the floats lifted, appearing to seal the needle in the seat. I blew into the fuel line, and there were no bubbles coming from down below.
I dried the whole lot with a compressor, re-assembled it and put it back in the bike.
On opening the fuel tap, more gas pee'd out of the overflow.
Questions:
1. What is the sticky grey paste?
2. Is it possible that the water is denser than petrol, and lifted the float, but petrol doesn't have the "density" to lift the float?
3. Should I tap the float retainer pin harder to get it out, or is there some other method I can use?
4. Are aftermarket carbs available, and at what price?
5. Would a bike workshop be able to refurbish this carb, or is it / the whole bike a "throwaway"
Thanks guys... just trying to help a guy here who needs cheap transport for a while, but who doesn't have loads of bucks to buy something better.
I bought a Chinese cheapie 200 for my missus to learn how to ride, and once she had mastered the trickery involved, I got her a KLE.
Result was that the 200 has now stood for a little over a year.
I have now offered the bike to a family member who is in need of some transport, and hauled the bike out of the workshp over the weekend to get it running again.
When I opened the fuel tap, gas started pouring from the carb overflow.
This didn't seem to be too much of a problem... just a sticky float / needle + seat... or so I thought.
I stripped the carb and checked. The two posts where the float retainer pin goes through, feel sticky, and smeared a grey paste-type substance off on my fingers. I tried tapping the pin out to release the float, but it seemed to be stuck. In addition, the floats felt "heavy".
I put the carb into a bowl of water and the floats lifted, appearing to seal the needle in the seat. I blew into the fuel line, and there were no bubbles coming from down below.
I dried the whole lot with a compressor, re-assembled it and put it back in the bike.
On opening the fuel tap, more gas pee'd out of the overflow.
Questions:
1. What is the sticky grey paste?
2. Is it possible that the water is denser than petrol, and lifted the float, but petrol doesn't have the "density" to lift the float?
3. Should I tap the float retainer pin harder to get it out, or is there some other method I can use?
4. Are aftermarket carbs available, and at what price?
5. Would a bike workshop be able to refurbish this carb, or is it / the whole bike a "throwaway"
Thanks guys... just trying to help a guy here who needs cheap transport for a while, but who doesn't have loads of bucks to buy something better.
