carb cleaning cost?
 

If I were to take my 98 SuperHawk into a shop for a carb. Cleaning any ideas what the cost sould be . Rough estimTe?

Likely it will cost $300 plus any needed parts.

I only asked ONCE for an estimate to clean carbs, then decided it was time to learn how to clean them for myself.

Why do I expect like 993 responses to this thread...?

Depending on where you are you can track down a riding forum locally and get someone to walk you through it for pizza and beer.

Its not a cake walk and there are a lot of parts if you havent done it. Plus you won't finish all at once & will then have a yard sale of bike parts, of which you will lose the most important ones.

Do you even want to attempt it or just looking to not get robbed?

Hit up a local tech that you trust and offer him cash if he does it on the side, you could most likely get it done for around $150

Cause we're all really, really good at cleaning carbs.

Well lit work bench.
Use quality tools.
Work upon a large, clean towel. (Parts scatter if you don't).
Do only one carb at a time, (to have a reference unit that's whole).
Work with the shop manual open.
Have the new parts beforehand.
Work sober.

The above advice is offered free, the knowledge gleaned by me was tuition paid in frustration, money and feeling like an idiot.

And when you're done you will have joined the ranks of the graybeards who have empirical knowledge that the youngins' and their fuel injection machines will always lack.

Take pictures during the disassembly process! They are great for reassembly.

Who wants to be a millonaire?
 

Phone a friend.;)

I just cleaned mine, there's a little hesitation, hopefully getting carbs synced should cure that, I figured out the diaphragm trick after much frustration (punching the wall several times) when the spring shout out.

what parts are you talking about needing?

I was with you up until the last part. Getting a little buzz slows me down and makes sure I don't rush through things and makes my patience hold out longer.

Then again you might lose some parts in a doritos bag, just take my word for it.

No, I meant a ton of responses due to asker's gender. Sorry, its a forum thing. Nothing against it; she can be as much of a guy as the next guy. Or something.

I was trying to play along... I knew exactly what you meant ;)

Ok, act like I didnt say anything. Act normal.....

@milo2,

Carb cleaning is not the most difficult thing to do. I'm also new to a SH but did it myself a month of two ago. If you have a service manual (it can be found on this forum) it's a thing that can be done pretty easily with standard tools.

Basicaly you:
- Remove the gas tank and air filter (don't worry, the tank won't leak it closes the petcock by itself when no vacuum is supplied by a running engine over the vacuum line).
- Drain the cooling system by releasing the coolant hose (as the carbs are heated by the cooling system). Off-course you have to refill it with new cooling fluid when putting everything back together.
- Remove the carburators which is pretty straightforward

Then you drain any remaining fuel by opening the drain screws, wait for any remaining fuel to evaporate, and take them to i.e. a comfortable table where you can take them appart and clean parts. It's not so difficult as the SH carburators are very large :)

Even when you don't want to take them apart yourself, it will save you quite some money to remove them yourself from the bike. Bring the carburator assembly to a garage and they'll only charge you 2-3 hours of work I suppose. And some new O-rings and other small stuff if they do everything according to the book :D

I only replace o rings/seals when they go bad, which they normally dont. one every off road vechile ive owned in the pst 5 years (which is a lot) i had only 2 carburetors that I had to replace a seal on, which was probably from sitting more than anything

I had never pulled a set of carbs on a bike and after a few threads and a manual reading I dove in. Frosty beverage is a required tool in the process if you want to be a proper forum member. Frustration and cuss words are par for the course. Just be careful and take your time. If you screw something up the people on here are amazing and will help even if they have posted a million times on the same thing. Also, as soon as you get them back together you will have to take them right back apart for some stupid reason. When i took mine apart for a cleaning and needle shim, I put them together and pulled them apart about 8 times haha. Great experience though and now i would never go to a shop.

+1 generally to MrC
I wouldn't worry about draining coolant. As long as the radiator cap is on, the only coolant you'll lose is the small amount in the hose that goes from one float bowl to the other and a negligible amount from the hoses from the water pump and the thermostat.

Honestly, this is too easy to pay someone to do. You need a LONG phillips (number 2), 8 mm socket, 10mm socket and wrench, needle nose pliers, extensions, and ratchet. I was teaching the new owner of my old bike how to tear into it and we had the carbs in hand in 15 minutes WITH me teaching him all the tricks. I really should do a video on this.

It is a fairly easy job though it can be intimidating the first time, more so if all the stock emissions stuff is still there.

The first question would be, where are you located? That way we might be able to get a member close to you to help out.

Also there is no need to drain the coolant (even though the service manual says you do...)

After a few times it is an easy job, like autoteach said ;)