Alright guys I know ive heard of problems with the jets and such but my bike just recently has been dying at every stop light. Me and my friends went riding yesterday and every time the bike would be idling it would die. It's always been fine and started and idled right since I bought it literally about 2-3 days ago I put some carb cleaner in the tank and its been acting fussy. What do you think it is? It idles literally at 1 grand or just underneath I was thinking maybe just the idle needs to be raised a little , maybe somehow in the drive or something it loosened up a little giving it less of an idle.

Any help is great appreciated. THanks guys

 

how much carb cleaner did you put in ??? if it's idle is at 1k rpms them turn the thumb screw ... i keep mine set about 1200-1250.

tim

 

Time for a new air filter? balancing of carbs?

Raising the idle while hiding the stalling symptom won't get to the bottom of it

 

FYI : the idle spec is 1200 +/- 100 . RTFM !

tim

 

I take your point trinc

I'm going on the basis that mine happily idles at 9000rpm when warm (at sea level) if pzurek18 is struggling at close to recommended specs then then something is causing it. Higher altitude? Was it stored up by the PO over winter without draining carbs and the carb cleaner could have dislodged some pesky gum?

If it goes away with tweaking the idle then ignore my limey pessimistic guesses...

For reference Service Manual PDF can be downloaded here:
http://www.superhawk996.net/Honda_VT...ice_Manual.pdf
or here:
http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/219618/VT...3_VTR1000F.pdf

 

If it dies at idle, it probably isn't just an adjustment screw. You may need to clean the carbs not with the spay but actually take them off and rebuild them, not guaranteeing anything but may be a good starting point

 

he didn't say it dies at idle... it dies with the idle set too low.
+ he has an unknow quantity of carb cleaner in it.

tim

 

might want to adjust that down a wee bit

 

Ok so ill def turn up the idle a little and your saying if mayeb theres too much carb cleaner in the tank it'll make the bike act fussy. I was very angry at her and worried that shes sick lol shes never acted like this on me before my friends have kawasaki and yamaha they were all giving me a hard time like wow man so much for that honda reliabillity. I think maybe i just need to turn the needle though. thanks for all the suggestions guys i really appreciate it! ill keep ya posted!!

 

Run the carb cleaner out and then see how it runs on a fresh tank of fuel. Turn the idle up a bit in the meantime. Don't start messing with it just yet.

 

9000 idle, thats just a tad high.

Ya man set your idle close to 1200 and go from there

 

alright guys will do thanks for the help!!

 

How many miles/kilometres on the bike? She might just need a new set of spark plugs.

 

Alright guys she still dies, not so much at least but still does once the rpm's drop enough, ive been through one full tank and am workin on the second one now. Well the new problem is she just "hiccups" while idling. i raised the idle to about 1500-1600 rpm's just to make sure it wasnt that but it would still drop to about 1100 and start hiccuping and hiccuping and then sometimes raise back to idle or just die, i have no idea what it is but it's sooooo annoying she runs flawfless while giong, pulls as hard as before just at idle. What can i do to cure her cold??!!?? lol

 

What carb jetting specs do you have?

If you don't know then it is time to find out I think. Sounds like jetting to me.

 

From the cheap or free column.

Check for vacuum leaks along the intake tract.
Make sure that the tube for the vacuum petcock is intact.
Balance the carbs.

Weak vacuum or an imbalance in carb actuation could be masked when the rpm's climb.

My low rpm dying went away when I put Moriwaki pistons and cams in, installed TBR pipes and dyno tuned the beast. But that wasn't in the cheap or free column.

 

Dude, thats like saying you replaced the engine to remove a scratch from the magneto cover, lol.

 

ya im not really sure what my jetting are, i thought they were not stock because i have a micron exhaust from the previous owner but im not entirely sure. I rode it today and it just sits there and you here the little "clunk" from underneath the gas tank contstantly and then just dies, i just dont understand why it happened randomly. but ya shane if its the stock jets you think i need to just get bigger ones? and also sorry to be a squid but can i balance the carbs myself or is that shop work?

 

Idle jets are either clogged or your mixture screws are adjusted too far in. Where do you live? Did you buy the bike at high altitude and live in a low altitude? The backfire through the carbs is from being lean. That's why you have the clunk-die think going on there. A carb sync will help here too.

 

If you do a search on here you will find info on how to do a carb synch. It is not that hard once your bike is set up to do it. Find some threads on it to see if it is something you want to do.

As for the problem, first step is to start checking for things such as dirt or air leaks. If none can be found then the settings may be at fault. Only way to find out what jets are in there is to remove the carbs. Mixture screw settings would be an easy thing to check.

 

thanks for all the help guys, i really appreciate it so your guessing one of the jets is clogged now with the dirt that came undone from the carb cleaner or the its runnning lean. What if i put more carb cleaner to try to clean out the excess dirt? bad idea? good idea? but ya i gotta find a day soon to rip her apart and look at this stuff.

 

Carb cleaner in the fuel is not a good idea.
It swells the rubber o-rings and gaskets and leads to bigger problems.
If you get crap in the pilot jets, theres little recourse than direct physical
cleaning and inspection.

 

Picking up on this thread since my bike has been stalling at idle as well. I removed the PAIR back in August and this problem appeared afterward .... is it possible that the PAIR removal affected fuel/air mixture?

 

Just to chime in with more cheap diagnostics, pull the petcock vacuum line (goes into rear of petcock) and see if there's gas in it...