My girlfriend's itermitten issue
 

My girlfriend is a 2000 superhawk. I bought her in Feb for $1100. She barely ran and was butt ugly (rattle can spray over). After body work, headlight fairing replacement and a Macco paint job, she's sexy. I've been using this forum to get her running right, and I'm almost there. ( I should thank you all for your posts and responses, helped with boil over, carb cleaner, water pump, and getting rid of stupid k&n filter). Anyway onto the issue..
She runs great, pulls hard, only backfires when I come completely off the throttle, but.. Fri I went out 45 min ride, pushed the milage too far and the fuel light came on. 2 miles later with the gasstation in site, it started running like it was only firing on 1 cylinder. Figured it was just low on gas, charged to the station, filled it up (always super), problem solved...
Took it out today, 1 hour out started acting up again. No power like a dead cylinder. Down shifted, felt better, and it went away. Another 20 min. Same ride, starting gettin cruddy again. Down shifted rpm in the 6k range, surging but barely, couldn't get it to iron out, had to hold @3k at stop sign to keep from stalling out. About 2 miles later it cleared up.
I didn't get fuel today, only went about 60miles. I've searched for an answer but found none. Please help my girlfried! And no pvlir I checked 1st

I thought you were going to say "she runs good for three weeks and rough for one". Nevermind.....

Try cleaning the carbs. I had the exact symptoms you describe starting last summer, very intermittent, then several months ago #2 cylinder completely died, and I had to limp it home on 1 cylinder.

After removing the carbs, I found #2 pilot (slow) jet was completely plugged and #1 was barely open. I had to soak the pilot jets in carb spray for about 1/2 hour, then blow them out with compressed air to clean them up. Ran like a champ when I put it back together.

Flush out the tank too, you may have crud in there or rust. Take a look and lt us know whent you see. Petcock might need cleaning too. Many threads on that.

The pet cock Is new, the po had torn up the screen and tried to silicone the gasket in place. I like the idea of cleaning out the tank more then I want to strip down her carbs. Both seem like good possibilities. I've been running seafoam through her but I should clean 'em out anyway....

some of that silicone is probably in your float chambers causing havoc.

+1...nasty stuff, that silicone, when used improperly.

Pull the carbs and clean them, or have someone else do it. Use plenty of carb spray with the little red tube to blow out all orifices, after removing the jets (don't mix them up, do 1 carb at a time and wear eye protection). Then use compressed air to blow out all orifices, since carb spray won't dissolve silicone.

just for fun, check all of your grounds as well to make sure there isn't a loose connection. I've had somewhat similar intermittent power on other bikes due to loose connections

Im heading out to pull her carbs (so sad) but first searching for a good walkthrough/ how to... Would u or more to the point, should I, order a rebuild kit w/ gaskets, or can I get away with just throwing it back together???

The only gaskets involved are the float bowl gaskets. I've had mine off 3 times and completely disassembled twice. I bought a new pair of float bowl gaskets, but the old ones were still good, so the new ones sit in my toolbox. My bike is an '05 with 39,000 miles on it the last time I had the carbs apart, last month.

Be careful with the "choke" cable connections at the carbs, they are plastic. Pull back the 90 degree boot before removing those, much easier. Be patient reinstalling the choke fittings, since the threads are very fine. Also do not overtighten.

If you pull the diaphragms, there are several threads with tips on reinstalling them. Use a small screwdriver to hold the outrageously long spring in position until you get it right up to where the screwdriver must be pulled out. I've never had a problem with this.

And use something like a small screwdriver handle to hold the diaphragm piston partially open, otherwise you'll have a hard time keeping the outer sealing ring on the diaphragm in position when installing the cover.

Have fun.

Ok, removed the carbs. Pulled them off the bike with choke cable still attached.
Pulled off the bowls, found some crud (small bits of unnamed junk) in front bowl. Screwed out "main jet and slow jet." front took some crc to clear, and side holes are still clogged with what I assume is varnish or flashed fuel. I will soak em in seafom over night. I am totally scared to pull the diaphrams, to get to the rest of the innereds. If I havent gone far enough, please tell me now, Im genetically lazy. I will be sooo depressed if I have to repeat steps 1 through 900 to re-remove the carbs, better to know now. I would hate to try to walk some d-bag in a mustang only to have her sputter and prove me a punk.Attachment 27250

notice the carb cleaner and the jose in the background

That should clean any junk out.

Who's Jose?

And the diaphragms don't need to be pulled for cleaning, although you might want to clean the ends of the needles with some carb spray. Just don't blow any carb spray or compressed air in the direction of the diaphragms. Also don't let any carb spray get near the throttle position sensor on the rear carb, since its electronic.

While you are in there... See the two black hoses in between the carbs?

Slide of the two bands, position the hoses so that they point down when the carbs are mounted, slide the bands on again... Then take knife or scissor and cut the ends of the hoses at a 45 degree angle...

The hoses are the breather for the carbs... And as you can see on the photo the end isn't the lowest point, making it possible that any fluid (rain water, gas) will block the hose by sitting in the lowest point of the hose... The 45 degree end also reduces the posibility of surface tension holding water in the hose end...

Tweety, does it make a difference which way the angle is cut? Hard to put in simple text terms, but should the apex (the point) be on the outside, inside... I ask because I know that airflow past the tubes mattters. Thanks.

Duh...I just noticed the Cuervo Gold bottle. Probably about the same proof as the carb spray.

My buddy Jose helps when I need courage. Reinstalled carbs, airbox, fuel tank, then realized I forgot the snorkles. Removed and reinstalled. Started up, ran good 5min. Then ran bad. Took a gearless (shorts n helmet) ride up the block. Seemed to clear out. I'm wainting on dinner for an extended test ride. Oh and I did cut the hoses @ 45 deg. Facing down. Didn't clean her pet cock, it's new and I had installed inline fuel filters. Thanks for the help thus far...... Love this forum

Took it out for about an hour. She runs fantastic! I thought she was quick before but now I feel the front tire pull up while going through the gears. I'm going to have to learn to ease out the clutch while up-shifting, I used to just drop it. Thanks for all the help, it would have taken me weeks of guessing and God only knows how much money in parts.

Been there, done that...got her all buttoned up then looked over at my bench to see the velocity stacks staring at me.

Just make sure the vacuum hose to the petcock is on the "side" port, the port that faces down is a vent, remains open. Many have made that mistake the first time they had the tank off.