New owner question
 

I've been searching on this for a while now, and can't seem to find a close enough post.
I bought a 98 superhawk with 14K on it,

seller only put 800 miles on it in the last 3 years.

Heres my issue, when crusing between 3k & 4K rpms, it starts caughing through the carbs, til I either give it some fuel or let off completly.
I have changed the plugs, (had one that was correct and one that was a mismatch) and changed the oil, I have not had the tank off yet.
Other than that it runs pretty good.

probably need a carb cleaning. But I would try running 3 or 4 tanks through it with some Techron or other good fuel system cleaner to see if that helps. I am lazy that way.

I am having the same problem. I notice it mostly when its cold. I plan on taking the carbs out and cleaning them this week, to see if that fixes it.
If you come up with a solution, please post it, too

+1. i just got my first bottle of Techron. don't need it for the SH, but i'm going to try it on my other bike that is acting up with some hesitations as the air temperature gets warm.

sounds like the bike is stock, so probably doesn't have a badly tuned jet kit to get right.

--fred

Caaaaaaarrrrrbbbbb Faaaaaarrrrrtttttssss
Clean those Carbs!

I have cleaned the carbs on several GS500's ( race bikes believe it or not) and never sync'd the carbs afterwards. Is it necessary to Sync the carbs on the hawk after cleaning?

Is it necessary? No. Will it most likely run much better if you do? Yes

Well since starting this post, I have not been able to run any cleaner through it, due to lack of dry weather.

Also my bike has a set of two brothers pipes on it, other than that its stock.

I gotta believe that we all are getting more of this because of the plummeting gas quality. They are rapidly making the stuff undrinkable for our giant carbs. I have been noticing it more & more on both my hawks and have read about how poor the gas is. I will yank the carbs & clean them but I really believe gas quality is partly to blame.

If you want I think I have some spare cb350 carbs around the shop and you can try to fab something up ;)

There's no doubt that it all is crapping out; higher ethanol, dirtier pumps, what-have you. It's all terrible. I have considered going to the airport for gas because you'd be damn sure it's clean there. And as I might start to work at one that seems pretty good!

Something to bear in mind though, if you're using outdated o-rings, that can cause a lot of problems. I always use viton o-rings and make my own gaskets with viton because it resists all the crap that's in there.

I had to pull off an '86 GSX750R carbs 3x times because the owner didn't wanna cough up for nicer stuff. What's better, spending an extra $15 on o-rings, or $180 labor and $15 parts once you realize it goes to crap soon enough?

+1 on the few tanks deal, it always is nice to get some really fresh gas going through the carbs.

Well, I cleaned the carbs last night.
>The first thing I did was pull all the hoses off the tank, and petcock without labeling them..... hope I go them back on right.
> the next thing I did was take the airbox off, and realized I need to swap out the phillips screws with allen heads ( did that [m4x16]) and washers.
> I pulled the carbs of, and cracked the choke cable plastic thread insert ( where the cable goes into the carb body :cry:)
> I take out the pilot jets, #45. and cant see any light through them. So, I take a sewing needle, and poke out the varnish, and shoot it with brake cleaner until fluid shoots out smoothly :thumbsup:
> I button up the carbs, and take off the lid of the rear carb, and make sure the diaphram isn't ripped. all good.
> do the TPS adjustment ( slotted the rivets with a dremmel, replace with allenheads.) ( was 975 ohms, now 503 ohms)
> put it all back together, and it wont start...... lift the tank and move the vacuum line to the right place on the petcock.
> i took it for a ride, and every time I stop, the idle his at 2k, I reach down, and adjust idle screw. stop again, and the idle is climbing...... what did I do wrong?
I also found that the previous owner didn't put in the exhaust gaskets on his slip-on TBR pipes, so I had air leaking out of the pipe in a few places.
I found the original pipes, and reused the gaskets from the stock set.

Sounds like a vacuum leak.

i bought my '04 last year and it had been sitting for a while. only had 8400 miles. rebuilt the carbs and runs like a hawk!

I finally broke down and took the SH to a race shop. They sync'd the carbs ( and also found my choke cable wasn't seated properly) after paying $75. for the carb sync, it no longer has the carb farts, and I have no problems in the 2-3k rpm range.