Carburetor Cleaning (How-To)
 

Hello everyone,

I have a question on doing a cleaning of my stock ‘97 883 carburetor. The bike has been sitting indoors for a year and I suspect that there will be gunk from the old gas in the carburetor.

Does anyone have good step-by-step instructions on how to go about doing a quick cleaning of the carburetor? What tools and/or solvents would I need?

More details...
I don't have much time to work on the bike at the place its stored and I have to ride the bike about 50 miles that day. (Because I’m hitching a ride, I need to get it started and home ASAP) After which I can do a more extensive cleaning.

I'm anticipating the worst: (the bike won't start) Do you have any recommendations on what steps I can take to get the bike started?

I have a new battery and I'm planning on draining the tank and adding fresh gas. That's the extent of my planning. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

There could be several things keeping the bike from starting.
Choke (enrichiner knob) not properly operating, or improperly operated.
Plugged fuel line, or no fuel in float bowl (is petcock open?)
Inlet system air leak due to vacuum hose leaking, or disconnected.
Plugged slow jet, or passages.

Check and see what you can find out about the above items. Also do as you said, dump all the old gas, change your plugs, check for spark to make sure your getting fire at the plugs.

If it still won't start try this first (for a quick test)..... drop the bowl, clean it out, pull your jets (main jet & slow jet), make sure they are clean, and put it back together and open the petcock. With the air cleaner off look into the mouth of the carb...when you twist the throttle you should be able to see a stream of fuel squirting into the mouth of the carb.
Also get your self a shop manual & parts manual for your bike. The parts manual will show an exploded view of you carb....good to have when you start putting things back together.
good luck let us know what you find

FBR :cool:

flyboy883,

A simplified answer is, a gasoline engine is a gasoline engine. If it is getting fuel and fire it will run. The possible reasons causing it not fire or get fuel are endless There is a good chance that changing the fuel will be all that is needed to make it run. I would take along spark plugs, and spray carburetor cleaner (don’t get it in your eyes). If you need to take the carburetor apart the spray clean will be very helpful getting in and cleaning the various passages in the carburetor. It is hard to say what tools you will need, but I would take a phillips and flathead screw driver, spark plug socket and ratchet, and a quality multi-tool, at a minimum. Good Luck!