Another Carb issue?

[Motophotog7]

03RX1-

I did manage to get a wire down through the pilot jet, though not a bread tie as has been suggested on here. It was a wire from a wire brush smaller diameter than a bread tie and stiffer too. I can see through the jet there is nothing like what you describe in mine.

 

[Len Todd]

Sorry, I have been busy this week, .... You should be able to get a wire down through it. Although, I have never had to do that. A squirt of carb clear is all I have ever used. But, I suspect if you had something lodged down in there, a wire would be needed.

 

[rxrider]

High idle after running the sled are usually caused by a lean condition in the low end pilot circuitry. Try to go out 1/4 turn on the pilot screws (from 2 out to 2 1/4 turns) or maybe another 1/4 until it stops the high idle. Also at idle with a hot engine blip the throttle, idle should come down almost immediately when the mixture down low is set correctly. Also verify that you have at least 17.5 pilot jets in all 4 carbs, set the pilot screws out 2 turns from lightly seated or more if needed. You may also need to have your carbs syncronized to get performance back.

 

[RedRocket]

I will know tomorrow when I put everything back together if it solves my high idle problem, but the carbs were pretty dirty. Every jet had some gunk in it and every single hole got larger with a good squirt of carb cleaner and 80psi of air to clean and dry. When cleaning, be sure to look through the side holes on the Main Jet Holder and Needle Jet. I missed them the first time through but looked over them before reinstalling and saw they were clogged as well.

Since I stripped the philips head of 4 bowl screws while removing them, I assume this is the first time the carbs have been cleaned. I bought it in 2005 with 750 miles. I will be replacing the philips screws with torx head, hex head, or allen head bolts. Those screws were really on there.

A pic of one of the main jets:
Before:

and After:

 

[rxrider]

Hey that's kinda dirty, I think it will run just fine after the carb cleaning.

 

[RedRocket]

Hey that's kinda dirty, I think it will run just fine after the carb cleaning.

Yup, I got some replacement hex head bolts (4mm x .7 x 10mm) for the bowls instead of those weak philips bolts and put everything back together.

She took a good 30 seconds of cranking (4-5 times cranking for 5-6 seconds at a time) to finally get gas to the carbs and fill them up, but once it started I adjusted the idle to 1500 and it was as smooth as a brand new car. I ran the track for a while and every time I let off the throttle, the rpms dropped right to 1500 and held perfectly.

Of course it's 48F out right now and not getting much colder this week. Hopefully we get some cold weather and more snow soon, I am dieing to go ride now. I wonder how much power I was losing...

 

[Len Todd]

Those were good Pics. I feel confident that you found your problem.

 

[Bob Miller]

Just got back from Maine on my 04 Warrior 12000 miles on the sled, I have 4 TPI valves in the airbox with 165 main jets and this sled runs strong with this combo! For the first time in the 5 years I've owned this sled it started to break up in the mid range and would not come back to idle without blipping the throttle a few times.
I thought the problem might be the 10% ethanol laced gas since I've only been using Quebec straight gas for the past 4 years and this is the first time I'm using this crap, and at the the same time, this is the first time I'm having any problems?
So at first I shut the TPI valves all the way, and with the 165 mains it was running good for a while (Top end was always good, but between 5-7000 RPMs it was sputtering).
The next thing I tried was moving the clip position from the center position to one from the bottom ( a little better) so I moved it all the way to the bottom slot and it was OK but still far from perfect???

So does everybody think that this is a contamination issue, or does it have something to do with this fuel with 10% ethanol?

 

[Len Todd]

If you are asking about fuel contamination, I assume you did not yet examine the jets. (i.e. When you were messing with the clip settings, did you clean out the Pilot Jets? )

It sounds like you may need to clean the Pilot Jets. They are very small and affect mid-range significantly. They also have a tendency to make the sled idle high as it is lean. While you are in the bottom of the carbs, you might want to consider cleaning them all very carefully. Set the pilot screws to 2 turns.

I would put the needle clips back where they were.

Did you drain the bowls while catching the contents to see what came out?

 

[Bob Miller]

I'll be pulling them apart today, and I'll see what I find

 

[Bob Miller]

Pulled the carbs off and took them all apart, they where clean! I pulled all the individual jets and blew compressed air through them,held them up to the light and I could see through them all.
Put the needle clips back to the center position, reinstalled on machine and when it fired up it was running good (Nice and smooth) than after a minute it started sputtering again
I pulled all the sparkplugs and tested the coils for spark, and they where all getting spark!
I then did a compression test: #1 cylinder= 200 psi, #2 = 195 psi, #3 = 210 psi, #4 = 205 psi. I don't think this is too bad?
Could it possibly be the fuel pump? How do I test this, or how do you check it ? Thanks for any feedback

 

[grader]

simple things first. remove and clean all 4 coils with brake cleaner or solvent to remove carbon dust. clean out plug recess where coil sits with rag and compressed air. change plugs. one bad plug can cause problems and you said it ran fine for one minute then sputtered, plug could be breaking down when hot. to check fuel pump remove carb lines and add 2 pieces of fuel line and run ends into a catch can or container, start sled and check for fuel.

 

[Bob Miller]

I'm on it

 

[Bob Miller]

simple things first. remove and clean all 4 coils with brake cleaner or solvent to remove carbon dust. clean out plug recess where coil sits with rag and compressed air. change plugs. one bad plug can cause problems and you said it ran fine for one minute then sputtered, plug could be breaking down when hot. to check fuel pump remove carb lines and add 2 pieces of fuel line and run ends into a catch can or container, start sled and check for fuel.

Cleaned the coils and the plug recess's, new plugs, Still the same! Sounds like its running rough throughout RPM range! Going to check the fuel pumps and possibly drain the fuel tank! Still searching

 

[Len Todd]

Bad fuel should show up in the carbs. You may want to drain the bowls and see what you get. But, draining the tank and starting over is not a bad idea either. However, you may have to clean the carbs again to actually see a difference after draining the tank. Might start by just draining the bowls again. Could put in a good in-line fuel filter.

About the coils, ... you can remove the rubber insulator that goes over the top of the plug (i.e. remove it from the coil) and clean under it. Put a bit of dielectric grease under the insulator and reinstall it on the coil. If there is any arcing, it travels under the insulator. Dielectric grease on the top of the plug won't hurt either.

I once had a Throttle Position Sensor go bad, intermittently. When the intermittent occurred, the FI system went into limp mode and engine was running crappy. Took two years to figure it out, cause it was intermittent.

I once had a stator that was acting up intermittently, when hot. Could measure across the stator coils.