Dare I rebuild my own carbs?

[Heavy Armor]

I pulled the carb bank off my '01 earlier this week (wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, you guys had me worried ). The Seafoam isn't getting me anywhere, still a lot of dying at idle, RPMs surging crazy high when slightly adjusting the choke, sputtering at highway speed, ridiculously low MPG. I'd prefer to just take it somewhere and let a pro handle it, but no one's gotten back to me yet, so I'm considering doing it myself.

Is it that big of a deal? I've looked up the rebuild kits, and they come with very few parts, not even half the junk that my old Goldwing carb kit came with. I don't wanna do anything fancy, just put it back stock. I'm leery of aftermarket kit jets; the ones that came in my GW kit were obviously the wrong internal size. I'm thinking if I can just get some fresh gaskets and jet O-rings, and a set of jet brushes to clean it up, maybe that's all there is to it..?

To those that have tackled a carb rebuild before: are there any surprises I need to know about?

(I apologize if this is covered somewhere in the Tech section, but I didn't see it anywhere)

[Nails]

First off, look at the sparkplugs. Are you obviously running lean or rich? Is the air filter clogged.

I think there's a lot you can do, especially with the carbs in hand. Here's my list, off the top:

- Look for vacuum leaks such as rotten rubber caps on the nipples for synching the carbs, or cracks in the boots. (Problems with not being able to adjust the idle -- jumps between too fast and too slow -- points to a vacuum leak on one or two carbs so that they don't idle together anymore.)
- Look for fuel leaks especially from between the carbs. These fuel lines are interference-fit, and you'll want to replace those O-rings -- requires separating the carbs from the assembly.
- Pop the caps off the carbs and see whether that large piston gasket is cracked. (Handle this rubber pup carefully -- they're pricy.)
- Pop the bottoms off the carbs. Verify that all fuel circuits are unclogged.
- Replace the float valve and adjust the fuel level. This fuel level is critical, and it's hard to adjust right. Honestly, this is probably the hardest part.

And since you're THAT far, unscrew all the jets and everything else you can, and then pop the carbs in an ultrasonic cleaner.

And if you want to just go ahead and rebuild the carbs ... oops, you pretty-much just did. (I'm fond of polishing the piston cylinder and fuel needle with aluminum foil.)

I'm sure others will see things I left out here. And having said all that, there is benefit to having someone do your rebuild who's done this hundreds of times before. There's an element of black art here.

[Heavy Armor]

Yeeeeah none of these kits look like they come with o rings for the fuel lines, only the jet. Most only come with the bowl gasket, new jets with o ring, float valve, and needles. I found one kit that comes with actual floats and one with the big rubber boots.

This definitely sounds like more than I want to fool with. I don't wanna have to pull this thing off again anytime soon because I goofed an adjustment. I'm just ready to frikkin,' ride!

[Nails]

I'm just ready to frikkin,' ride!

I hear that.

Getting the carbs off the bike is about half the battle, but now you can ship them to whoever you pick to do the rebuild. Or at least take them to a local shop and save the cost of them taking the carbs off.

And you can still check a few things off my list if you want. I don't think you'll have any guarantees that you'll never have to take the carbs off again, no matter what you do. But yeah, that's something to avoid fersure.

I didn't use any kits. I just ordered a few rubber/plastic/gasket things by part number, sometimes aftermarket. My float valves were fine, and no reason to mess with the jetting. (I live high enough to justify going down a couple jet sizes, but the whole point is to ride far off this mountain.)

[SgtSlag]

I took my bike to a pro, whom I've used since 2006. He's really good with older, carb'ed bikes. Once he set it up, it was great!

Since then (2010, for the Voyager), I've always used SeaFoam'ed gas over the Winter storage months. Come Spring, the only issue is dry bowls -- the fuel pump only runs when I grind the starter, so it takes a lot of grinding in the Spring, to get it to fire up.

I run SeaFoam in the tank around 1-3 times during the Summer months, just as a precaution. The SeaFoam'ed gas from the Winter storage goes thorugh the carbs, dissolving any varnish that might have accumulated. My routine is the same, every Autumn, for storage prep. I had some leaking O-rings on the fuel rail a couple of years ago. Aside from that, I have not had the carbs worked on since 2010, when I first bought the bike. He replaced all of the fuel rail O-rings for me, at my request -- if one is rotten, others will follow, shortly.

I would suggest getting the fuel rail O-rings replaced now. Don't wait for them to rot, and leak gas into the transmission, or worse. Since you have the carbs out, and they need to be rebuilt, now is the time to do it. Mine is a '93, so my O-rings are mostly around 30 years old.

Best of luck in finding a good mechanic to work on them! When you find one, make sure to note their name and shop name! They are highly prized persons you want to have continued access to. Cheers!

[triton28]

The 6 fuel rail and 4 float chamber vent tee o-rings do NOT come with most kits and will more often than not have to be ordered from a dealership parts department.