john83 Posted October 31, 2011 #1 Posted October 31, 2011 My brother has a 1997 Royal Star. He got a DUI last year and the bike has been sitting since then. This week he got his license back so we started trying to get the bike running. The battery was toast so we replaced that. Next problem was that when we tried to start it fuel was shooting out the carb drain hoses. After a little research we discovered that the floats were probably stuck and the fuel pump was constantly running and overflowing the carbs. I tried tapping on the carbs to unstick the floats. That got the fuel pump to stop sending fuel spewing out the drain hoses and the bike would even start but it wouldn't run. It would idle very rough and I suspect only on one cylinder. I figured that the carbs were probably too gummed up for the thing to run so we pulled those off and cleaned them. I didn't completely break the carbs down. I took enough of the brackets off that I could remove the float bowls. I removed the float bowls and all the jets and cleaned everything up with spray type carb cleaner. The two carbs on the left were pretty filthy, I imagine because the bike was on the kick stand leaning to that side. Once the carbs were cleaned up and reassembled we put them back on and the bike won't start at all. Anybody got any ideas?
Marcarl Posted October 31, 2011 #2 Posted October 31, 2011 The first thing you need to do is to determine if it fuel or ignition related. So, as you crank it over spray some WD40, carb cleaner or maybe even starter fluid into the carbs. If it fires (most likely won't run) then you know you have spark and your problem is fuel related. Try some fresh gas to see if that helps. If it is fuel related though, probably you need to do a better job of cleaning the carbs. You need to do more than just spraying the outsides and throat so to speak. Be prepared to have them on the bench for a day or two.
BradT Posted October 31, 2011 #3 Posted October 31, 2011 Agree with Carl. If you only pulled the floats out then it needs to come apart again and further. could soak them in seafoam but might as well just take them off. Brad
Condor Posted November 1, 2011 #4 Posted November 1, 2011 If you can get it to turn over, and fire, pour a whole can of SeaFoam into a full tank of fresh fuel. See if you can get it to run enough to get the mix through the carb bowls. Then let it sit overnight and see if it'll run a little bit better in the next day. I bet it'll get progressively better. I had an 83VR that sat for over 3 years outside that ran like crap when we first fired it up with the help of carb cleaner in the venturi. Did the SeaFoam and after a couple of days we were riding it.... Gave us enough time to attack the other issues that came with it.
TearlessTom Posted November 7, 2011 #5 Posted November 7, 2011 I agree with all the above but might add you may need to flush your gas tank completely getting rid of the gas and water and rust and what every may be in there and replacing it with fresh fuel. Another thought you may want to check your fuel filter. It may be clogged or fuel of contaminates. Fresh spark plugs are never a bad thing either.
StuD Posted November 7, 2011 #6 Posted November 7, 2011 Kill switch to run position, side stand switch?:canada:
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