stumbling along
Posted: Tue May 17, 2011 9:24 am
I recently developed a problem with the bike stumbling at large throttle
settings or sustained highway speed. The bike starts readily and runs fine
at low speeds, but behaves as if it were running out of gas on
acceleration. I was thinking that something may be obstructing the main jet
so I set about investigating. I drained the float bowl and had some
particles of grit in the drained gasoline. So then I disconnected the
control cables and rotated the carb so that I could drop the float bowl for
inspection. The bowl was clean and the jets were clear and unobstructed.
Then, gravity reared it's evil head. The pin holding the floats fell out
and down into the nether regions of the moto. Dang. So I went exploring.
No luck finding the pin. I did manage to find a nickel-size pebble that had
lodged in the space below the starter motor and from the shine on the pebble
and engine case had been spinning around polishing things as I went down the
road. Still no pin. A KLR is a bit much to turn upside down and shake
until the loose parts fall out. Removed the sprocket cover - not in there.
Dropped the bash plate - nut in there either. Was getting ready to remove
the KLR from the lift when - Eureka! - I found the pin, it had passed all
the way through and rolled to the edge of the lift. With the pin found I
was able to button everything up.
Long story short, the "shortcut" of rotating the carb rather than removing
it turned this project into a major time suck. Oh, and did I mention that I
cracked the plastic where the choke cable enters the carb. Not a good night
in KP's Garage. I still need to test drive the beast to find out if I
solved the problem or just created more problems. Sigh.
--
Kevin Powers
White Bear Lake, MN
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