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From: A. F. Cano on 3 Dec 2009 21:08 In article <84ae5990-4737-4834-a63a-9805ef9532c8(a)n35g2000yqm.googlegroups.com>, Mack the Knife <bulldog101750(a)yahoo.com> wrote: >On Nov 27, 7:54�pm, Billy <goeds...(a)gmail.com> wrote: >... I have a 2000 Vstar 650. I had weird starting problems that manifested themselves mostly in colder weather. Went through all kinds of tests and finally stumbled on the solution: There are a couple of large (in Amps) fuses under the seat, on the right side, under the plastic cover. One of those was very loose, not making good contact. I wrapped the terminals in aluminum foil paper for a snug fit and reinserted it. Problem gone. My symptoms were not only not starting, but sometimes in colder weather, while running at random speeds, the engine would just die, like the spark plugs were unplugged all of the sudden. On suck occasions, kicking the right panel with your heel would cause enough of a vibration that electrical continuity would be reestablished and the engine would run again. It would be interesting if your problem is caused by the same thing (loose fuses). A.
From: โอม มณี ปัทเม หุม on 4 Dec 2009 08:36 On Nov 30, 8:07 pm, Mack the Knife <bulldog101...(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > It goes along with the fact that you always get a gas smell > after trying to start it, as if it's flooding. That ought to tell > someone in the know something. This problem, whatever it is, is probably not electrical at all, it's probably a carburetor problem, combined with a lack of understanding of how constant vacuum carbs work. Maybe you have a sticky/leaky float valve on one carb. I know that my Yamaha FZR1000 has at least one sticky/leaky float valve because of the backfires when I start the engine the first time in the spring and also when roll off the throttle the first few rides of the year. I live in an area where the temperature gets up to 100 degrees every day for half the year, and the other half the year it's cold and foggy and riding is no fun at all. So my carbs plug up if I don't ride for a few months. I add fuel stabilizer to the gasoline before storing the bike for the winter and I also add about five ounces of Berryman B12 Choke and Carburetor Cleaner to a full tank of gasoline every spring. B12 contains solvents like acetone, toluene, methyl ethyl ketone and xylene which dissolve gum and varnish quickly. But I will often hear one or two really loud and scary backfires when trying to start the engine for the first time. And I get the smell of unburned gasoline, but nothing runs out the float bowl overflow hose. (If a backfire actually causes the engine to rotate backwards a fraction of a turn, this can jam up the starter clutch and that would be a major disaster for my engine, because the starter clutch is buried deep inside the engine and I would need to remove the engine and split the crankcases to repair it. Your starter clutch is much more accessible.) Berryman B12 comes in both liquid and aerosol cans so it can either be added to the fuel directly or used to clean out the jets and passage directly. Your carburetors probably have a small hole in the intake bellmouth, and, if you squirt B12 (or GumOut or STP or other clear carburetor cleaner) down the smaller of the two holes, that will clean out the idle mixture circuit. The larger of the two holes in the intake is the "choke". Actually you don't have a flat plate type choke like a car's carburetor used to have. The cold starting enrichener circuit has a little valve that allows air to bypass the throttle butterfly and the air rushing through the air passage sucks gasoline directly out of the float bowl. When you start an engine that is equipped with a cold starting enrichener, the drill is to move the "choke" lever or knob to the full on position and leave the throttle twist grip alone and push the starter button until the engine acts like it wants to start. Then you can help the start by twisting the throttle grip a little bit. What you're actually doing when you twist the throttle is adding AIR to the excessively rich mixture, so it's not surprising that you smell raw gasoline for that reason. An old trick to starting a stubborn engine is to turn the master idle speed control knob all the way counterclockwise until the throttle butterflies are completely closed. When you crank the engine with the electric starter you get MORE engine vacuum to suck fuel through the idle jets and passages and through the cold starting enrichener because the throttle butterflies are fully closed. Then, when the engine starts, you can twist the throttle and hold it open until the engine warms up and then you can turn the master idle knob clockwise to adjust the idle speed to normal. There's another thing to understand about the smell of unburned gasoline after starting. The engine needs a rich fuel air ratio to start, and if the carbs are plugged up (or a float valve is stuck shut) the affected cylinder will only fire every eighth stroke (four turns of the crankshaft) instead of every fourth stroke (two turns of the crank) and it will blow unburned gasoline out the exhaust pipe.
From: โอม มณี ปัทเม หุม on 7 Dec 2009 08:44 On Dec 7, 2:27 am, beatyerbrainsout <bill_bone...(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > This was always the way to adjust float levels on various vehicles > I've maintained in the past but for this bike you need a special tool to > measure the actual fuel level, according to the manual I've got. You can probably make a fuel level tool out of a piece of clear plastic tubing and some kind of home made adapter that can be screw into the float bowl drain screw. The recommended fuel level is probably around 1.0 ~ 1.5 mm below the float bowl gasket surface. > Will keep trying, eventually will stumble upon the cause or > causes of the current problem, and will post them here. Thanks for > your help. Have you tried the old trick of turning the idle speed all the way down? Just turn the master idle screw (or two idle speed screws if the carbs aren't interconnected) all the way counterclockwise to close the throttle butterflies and make the engine vacuum high enough to suck fuel out of the float bowls. That old trick goes back to the days of British 500cc thumpers...
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