[Dave_C]

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I have just got my bike back on the road after 2 months. I broke a timing belt and bent 2 valves but that has been replaced and we are running and I can ride. Now I need to sync all carbs. I was given this bike after almost 2 years of sitting in a garage. Needless to say the gas was not liquid anymore. I had the carbs taken apart and cleaned by a local bike shop but he did not have the tools to sync the carbs. I bought the tools and can not get the carbs synced. The readings are not steady unless I take the rpms up over 2000 RPM and my idle is rough. The timing is set correctly and the gaps (points) are correct. I do not have any poping through the exhaust or intake. Iknow it is running rich and it is difficule to start when cold. Does anyone have any ideas where to start !!!Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

 

[exavid]

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When you say undsteady readings, how does the idle behave, does it idle well at a constant RPM?Unsteady readings can be caused by several things, I'd first look over all the air and vacuum connections to make sure you don't have any vacuum leaks or leaking carb boots. I would be suspicious of the float levels in the carbs, also about how well they were cleaned. You would have to have the carbs thoroughly cleaned including disassembly of the float bowls and valves since that's a guaranteed place for varnish and gum to form. Did the shop to a complete teardown because that's what it's going to take with the amount of crud you mention.

:waving::waving::15red::waving::waving:

 

[Jerryk]

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:whip: If the shop rebuilt the carbs, part of the job should have included the sync. I'm surprise at a motorcycle shop not having a sync tool. Does he have wrenches or just a metric crescent wrench and large hammer? Anyway, take your carb sync tool over to him and have him finish the job. You paid for it unless it was a good buddy and a 6 pack payment. Make sure he did completely disassemble the carbs and clean them. And that he use a complete kit. I bought a kit off the internet and it was 80 buck wasted. The o rings were the wrong size and it just had some very basic stuff. I spent the extra money for Honda kits. Much better. You should of had a bill for 3 to 4 hundred in parts alone if he bought the Honda kits and diaphrams.

You may also what to make sure you changed the bottom o rings on the intake. If you left the old ones on, they may leak.

If you can't go back to the mechanic, then you need to get the book, read it three times and then go at it. You start by synchronizing number 1 cylto number 3. 1 and 3 are your right side cyl. Then you sync number 2 to number 4. Then you play with the carbs, usually number 4 till their all together. While your doing this you will need to adjust your idle to around 950 + or - 100.

Don't let the idle go up too fast or you'll suck mercury into the cly. Then you need to disconnect everything, and go run the bike for a mile to clean it out. I know by experience.

Have fun. :clapper:

Jerry

 

[mag]

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If the bike is running rich, maybe the slow air jets are blocked, or the idle circuit, leading to incomplete carb re/re as mentioned. Ditto that they should synch them for you! Did you re-set the idle mixture screws to factory setting before starting the carb synch? I believe it's 2 turns out from where the screws are lightly seated (stopped), being careful not to overtighten. If they are not turned out to spec, it could cause rough idle/richness. Once they are set to spec, for this year bike, you shouldn't need to adjust them again after carb synch.

Carbs are everything on these bikes for sure, especially if floats are incorrect or float valves/needles stuck causing flooding condition. Do you see any gas leaking at the float bowls?

As for vacuum leak, take some carb cleaner spray or wd-40 and spray around the carb intake boots, top/bottom. If the idle increases when you spray, you have a vacuum leak. Also check that the vacuum advance hose is fitted and in good shape, leading off carb #4 to the carb plenum (main body where all carbs are joined). Could be a leak there too.

Steady readings above 2000rpms would suggest something amiss in the idle mixture or idle circuit methinks.

 

[jackjohn]

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Dave, I have rebuilt the carbs on my 1100 twice for allowing it to set up too long with fuel in them. It is not a quick job but can be done with the help of a manual and a good set of tools. I prefer the Honda manual but I understand the Clymers is also well layed out and provides the needed information. From your description of the problem you may want to at the least check on the work performed by the bike shop before you get much farther along. If the bike won't idle smoothly at 950 RPM then something was missed in the rebuild. Check for vacuum leaks first since this can be done fairly easily as described by Mag. If no leaks are found then pull the carb array off the bike and go to work verifying the rebuild. Cleanliness is paramount in these carbs. All the rubber parts should be new. As Jerryk mentioned you should have had a bill for around $400 for the parts alone. When I did mine, Mother Honda didn't offer kits, I seem to remember O-rings at $4 and $5 each and things went up from there. One thing to check is the Main Jets. There should be a tiny hole through the center of them, if even one is blocked, you won't be able to get it to idle smoothly. The floats must all be set to the same height (15.5 mm on the 1100, I don't know on the 1000).

One thing that comes to mind, Honda doesn't make kits but K&L does and most of the parts in them seem to be good parts. The exception is the float valve and seat. I have two friends that have used these kits and in both cases they had to pull the carb array off again and replace the float valve and seat as they leaked and caused the bike to flood out.

Jack

1982 GL1100I

 

[Dave_C]

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The bill was about $275.00 and I believe he may not have replaced much (just disassembled them and cleaned them out). He specialized in Harleys sohe had his friend do the work. The two carb sync tool from the honda shop never worked properly. I could not discern the mercury levels and they eventually got sucked in to the motor with the idle at900 RPM. I thenwent out and bought 4 vacume gages and am using them. The needles are wildly fluctiatingaround until I reach above 2000 RPM then they settle down and are rock solid.

Should I take the carbs off and tear them down myself? What would be the sequence in checking this problem? I am mechanically inclined and my son also is heavily into car mechanics. Any suggestions on the sequence.

 

[jackjohn]

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The vacuum guages will bounce wildly until you stop down each line. They should have come with some method to do this. Mine came with a thumb valve on each rubber tube similar to the drip adjustment on a medical IV bag. As you stop each line down, the needle will settle down. The trick is if you stop it down too far, the needle just won't move no matter what adjustment you make.