85 450GL carb question

[Guest]

So per the Clymers manual I guess my carbs are sealed and non adjustable from the factory? Might be mistaken in how I read that. Anyway, there is a big plastic screw/knob dead center of the carbs on the filter side. Screw in out and idle drops, screw it in and idle raises. Kind of just winging it I grabbed it and turned it the other day, got the bike idling nicely. Unfortunately now it stumbles at certain RPMs (tach doesn't work so I don't know exactly!!) and I'm suddenly dripping fuel like crazy. Friend said he is pretty sure that screw is just for the carb floats and I just messed up big time. Any help for a newb? Do I need to pull these things off now and reset the float level?

[Steve]

Hopefully you were playing with the idle speed knob and not the cam chain tensioner knob.

That has NOTHING to do with the float levels, it is only setting the throttle for the idle speed.

If the bike is new to you and you have NO idea of its service history, you have about 25 years of past maintenance to catch up on. One item is to remove the carbs and do a full "strip and dip" cleaning, along with a replacement of the o-rings. Get the kit from cycleorings.com, NOT a "rebuild kit". You should also check your valve clearances to make sure they are in-spec. While you are at it, attack the third area of concern, all the electrical connections. Take them apart, clean them, put them back together.

Your bike will love you for it, and you will love it in return.

.

[ajk511]

Hopefully you were playing with the idle speed knob and not the cam chain tensioner knob.

That has NOTHING to do with the float levels, it is only setting the throttle for the idle speed.

If the bike is new to you and you have NO idea of its service history, you have about 25 years of past maintenance to catch up on. One item is to remove the carbs and do a full "strip and dip" cleaning, along with a replacement of the o-rings. Get the kit from cycleorings.com, NOT a "rebuild kit". You should also check your valve clearances to make sure they are in-spec. While you are at it, attack the third area of concern, all the electrical connections. Take them apart, clean them, put them back together.

Your bike will love you for it, and you will love it in return.

.

Steve, I don't know what I would do without you, haha. I'm already ahead of you on the electrical. Started to set up an electrical box. Going to run knew wiring to EVERYTHING. Are there any specialty tools I need to buy to check the valve clearances?

[Steve]

Are there any specialty tools I need to buy to check the valve clearances?

Have you gotten your MegaWelcome from BassCliff?

In there, you will find links to the rest of his "little" library, which has service manuals available for download and a few tutorials.

As to "special tools", you will need feeler gauges capable of measuring the range of 0.03-0.08 mm (0.0012-0.038") and a method of holding the bucket down to be able to extract the shim for inspection. There is an official tool for that, but some of us prefer the "zip-tie method", which is detailed in BassCliff's library.

.

[ajk511]

Have you gotten your MegaWelcome from BassCliff?

In there, you will find links to the rest of his "little" library, which has service manuals available for download and a few tutorials.

As to "special tools", you will need feeler gauges capable of measuring the range of 0.03-0.08 mm (0.0012-0.038") and a method of holding the bucket down to be able to extract the shim for inspection. There is an official tool for that, but some of us prefer the "zip-tie method", which is detailed in BassCliff's library.

.

That link is actually how I found this site. It was listed in a comment on reddit.com/r/motorcycles. Pretty sure that page is going to end up burning itself into the screen on my tablet pretty soon here, haha.

[GreatDane]

If you need a picture of anything, let me know and I will shoot you one. Sounds like you adjusted the idle screw.

The idle screw is accessed behind the carbs, between the carbs and the air box. The cam tensioner is accessed between the carbs and the head.

[ajk511]

So I was messing with the bike today assuming that the fuel leak was coming from the fuel line, figured I must have loosened it up from the carn when I removed the tank to install the new throttle cable last week (I forgot to remove the line from the petcock at first and pulled REAL hard on the tank). Everything was tight but I removed the line and re installed it with a small hose clamp just in case. Got the bike started and everything seemed to be fine until I closed the choke after she was warm. As soon as I closed the choke she started pouring fuel out. Open the choke back up and the leak slowly stops. Unfortunately I decided to mess with that idle screw again to see if I could get it to idle ok with full choke so I could ride it to my buddies house where we will be doing the tear down over the winter. I shouldn't have messed with it, haha. Now it just pours fuel out no matter what. I can get idle nice and smooth with the choke open or closed now, but now matter what it still leaks. The left air filter, it has the k&n's on there instead of the air box, get soaked and there is fuel coming out the drain hole on the left exhaust pipe, but it feels like the leak is actually coming from right in between the carbs and just traveling down the left one. Any ideas? It wasn't leaking fuel at all until the first time I touched that damn screw. Should have just left it alone, haha.

[Tamara]

Messing with the idle screw would not cause the fuel to leak. If you're free flowing fuel, I would start with replacing the petcock. They're relatively inexpensive and it's super easy to remove and replace.

[GreatDane]

Might be the little crossover tube where the fuel lines comes into the carb assembly and then splits off to each carb. There are little o-rings where that "tee" fits into each carb body. I would start there.