Super rich, adjustments now wont idle, petcock issue?

[Guest]

So I've been dealing with a really rich mixture for a few months now, no idea why it started.
Had carbs cleaned by Steve last year, about this time.
Had the carbs sync'd and adjusted again, checked plugs they were fine.
I checked the plugs periodically after that and a few months ago noticed they were pretty black again, some adjustments to the mixture screws and they leaned out, plugs looked good again.
Just this weekend I had checked them again and super rich again.
Noticed the left side airbox boots, carb to airbox, were off about a little bit, clamp had enough to tighten onto the carb body but looked like that could be a possible vacuum leak, fixed that.
When I had pulled the vacuum hose for the petcock, there was quite a bit of fuel that poured out, probably enough to cover the bottom of one carb bowl.

For some really weird reason now, I cant get the bike to idle, at all off of choke, choke off it dies right out.
Would this be caused by the petcock?

I always noticed a small amount of fuel in the vacuum line but never really paid it no mind, until tonight, did some searching and seen it can cause a rich issue. I'm guessing the petcock is totally done now.

I'll be buying a new genuine petcock, hopefully have it mid week.

[Steve]

A leaky diaphragm in the petcock will allow fuel into #2 cylinder.

Have you looked at all of your plugs recently? I'll bet #2 is MUCH blacker than the rest.

.

[jprice90]

They're all equally black now
It wont idle at all unless the chokes full or halfway, anything else it dies right out

Are the Z1 petcocks good?

[jprice90]

sooo update
Got a new oem petcock for $60 on ebay, brand new in box etc
I checked the plugs after I put the petcock in, I noticed I believe it was #2 soaked with fuel, and either #3 or #4 as well, but not as bad.

swapped the plugs around for the hell of it, started the bike and it idled low and had like no power, just felt the pipes 2 and 4 were cold, 1 and 3 were warm
GREAT. Checked spark all were good, seems #1 cyl might have the weakest but still spark. shut it down. checked plugs again, not really wet but had a fuel smell, swapped plugs again, and got a backfire. Felt pipes again, all were warm except #4.

Seems I did more harm than anything trying to replace this beat petcock. Had the bike running last Friday, I would be very surprised if the carbs got dirty from just a week. But it has been a bit since I added Startron to the fuel, so who knows.

[geol]

Sounds like a couple things may be going on. Plug fouling can be lack of valve clearance where valves are hanging open a bit and combustion is poor. Second, spark may be poor due to a number of things but the first thing to check here is voltage feeding your coils. Pull apart the connector to one of the coils and turn the key on. Check voltage with a multimeter on the orange/wire. Compare this to your battery voltage (as checked at the terminals) which should be about 12.5VDC. If you have significantly less than 12VDC at the coils with the bike not running, you should consider powering your coils from a relay. Low voltage dramatically reduces spark. Last, I know someone "cleaned" your carbureetors but if it only runs on choke, either the pilot mixture screws are not set properly, the pilot circuits on the carburetors are not cleaned out OR (and I would stongly suggest) buy new pilot jets and replace them and ensure the rubber plugs are atop the pilot well is your bike's carbs require them. Fuel is drawn from a cross passageway to the main jet and you will get over rich condition if the plugs are missing.

[jprice90]

Had the bike running last week ran pretty good but not 100% because i had a rich issue

[TxGSrider]

Well what seems odd to me is that it will only idle with the choke on.... and that would, of course, make it run real rich and foul the plugs.

[geol]

If it idles with choke on (it is an enrichener which adds fuel to augment the pilot circuit), the pilot jets OR pilot passageways that connect to the pilot well are PLUGGED or the pilot jets are plugged. The enrichener allows the bike to idle. When you take the enrichener off the flow of fuel to pilot circuit isn't sufficient to allow the bike to idle.

[jprice90]

Looks like im pulling the carbs
Guess i ran out of Startron in the tank

So that could possibly be why i got the backfire? Overload with fuel?

Will keep everyone updated

[Bortasqu]

and ensure the rubber plugs are atop the pilot well is your bike's carbs require them. Fuel is drawn from a cross passageway to the main jet and you will get over rich condition if the plugs are missing.

Wait, are those rubber plugs that important? Sorry to slightly de-rail the thread.

[jprice90]

Yes very if not it'll run really rich
I forgot mine and had a serious backfire

[Bortasqu]

When I cleaned my carbs, I didn't fully diss-assemble the rail to get access to the passageways to the main and pilot jets. And the rubber plug things where in some concerning conditions. Sounds like I got a busy weekend now.

[jprice90]

took the carbs off, checked the jets, needle tubes, one pilot looked clogged, cleaned that out. Installed, turned petcock to Prime, smelled strong odor of fuel, went to fire, nice puddle of fuel behind and under the center stand, great. putting some much time into this bike, im slowly losing interest.

cant understand why installing a new petcock created all these issues.

[Bortasqu]

Is it leaking from the petcock? Did you buy everything new, or just the gaskets and o-rings?

The fuel can only come from the gas tank, or the carbs. And maybe cylinders if you're unlucky.

[jprice90]

Im wondering if extra vacuum could be my problem.
If i had a vacuum leak coming from petcock to carb
I need a new petcock to carb, feed hose, i had to cut a piece off, cut it to short and had to splice in a piece of hose and clamp it to see if i could run it. Hardware store was closed at the time of testing.

They didnt have it anyway. Im gonna order the oem hose anyway but im thinking its pulling to much and filling everything much faster or something