slides

[David]

I had my carbs balanced recently by a professional and i was informed that it was difficult since the throttle slides were worn. Is this a furphy? Do they wear out?
It seems that it cannot be fixed ie I would need to replace the carbs to remedy the fault.

David

[gsrick]

I had my carbs balanced recently by a professional and i was informed that it was difficult since the throttle slides were worn. Is this a furphy? Do they wear out?
It seems that it cannot be fixed ie I would need to replace the carbs to remedy the fault.

David

It would help to know what type of bike it is and what carbs you have. When was the last time your valves were adjusted? That should be checked before syncing the carbs.

[Gorminrider]

I had my carbs balanced recently by a professional and i was informed that it was difficult since the throttle slides were worn. Is this a furphy? Do they wear out?
It seems that it cannot be fixed ie I would need to replace the carbs to remedy the fault.

David

Firstly How bad is the "fault"? Bike runs well? or not? given the age and condition of the bike, I mean. Just to say, Don't go all anal yet about things someone says...it might be an "excuse" but they might be knowledgeable mechanics pointing out a serious issue. Or just pointing out a finicky issue.
You don't want to be tuning one carb a whole lot more than any other-it's a symptom...and this maybe what your mechanic is running into.

But sure. as a fine point, Anything metal-to-metal can wear out...but on a well-maintained bike it will take many miles or lot of throttle goosing... less time on a corroded bike too long sitting building a salty gritty dust .Oxides of corrosion will speed the wear....(remember-aluminum oxide is use to make sandpaper!) They coat the slides and you can somewhat see the wear....I have no real idea when this would theoretically happen to all bikes because it'll vary so much depending on use, but generally,normally, I'll expect it to be a very long time before I'd really take a carb replacement seriously as normal maintenance, being notso finicky myself... Other parts are wearing too, . Jets, throttleplate axles,cables...water wears a stone.


Suzuki shop manuals often include a very nice diagram per the operation of the carbs so refer to this to get a better idea of what's happening... If they are CV carbs(diaphragm at top) What you can do is test the seal yourself by plugging the ports at the intake end and any other inlets and seeing how well they stay up against a vacuum. They should fall slowly,so that you are indeed testing the leakage around the slides... best if they fall about the same speed and even then first of all inspect the diaphragms and inlets themselves because you don't want a sticking slide either...

[chuck hahn]

Or you can hold a flashlight to the top of the diaphrams and turn off the lights. Looking from the slide side, any pinholes will appear easily.

[Steve]

Or you can hold a flashlight to the top of the diaphrams and turn off the lights. Looking from the slide side, any pinholes will appear easily.

I will stretch them slightly, to remove the wrinkles and exaggerate any holes that might be there.

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