airbox boot leak

[Fishman]

Let me start out by saying I have a gs550 I'm fixing up. However, that bike is not the one with this problem. I bought a Kawasaki el250 (inline twin) for my wife and discovered the PO had cut the boots between the airbox and the carbs. The repair attempt included four hose clamps and two small sections of radiator hose. Needless to say there was quite a bit of air leakage and the bike had a big dead spot in the middle of the rpm band. I suspect the bike has been run for a while like that, maybe as much as 1000 or more miles, since the PO I bought it from was no mechanic, did not do the work himself, and only put about 1000 miles on the bike, according to him. I'm wondering what damage, if any, might have occurred from running the bike long term with this air leak? I pulled the carbs too, and they looked good and appeared unmolested to any great degree.

[Big T]

Check the spark plugs and see what color they are. Lean conditions cause detonation and burn the valves.

But, 1000 miles? It may not have fallen apart until the last 200 miles.

Buy the stock boots and get them in place.

How many miles are on the bike?

[Fishman]

The bike has 31000 miles on it, which is a fair amount for a 250. The right plug was a very light tan and the left plug was dark. The repair was on the carbs, but there wasn't any way that it was tight enough to prevent leaks, as the hose was easily 1/3 inch to large in diameter. The plugs should have been a NGK CH8A according to the manual, but they are a CH7A.

The cylinder with the plug indicating lean sounds to have a knocking sound in it at very low idle that smooths out at rpms of 1000 to 1500. I'm guessing because the bike has no tach.

The idle was extremely hard to set as the bike rpm's would rise and fall as it warmed up.

I have the stock boots on order, as well as the exhaust gasket between the header pipes and the muffler, which is gone.

Any input on possible problems would be appreciated, as well as a recommended course of action. As I said, stock boots are on order.

[Fishman]

Airboots are on their way from BikeBandit. Hope my wife isn't disappointed.