Carb Cleaning. With Pics!

[1980GS1000E]

My girl started running funny. Idled fine, but but weak at throttle. I am the second owner of this fine machine and now that it's been a year together, maybe it was time for some complaining from her. I pulled off the carbs and here is what I found.


This was the state of affairs in each float bowl. My question is- Where could this have come from? The tank sure doesn't seem rusty in the least. I will have to investigate further. Here is what I found in the no. one carb:


I am thinking that the little furball in the main jet might just hamper things a bit. There was little sludge. The slides looked like this:




The varnish was really slight and it did not feel like coming off with carb cleaner. Everything else cleaned up fine.
A tip for pulling the carbs with the stock airbox is to pull the motor mounts to move the engine a little forward.

[alke46]

[PHP]
A tip for pulling the carbs with the stock airbox is to pull the motor mounts to move the engine a little forward.[/QUOTE]



Thanks for this tip------I will be trying that one when I re-install my carbs.

[Nessism]

You better take another look at your tank. Por-15 is good stuff if you find rust.

[1980GS1000E]

Nessism- I took a long look at the tanks innards, pulled the float and petcock and rinsed with carb cleaner. There are some spots that show the lightest bit of rust, really slight. No sediment was evident at all. The float looks amazing considering how old it is. I am thinking that maybe something has been replaced or that this took a long time to build up. I am really happy that I can just put it all back together for now.

[steve murdoch]

First off...excellent pics.
My guess is a slightly rusty tank as well. I know how difficult it can be to see the entire inside.
I would try an in-line fuel filter although rust particles are usually too fine.
It could also be contaminated gas. Do you frequently buy from the same gas station?

[1980GS1000E]

I always buy my gas from Costco. I would like to slosh around some rust preventative in the tank before I put her back together.

[pdqford]

I would like to slosh around some rust preventative in the tank before I put her back together.

FWIW, for the first time I didn't fill the tank on my '80 GS750ET when I stored it last fall. When I pulled the tank this spring to do the carbs it had developed a very slight orange tint to it's innards. I pulled the petcock and the gauge sender and sloshed a few ounces of a POR-15 product called "MetalReady" in the tank. Then rinsed throughly and it looked quite shinny inside. Since I s-t-i-l-l didn't haven't have the carbs back together, I re-assembled the tank and added an ounce or two of fuel oil and coated the inside of the tank. Looks brandy new inside.