Anyone know of a business that would perform carb rebuild services for the VTR? Due to an overseas assignment I let the bike sit. When I tried to fire the bike up, gas pours from one of the tubes Honda has rubberbanded between both carbs. I tried tapping the float bowls to see if that would pop float up (assuming the float is stuck) but no bueno.

 

That sucks. The carbs are quite simple to disassemble and clean, but removing the airbox and the carbs is somewhat labor intensive. And some things are real touchy, like the enricher (choke) cable fittings.

Best bet is to remove the carbs and clean them. If you have mechanical skills to remove the airbox and carbs, the cleaning is a piece of cake. You can download the manual from the forum.

Since I'm a ways from Texas, I can't help you with a shop recommendation.

Good luck, and I hope you're riding soon.

 

Had the exact same thing happen to me after my bike sat in shop hell to get some welding work done on it. I was thinking stuck float. I drained the gas out of the tank and took the carbs off and gave them a quick cleaning and was good to go. If you have the $ get it done, but I was able to get the bike to run fine again for free. It's really not that hard, just have to be patient and careful.

 

I've eliminated taking the carbs out completely when my float was stuck, I was able to disconnect and plug the coolant hoses. That have my enough room/give to turn them somewhat upside down (make sure you turn the gas off), and then reset the float. But because its been sitting so long, its probably VERY beneficial that you remove the carbs.

I wanted to avoid removal because of the choke cables.

 

You don't need to remove the carbs to clean them. Get a quart of Yamaha Carb Cleaner from the local Yam dealer.

Drain and close the float bowls.

Remove the seat and fuel tank.

Pour cleaner down each of the two fuel lines until you're sure the carbs a flooded.

Leave it in for the better part of a day. Rock the bike a couple times per hour to slosh it around.

Worked for me on a bike which had sat for years with fuel turned to varnish in the bowls.

When I pulled and opened the carbs for other reasons a few weeks later, they were spotless, looked brand new inside.

 

if you want to bring it to missouri, I have a friend that works at a dealer who is rebuilding my carbs right now. just FYI

 

Good tip RK, I just pulled and cleaned my carbs weekend before last. I was running on one cylinder and #2 slow jet was completely plugged. I'll try your method next time, since pulling the carbs is not on the top of my list of fun things to do. Plus I'm planning on doing some PM by running some cleaner through the tank every month or so.

These carbs seem to be pretty sensitive to varnishing up, even running nothing but Chevron.

 

WTF

 

1.) Yamaha Carb Cleaner is in a class by itself.

2.) you can soak your carbs while they are on the bike, or if you're a glutton for punishment, you can take them off first, soak them on a bench and put them back on again, make sure you hook everything up correctly, make sure you don't bolix the choke nuts, make sure you sync them AGAIN, etc.

3.) I'm highly confident the carbs can't tell the difference and don't care. They sure didn't in my case. Suit yourself.

 

I would be worried about the pilots, but to each their own. Stupid 80's bikes...

 

I took the tank off, air funnels (velocity stacks), etc. Sprayed Sea-Foam Deep Creep on the jet needle and down the throat. Repeated the process with carb cleaner. Did not solve the problem. It appears gas is hemorraging from the air vent tube on the front carb. I will take the carbs off next and see if can solve or have someone do it for me. I have no problem sending the carbs off for service so any lead would be appreciated.

 

sorry to upset you, i was being sarcastic

 

Well I can always do them for you if you feel the need to send them somewhere....

 

Remove carbs, drive to Kempner TX, drive home in an hour, and install carbs...

Thats the free version... PM for other options and or link up info

 

Definitely sounds like the float is stuck, or possibly the float pin fell out like mine did. You can access the bowls without removing the carbs completely. Remove the airbox, etc. Then undo the clamps on the two coolant hoses coming into each carb, and pull them off and plug the hoses. Then make sure you turn off the gas at the petcock as well. The next thing to do is to drain the bowls (if there is any gas in there). Turn the carbs so you can access the front float bowl, and remove the cover and check it thoroughly. It should take about an hour if you've never done it before.

 

No sweat, jay. I was bouncing off your post not directing upset at you. Trying to re-emphasize, maybe with a wee bit of frustration and wise ***, that I found a really easy way to clean carbs worth trying before tearing the bike half apart.

I hate dealing with all the Rube Goldberg BS connected to the damn things. I was happy to find a way to avoid all that. I thought people would cheer and offer to buy me a drink. What do I know. Maybe people enjoy playing with all those hoses, tubes, fasteners etc. more than I do.

Ha!

 

Thanks, surfer. It worked really well for me on carbs which were gooped up for years. I took the VTR carbs off and put them on again easily 7 or 8 times for jetting.

While it got easier each time, I hated doing it more than the time before.