Seafoam

[pauldun170]

What year?

Set the idle speed to 1500 rpm.
Pay close attention to temp gauge and how long you are riding.
Report back after a ride.

 

[sze5003]

What year?

Set the idle speed to 1500 rpm.
Pay close attention to temp gauge and how long you are riding.
Report back after a ride.

It looks like its close to 1500. I will check it out. Today looks like crap it may rain so I probably won't ride. It's a 2009 and it does not have a temp gauge. The older models had a temp gauge weird isn't it. People on ninjette.org say you can feel when it's warmed up :/

 

[pauldun170]

Its a 2009 and it only has 1400 miles on it?!!
Based on that info alone I would expect carb issues.

Pilot jets might need a little love.

You may only need a few tankfuls of fresh fuel (aka ride the thing) to sort out the stalling issue.
Carbed bikes need to be ridden. Even stabil in the tanks wont help after a few months of the same gas in the tank.

On my old ZX-11, 3 months of sitting usually resulted in 300 miles of sad carbs.
By the third tankful...she was happy again.

With that being said, the older 250s hated not being at normal operating temperature.

 

[sze5003]

Yeah I did clean the carbs when I first bought it. I rode it last spring and summer with similar but more subtle issues stalling, and then it was stored for maybe 2-3 months for winter and during that time I rode it 2 times.

I wish I had time to ride more.

 

[pauldun170]

Yeah I did clean the carbs when I first bought it. I rode it last spring and summer with similar but more subtle issues stalling, and then it was stored for maybe 2-3 months for winter and during that time I rode it 2 times.

I wish I had time to ride more.

How many tankfuls of gas have you gone through since you bought last spring?
2?
lol

 

[pauldun170]

Are you still on the OEM tires that came with the bike?

 

[sze5003]

Yes haha 2 tanks of gas considering the second one now is almost empty lol. OEM tires that are still great too.

 

[WilliamM2]

On my old ZX-11, 3 months of sitting usually resulted in 300 miles of sad carbs.
By the third tankful...she was happy again.

Did you use Stabil when it sat? The 19 year old bike I referenced above was a ZX-11D. Here in Northern Michigan it would sit 4.5 to 5 months every year, never had a carb issue, and it always started right up each spring. And three tanks? That would be about 700 miles.

And like you mentioned above, it would take a few miles to warm up before fully turning the choke off. I wonder if he really has a problem at all?

 

[olds]

A twist of the throttle and full choke to start my bike in the morning.
Let it run at 1500 for a few minutes while i get my gear on and then ride away.
About 1 mile later, I can go to half choke.
Another mile or two and I can probably go 0 choke.

 

[sze5003]

Yeah mine does not need full choke as the weather is better now. Lowest the rpm goes with a small amount of choke is about 2k.

Maybe you guys are right and its behaving like a cold blooded demon because it's not fully warm yet. With full choke after a couple of seconds rpm goes to 4500 or so if you just let it sit there but that's not good.

 

[pauldun170]

Did you use Stabil when it sat? The 19 year old bike I referenced above was a ZX-11D. Here in Northern Michigan it would sit 4.5 to 5 months every year, never had a carb issue, and it always started right up each spring. And three tanks? That would be about 700 miles.

And like you mentioned above, it would take a few miles to warm up before fully turning the choke off. I wonder if he really has a problem at all?

Its a 93 D1 and it's sitting in my garage. I've had it for over a decade.
Once they switched to 10% ethanol blends a few years back the issue with it sitting started to appear.

First 100miles starts it with bogging (typical pilot jet clogs).
Second 100 miles slight stumbling around 4500-5500 rpm
Around 3 hundred things would clear up.

Usually 3 tankfuls into the season for me is about 2 weekends in a row and that's usually around the time where I stop "thinking about the carbs".


I've always used stabil.

Such a great bike to work on.
Right now all it does is sit. I've been meaning to sell it (I ride a CBR1000rr now)

 

[sze5003]

I didn't use stabil last spring. You just put some in before covering it up for winter right ? I'm surprised my battery lasted outside this winter. It was cheap off eBay too.

Problem is my professor didn't ride the bike either before I bought it from him. I was happy I got a decent deal on it and it was pretty much brand new.

 

[pauldun170]

I didn't use stabil last spring. You just put some in before covering it up for winter right ? I'm surprised my battery lasted outside this winter. It was cheap off eBay too.

Problem is my professor didn't ride the bike either before I bought it from him. I was happy I got a decent deal on it and it was pretty much brand new.

Even with stabil, fuel still deteriorates over time.
Stabil itself has a shelf life of about 2 years.
A fuel tank treated with stabil will start to decline after a few months, at least at a slower rate than untreated gas but still it has a limited lifespan.

With the amount of miles on the bike, there was plenty of opportunity for the varnish\gumming to accumulate. Hopefull regular riding will clear it up.

 

[sze5003]

Yeah I'll make sure to check my idle after I ride that night and set it to what I think looks like 1500. Like I said after say 5-10 min with minimal choke I can turn off the choke and it doesn't stall. I guess some days I turn it off too early. I dunno it's completely random.

But I'll try that here and fill fresh gas with seafoam and see how it goes. Hopefully I can get on it this weekend.