Hey fellow riders! Well, I am a new guy here on the forum, but I thought I would take a shot at asking my question, with the hopes of getting my issue resolved. I will try to get ALL the details in, so this might be a LONG post. Sorry in advance, but I am trying to be thorough!
Here goes:
Basic stuff:
-2001 Yamaha V-star 650 Classic
- The bike is stored OUTDOORS under a heavy duty cover, between my cars.
-Miles; 3,600KM (Canadian model)
-Owners; I am the third owner. First owner modded it a bit for his wife, second owner never rode it for 2 years, and I bought it from him.
-Owners manual has been read, yes. Sadly, they don’t have any tuning info in there!
-The following mods are on the bike: Aftermarket slip on exhaust (cobra-style slash cut). Changes I have made; 92.5 main jets (90 is factory), 22.5 pilot jet (factory 20’s), 0.020” shim X 1 per needle.
-Searching topic: I have scoured this forum, and tons of other forums – close to my problem, but never a solution that works for my situation
Now for the nitty gritty, and the past history/problems I have had, what has been resolved, and what persists.
I will do it in point form, for easier following:
- Purchased bike from a local guy, when i went to look at the bike, it would fire up right away on Choke (high RPM as it should have), then warm up, and idle nice and steady with the choke pushed in. THE ONLY issue it had, was the rear cylinder would flood a bit and spit fuel. it burned, but poorly, and spit quite a bit of gas (yet it did burn some off). The owner told me that he was trying to clean the carb and broke the little wire arm on the Needle Valve, so he made one out of guitar string. (This was later revealed to be true, and I will get into it in the next point). The bike came equipped with aftermarket slip on slash cut pipes. They are Loud as hell, and they DO have baffles. They technically should not require a rejetting, but I did a minimal uppage in the jets (more later).
-Brought bike home via friend's truck. Step one: Let's get that carb out, cleaned and repaired. Went to bike shop, got a "replacement" needle valve. Turned out to be too short, kept flooding the rear cylinder even worse (thank you tech guy at the shop *rolls eyes*). I ordered a factory needle valve assembly (Yamaha genuine part # 8, with o-ring, mesh screen, etc). Installed it. All jets were cleaned, etc. OK bike was cleaned out, 100% stock and factory spec now. I went to crank it... Nada. Sputter sputter, die. Occasional startup, die. NOTE: here is something weird: The bike has a better chance of being started leaning to the RIGHT (brake lever side).
-OK This is ridiculous, let's work on it more. I replaced the main jets with 92.5 (factory is 90) to help a little with the slightly increased flow from the slip ons. I also used a little seafoam in the gas, to try and help de-gum anything that might have got sticky. *At this point the inside of the carb is 100% fine, no issues from the stock parts*
I was able to get it started by leaning to the right, and took it for a short ride down my street... Coughing, and sneezing back through the carb - all symptoms of being lean.
- I noticed one day, when working on it, that if I take off the airbox, and stick a cloth in the air intake, covering 2/3rds of the air flow, it would start up and run fine, enough that I could ride it.
hmmm got me thinking: It must be running too lean!
- Next changes were 22.5 pilot jets (20 is stock, so not a huge jump, if any jump at all), and the PMS screw caps drilled out, and turned out to 2.75 (2.5 is stock) from seated position.
Went to start it. Hmmm interesting: It will, upon the first crank with the choke pulled out, start RIGHT AWAY, keep HIGH RPM and die after 5 seconds or less. Then it will not respond to cranking, BUT WILL grab and start sometimes with the choke PUSHED IN.
In fact, with the last mods, after only 6 or 7 tries, I was able to get the bike to start, but only with the choke pushed in (aka ZERO choke).
At this point I was able to take the bike for a ride down my street, shift gears, and ride it normally. Only thing I noticed was a bit of sluggishness at 0-25% throttle, aka during pilot jet duties/etc.
SO THE MAIN PROBLEM AS IT STANDS: It won't start easily, choke does nothing really (I know the choke works, as mentioned, on the first crank most days it has been sitting, it will catch and keep high revs for a few seconds, then dies), and is still kind of sluggish at low RPM/0-25% throttle.
Still, no more coughing/sneezing at this point, but starting it is torture.
Any ideas guys?
PS I am aware someone will say I jumped too far with the jets and whatnot, but I feel the changes in the jets are SOOO minute, that it should not affect the bike too badly.
In fact, the new pilot jets seem to have helped the bike a bit!
My thoughts on what I think it could be: Pilot jet pathways are clogged? (I am sure I cleaned them!) or maybe fuel isn't getting to the carb somehow.
NOTE ON SPARK PLUGS: I put in a new set of plugs yesterday, haven't had a chance to try starting yet (Canada = COLD in November).
RANDOM THOUGHT: Is there any chance that, because it is stored outdoors and it is cold lately, that my carb is simply too cold to start? As in, my settings are just fine, but because the temperature hovers around 40-45F, that my carb is cold? (I hard the v-star 650 has carb heater coils, no?)
ANY HELP WILL BE APPRECIATED!
UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE: I made you guys a video to show you how I can get it running by shoving a cloth into the air intake. Clearly an issue with being too lean at start up!
Here goes:
Basic stuff:
-2001 Yamaha V-star 650 Classic
- The bike is stored OUTDOORS under a heavy duty cover, between my cars.
-Miles; 3,600KM (Canadian model)
-Owners; I am the third owner. First owner modded it a bit for his wife, second owner never rode it for 2 years, and I bought it from him.
-Owners manual has been read, yes. Sadly, they don’t have any tuning info in there!
-The following mods are on the bike: Aftermarket slip on exhaust (cobra-style slash cut). Changes I have made; 92.5 main jets (90 is factory), 22.5 pilot jet (factory 20’s), 0.020” shim X 1 per needle.
-Searching topic: I have scoured this forum, and tons of other forums – close to my problem, but never a solution that works for my situation
Now for the nitty gritty, and the past history/problems I have had, what has been resolved, and what persists.
I will do it in point form, for easier following:
- Purchased bike from a local guy, when i went to look at the bike, it would fire up right away on Choke (high RPM as it should have), then warm up, and idle nice and steady with the choke pushed in. THE ONLY issue it had, was the rear cylinder would flood a bit and spit fuel. it burned, but poorly, and spit quite a bit of gas (yet it did burn some off). The owner told me that he was trying to clean the carb and broke the little wire arm on the Needle Valve, so he made one out of guitar string. (This was later revealed to be true, and I will get into it in the next point). The bike came equipped with aftermarket slip on slash cut pipes. They are Loud as hell, and they DO have baffles. They technically should not require a rejetting, but I did a minimal uppage in the jets (more later).
-Brought bike home via friend's truck. Step one: Let's get that carb out, cleaned and repaired. Went to bike shop, got a "replacement" needle valve. Turned out to be too short, kept flooding the rear cylinder even worse (thank you tech guy at the shop *rolls eyes*). I ordered a factory needle valve assembly (Yamaha genuine part # 8, with o-ring, mesh screen, etc). Installed it. All jets were cleaned, etc. OK bike was cleaned out, 100% stock and factory spec now. I went to crank it... Nada. Sputter sputter, die. Occasional startup, die. NOTE: here is something weird: The bike has a better chance of being started leaning to the RIGHT (brake lever side).
-OK This is ridiculous, let's work on it more. I replaced the main jets with 92.5 (factory is 90) to help a little with the slightly increased flow from the slip ons. I also used a little seafoam in the gas, to try and help de-gum anything that might have got sticky. *At this point the inside of the carb is 100% fine, no issues from the stock parts*
I was able to get it started by leaning to the right, and took it for a short ride down my street... Coughing, and sneezing back through the carb - all symptoms of being lean.
- I noticed one day, when working on it, that if I take off the airbox, and stick a cloth in the air intake, covering 2/3rds of the air flow, it would start up and run fine, enough that I could ride it.
hmmm got me thinking: It must be running too lean!
- Next changes were 22.5 pilot jets (20 is stock, so not a huge jump, if any jump at all), and the PMS screw caps drilled out, and turned out to 2.75 (2.5 is stock) from seated position.
Went to start it. Hmmm interesting: It will, upon the first crank with the choke pulled out, start RIGHT AWAY, keep HIGH RPM and die after 5 seconds or less. Then it will not respond to cranking, BUT WILL grab and start sometimes with the choke PUSHED IN.
In fact, with the last mods, after only 6 or 7 tries, I was able to get the bike to start, but only with the choke pushed in (aka ZERO choke).
At this point I was able to take the bike for a ride down my street, shift gears, and ride it normally. Only thing I noticed was a bit of sluggishness at 0-25% throttle, aka during pilot jet duties/etc.
SO THE MAIN PROBLEM AS IT STANDS: It won't start easily, choke does nothing really (I know the choke works, as mentioned, on the first crank most days it has been sitting, it will catch and keep high revs for a few seconds, then dies), and is still kind of sluggish at low RPM/0-25% throttle.
Still, no more coughing/sneezing at this point, but starting it is torture.
Any ideas guys?
PS I am aware someone will say I jumped too far with the jets and whatnot, but I feel the changes in the jets are SOOO minute, that it should not affect the bike too badly.
In fact, the new pilot jets seem to have helped the bike a bit!
My thoughts on what I think it could be: Pilot jet pathways are clogged? (I am sure I cleaned them!) or maybe fuel isn't getting to the carb somehow.
NOTE ON SPARK PLUGS: I put in a new set of plugs yesterday, haven't had a chance to try starting yet (Canada = COLD in November).
RANDOM THOUGHT: Is there any chance that, because it is stored outdoors and it is cold lately, that my carb is simply too cold to start? As in, my settings are just fine, but because the temperature hovers around 40-45F, that my carb is cold? (I hard the v-star 650 has carb heater coils, no?)
ANY HELP WILL BE APPRECIATED!
UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE: I made you guys a video to show you how I can get it running by shoving a cloth into the air intake. Clearly an issue with being too lean at start up!