So I took the carb apart again thinking I may have inverted the 145 and the 230 jets because they look the same but everything is where it should be. I got it all back together and tried it out and it does the same thing. idles wonderfully and dies in acceleration. I thought that perhaps its not getting enough air through the dirty airfilter to compensate for the new unsludged gas so i removed the air filter to allow max air flow and it still dies when revved up.

when i took the carb apart again there was plenty of gas in the bowl but i tried running the bike on prime anyway to test your theory but it dies even faster. So im thinking if its fuel supply isnt the problem, and its air supply isnt the problem, perhaps the spark plug just isnt  hitting effectively enough to combust all the ingredients when they are added in larger amounts.

The spark plug that is in my engine is an 18mm. the problem here is, an 18mm deep drive socket is too wide to fit down the tiny not a very nice person that this thing is installed in, and the 17mm isnt big enough to get around the plug itself.

So first off does anyone think my notion of a whimpy spark might be reasonable? and 2, if that is the case, how in the world am i supposed to get the plug out if 17 is too small for the plug and 18 is too big to get down the hole? p.s. the reason i know its an 18 is because the normal size 18mm socket fits perfectly, but its outter width is about 1mm less that those of any deep drive or spark plug sockets.

I'd almost prefer to be getting the 35 mpg at this point :p

Also thanks to everyone who has been reading along and trying to help, its calming to know im not alone on this.

I use a 3/4 socket on my spark plug, it doesn't fit exact but it will bite and remove the spark plug.

I bit the bullet, went to the dealer, and bought the spark plug socket that's made to fit.  It was about ten bucks.  If my time is worth anything, I've already saved that much not screwing around trying to fake a connection.

I guess I will hit up the dealer for the socket. This bike was without a toolkit when I bought it.

Kulisz wrote on 09/01/08 at 17:53:11:



Does anyone know if prime delivers fuel at a higher rate than the vacuum settings?  If the thing is flooding, and prime allows more fuel to pass, then the problem is likely to be, what, a stuck float?

Have you checked your float level?  Have you confirmed that the float needle is seating and stopping the flow when it is supposed to?  Put a clear tube on the bowl drain, bend it so the open end is above the level of the bowl/carb body joint, and switch to prime.  The fuel should not rise above the level of the top of the bowl, I think.

Somebody jump in here and contradict me if I'm off, before he spends time chasing one of my red herrings.

It's all gravity flow, except that when the petc0ck is in ON, and the engine is off, the flow is switched off.  When it is on reserve it flows from the lower part of the tank thru the mesh filter. If that is clogged you have issues since you are introducing a new path of gravity flow.

As long as it is the same liquid thru the same tube path with the same height of gas in the tank, there should be no difference in flow rate. The vacuum neither retards nor accelerates flow.

Think of it as a engine-operated spigot and the amount of gas you get in a cup is only dependent upon how long the spigot is opened, not how the spigot was opened.

Good point, and 100% correct in the scenario you describe. You will get faster flow any time you can tap a location (new path) that gives you a higher column of liquid (more head pressure).  From that standpoint, with a full tank you'll get a faster flow from prime, unless the mesh filter is clogged.  

I was just trying to clarify the fact that the vacuum is not providing any suction/siphon effect that would influence fluid dynamics.  I've seen a few other posts where a poster seemed confused about this. Some may not know that if fuel gets into the vacuum line, then you can lose the suction required to operate the switch. But if the vacuum is adequate to switch fuel flow on, it comes down to good old gravity flow /head pressure and the relative height of fluid.