How hard is it to clean out the carburetor of a motorcycle?

Answer 1

Cleaning a Motorcycle CarburetorMotorcycle carbs can be simple for a single cylinder engine or complicated for a 4 cylinder in-line, GS850, 1000, 1100. I'm not as familiar with the V Suzuki. You could have 1 carb feeding both cylinders or 2 carbs that have to be syncronized to operate both carbs together. One recommendation is don't reject if all you need is to clean them out. I consider this a springtime ritual if the bike hasn't been ridden over the winter. Don't let gas sit in the carbs over Winter. Remove the screw in the bottom of the float bowl and drain the gas out at the end of the season. This will almost eliminate the need to clean the carbs. I take my carbs off the bike, very difficult on a Goldwing, dissemble each carb, note location of jets, screws and other parts, clean all parts with carburetor cleaner from Autoparts store, Airblow dry, re-assemble, sync the linkages, check float height per book spec. Then I check all jets for blockages before re-installing. Any blockage has to be addressed before re-assembly. They say don't use a wire (like from a wire brush) to clear the jet, but that's exactly what I use on the stubburn ones ( check to make sure the wire is smaller than the hole is supposed to be) If you aren't careful, you can ruin a jet that way. I also use the carb soak method to clean one, but you can't leave it in there very long because it will disintegrate the plastic and rubber parts and the metals. Someone put out that Ford Engine Shampoo Part # CXC-22 is good for cleaning carbs AND will not damage delicate parts. Haven't had a chance to try it. My current projects are Hondas, 2 XL 250s, 2 XL 350s, 1 GL1000 (a real bear to work on the carbs, whole rear end has to come out just to remove the tank get to linkages) past projects GS1000, GS850, KZ900, and gobs of 2 stroke and 4 stroke singles. Owned bikes since 1972.